another one from Germany

Robert Marquard · 05-12-2006, 03:47 AM

I am reading eBooks on my Palm T3. I limit myself to ebooks without DRM and i prefer SF so i am a Baen barfly now. My preferred reader is Mobipocket.
The iLiad looks promising so i think about buying it later this year.

I am also a Delphi programmer and i curently work on a free program to generate eBooks in different formats. This stemmed from my interest in extracting the content of Mobipocket books and from someone asking me to control litgen.dll from Delphi.

The current state of affairs is that i can generate LIT files through control of litgen.dll from Microsoft, .mobi books through control of the new mobigen.exe from Mobipocket, .prc (old style) Mobipocket ebooks through my own code.
I currently work on integrating Rocketbook through rbmake from http://rbmake.sf.net

Several other formats are in the make also. Simple .doc and .rtf by letting Word convert it for example. .chm (Windows help file) is another interesting format.

For now the program can only interpret an OPF file and generate the eBook from it. All the useful tools required like editing, cleaning HTML, pushing simple text to HTML, creating an OPF file in the first place are still missing.

Alexander Turcic · 05-12-2006, 04:27 AM

Welcome on board, Robert! With our increasing German readership it makes me think of adding a German-only section for those who are interested in e-books but not comfortable with the English language.

Your project sounds very ambitious! If you can keep us updated, we'd be more than happy!

Just be careful in regard to Mobipocket: I remember when ubook added support for .mobi books, at least one person from Mobipocket, who frequently visits this forum, wasn't very amused.

Robert Marquard · 05-12-2006, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Your project sounds very ambitious! If you can keep us updated, we'd be more than happy!

It is not that hard to implement. It is only a big project. It will therefore take some time. Especially bcause i implement it in my free time i do not have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Just be careful in regard to Mobipocket: I remember when ubook added support for .mobi books, at least one person from Mobipocket, who frequently visits this forum, wasn't very amused.

Mobipocket has opened up considerably. mobigen.exe is available for download from the Mobipocket website free of charge and without any license attached.
In their forum i have already got some interesting tidbits of information.
I have also an email statement that they have no legal problem with my code to generate Mobipocket books on my own.

Alexander Turcic · 05-12-2006, 06:31 AM

Sounds great!

TadW · 05-12-2006, 07:07 AM

Hi Robert, I am sure you'll like it here

Any plans of making your tools public eventually? I am more than happy to beta-test!

Robert Marquard · 05-12-2006, 08:05 AM

Of course, but it needs some functionality first.

CommanderROR · 05-17-2006, 03:40 AM

Welcome to the forums fellow citizen!

Jaapjan · 05-17-2006, 04:24 AM

That is amusing to hear. Welcome to MobileRead.

I have/am making software that converts all kinds of ebooks to HTML, orders it by author, series, name and cover, creates an OPF and saves it into my library in a sorted manner.

Can convert Multi-HTML OPF to a single HTML opf, LIT->Single HTML OPF and so forth. Code to extract the cover/other images from LIT files too.

All in C# .. of course.

Robert Marquard · 05-17-2006, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaapjan

All in C# .. of course.

Ban him! He is using (a) bad language ;-)

Jaapjan · 05-17-2006, 05:08 AM

Without getting carried away here... why do you consider it a bad language? It works fine under multiple platforms with multiple GUI kits and is ECMA standard?

Robert Marquard · 05-17-2006, 05:42 AM

The main thing is that it has not been created to fulfil a need. It has been created to counter Java. So its main purpose is not to promote efficient programming. It is a tool in a marketing fight.

Jaapjan · 05-17-2006, 05:48 AM

Perhaps. I think Java and the .NET libraries certainly have plenty of similarity. However, I hate Java (no offense to those who like it) but am very pleased with the integration of .NET and its surrounding tools.

I used to do Delphi before defecting to C#. But then again, Delphi has moved to .NET too so... I still have a number of programs and [the/a] delphi bible.

Robert Marquard · 05-17-2006, 06:01 AM

I think we should go private with our discussion.
I prefer Delphi for numerous reasons like only having Delphi 6. For my project .net is not the best way to go forward. Integrating DLLs and programs is much easier in Delphi Win32 especially with the wealth of components available like the JVCL.

Alexander Turcic · 05-17-2006, 06:01 AM

I wish I could do either one... C# or .NET... but I guess I am stuck to lame PHP programming

Jaapjan · 05-17-2006, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I wish I could do either one... C# or .NET... but I guess I am stuck to lame PHP programming

Do not worry Alexander. PHP is a nice scripting language and good to know.

As for C# and .NET... you are implying .NET is actually a language you can program in. It is not. It is simply a name encompassing a number of services/ideas Microsoft had.

However, I can do Delphi just fine. And C#. And C. C++. Pascal. PHP. And who knows what.

05-12-2006, 03:47 AM	#1
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	another one from Germany I am reading eBooks on my Palm T3. I limit myself to ebooks without DRM and i prefer SF so i am a Baen barfly now. My preferred reader is Mobipocket. The iLiad looks promising so i think about buying it later this year. I am also a Delphi programmer and i curently work on a free program to generate eBooks in different formats. This stemmed from my interest in extracting the content of Mobipocket books and from someone asking me to control litgen.dll from Delphi. The current state of affairs is that i can generate LIT files through control of litgen.dll from Microsoft, .mobi books through control of the new mobigen.exe from Mobipocket, .prc (old style) Mobipocket ebooks through my own code. I currently work on integrating Rocketbook through rbmake from http://rbmake.sf.net Several other formats are in the make also. Simple .doc and .rtf by letting Word convert it for example. .chm (Windows help file) is another interesting format. For now the program can only interpret an OPF file and generate the eBook from it. All the useful tools required like editing, cleaning HTML, pushing simple text to HTML, creating an OPF file in the first place are still missing.

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05-12-2006, 04:27 AM	#2
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Welcome on board, Robert! With our increasing German readership it makes me think of adding a German-only section for those who are interested in e-books but not comfortable with the English language. Your project sounds very ambitious! If you can keep us updated, we'd be more than happy! Just be careful in regard to Mobipocket: I remember when ubook added support for .mobi books, at least one person from Mobipocket, who frequently visits this forum, wasn't very amused.

05-12-2006, 06:31 AM	#4
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Sounds great!

05-12-2006, 07:07 AM	#5
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Hi Robert, I am sure you'll like it here Any plans of making your tools public eventually? I am more than happy to beta-test!

05-12-2006, 08:05 AM	#6
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	Of course, but it needs some functionality first.

05-17-2006, 03:40 AM	#7
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Welcome to the forums fellow citizen!

05-17-2006, 04:24 AM	#8
Jaapjan Avid reader Posts: 262 Karma: 132 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Netherlands Device: HTC Touch Diamond, iLiad Book Edition	That is amusing to hear. Welcome to MobileRead. I have/am making software that converts all kinds of ebooks to HTML, orders it by author, series, name and cover, creates an OPF and saves it into my library in a sorted manner. Can convert Multi-HTML OPF to a single HTML opf, LIT->Single HTML OPF and so forth. Code to extract the cover/other images from LIT files too. All in C# .. of course.

05-17-2006, 05:08 AM	#10
Jaapjan Avid reader Posts: 262 Karma: 132 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Netherlands Device: HTC Touch Diamond, iLiad Book Edition	Without getting carried away here... why do you consider it a bad language? It works fine under multiple platforms with multiple GUI kits and is ECMA standard?

05-17-2006, 05:42 AM	#11
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	The main thing is that it has not been created to fulfil a need. It has been created to counter Java. So its main purpose is not to promote efficient programming. It is a tool in a marketing fight.

05-17-2006, 05:48 AM	#12
Jaapjan Avid reader Posts: 262 Karma: 132 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Netherlands Device: HTC Touch Diamond, iLiad Book Edition	Perhaps. I think Java and the .NET libraries certainly have plenty of similarity. However, I hate Java (no offense to those who like it) but am very pleased with the integration of .NET and its surrounding tools. I used to do Delphi before defecting to C#. But then again, Delphi has moved to .NET too so... I still have a number of programs and [the/a] delphi bible.

05-17-2006, 06:01 AM	#13
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	I think we should go private with our discussion. I prefer Delphi for numerous reasons like only having Delphi 6. For my project .net is not the best way to go forward. Integrating DLLs and programs is much easier in Delphi Win32 especially with the wealth of components available like the JVCL.

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