Testing approach for EPub

[kalees]

Hi,

I am very new to the EPublishing domain.

currently we are developing an Epub application that convert a pdf to epub file.

As a tester, we must ensure that all the text, images,table of contents, page heater and footer,... are converted correctly in the epub file as same as pdf.

For that, we have to compare both the files and validate the data.

Is there any open source tool available to do the above task perfectly or else we need it do manually?.

If you suggest manually, please tell me the procedure.

please guide me the best testing approach, it would be very grateful.

Thanks in Advance,
Kalees

[Toxaris]

Good luck on that application. At this moment, there are no good tools to do this. Part of it you already mention yourself. You need to go page through page to see if the conversion was correct.
The best results are usually achieved when doing a good OCR and then go through the documentation to fix everything. That is manual labor, although you can perhaps automate some things. However, only some.

[mrmikel]

As noted by Toxaris, just plain slogging. There are very meticulous epub creators here that go through their submissions to the library repeatedly correcting previously unfound errors.

Your post also does not mention the significant problem of what flavor of epub, for which machine. Hitch makes her living weaving and dodging like a Superbowl quarterback among the creative variations the actual device manufacturers have put into their machines.

Lastly some things, like tables, pull quotes, etc will work only so long as the user stays within a certain size range. So a technically correct epub may not be so hot once you try to use it in a particular device.

Distributed Proofreaders, the group that checks Project Gutenberg books, has some software they use which allows viewing a PDF and another document together for proofreading. But I don't know if it is available or adaptable to your purpose.

I wish you much luck. You are going to need it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kalees

Hi,

I am very new to the EPublishing domain.

currently we are developing an Epub application that convert a pdf to epub file.

As a tester, we must ensure that all the text, images,table of contents, page heater and footer,... are converted correctly in the epub file as same as pdf.

For that, we have to compare both the files and validate the data.

Is there any open source tool available to do the above task perfectly or else we need it do manually?.

If you suggest manually, please tell me the procedure.

please guide me the best testing approach, it would be very grateful.

Thanks in Advance,
Kalees

Eyball Mk I is the only way

All those items can/will convert

But...
they are now in the wrong places , because the source content does not have to be placed linear like EPUB or HTML.

Think back to the days of 'Page Paste ups', pieces glued into place for the plate photo shoot.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mrmikel

As noted by Toxaris, just plain slogging. There are very meticulous epub creators here that go through their submissions to the library repeatedly correcting previously unfound errors.

Your post also does not mention the significant problem of what flavor of epub, for which machine. Hitch makes her living weaving and dodging like a Superbowl quarterback among the creative variations the actual device manufacturers have put into their machines.

Lastly some things, like tables, pull quotes, etc will work only so long as the user stays within a certain size range. So a technically correct epub may not be so hot once you try to use it in a particular device.

Distributed Proofreaders, the group that checks Project Gutenberg books, has some software they use which allows viewing a PDF and another document together for proofreading. But I don't know if it is available or adaptable to your purpose.

I wish you much luck. You are going to need it.

Well, thanks, guys! ;-)

I thought (for about a minute) about replying to this post, but this line:

Is there any open source tool available to do the above task perfectly or else we need it do manually?.

coming immediately upon the heels of THIS line:

currently we are developing an Epub application that convert a pdf to epub file.

...convinced me not to. I mean, if you don't already know the answer to the question about whether or not the Magic Golden PDF comparison Tool doesn't exist, really, you got no bidness making no PDF-to-ePUB-making tools.

We all heard all the big buzz about "Silk" this past year, and how magical it all was, and, lo! All the "magic" is kept in-house. It's not a purchasable app or program or SAS; it's a SERVICE. That allegedly somehow makes creating PDF's into ePUBs "better" and more automated. Riiiiight. Y'know, if it really worked, without a bunch of underpaid laborers doing all the eyeballing, they'd be selling that sucker and people would be lined up for it.

This whole "how do I make a PDF into an ePUB" thing...honestly, it's getting on my last nerve, already this week, and it's only MONDAY. And a holiday, to boot!

I have a good client that sent me a series of files, to be compiled into a single book...about 30-ish. No problem, right? One of the "files" is 547 slides--yes, slides--in PPT. FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN.

Y'know, I'd LOVE to hand this off to Mr. Markdown guy, on that other thread? And say, "here ya go. This allegedly exports in XML. Let's see how your idea works."

OISH.

Hitch
Grouchy Hitch, today.
REALLY grouchy Hitch, today.

[mrmikel]

...I have a good client that sent me a series of files, to be compiled into a single book...about 30-ish. No problem, right? One of the "files" is 547 slides--yes, slides--in PPT. FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN.

It seems working in ebook conversion is a religious experience Hitch. You get a well developed concept of Hell and Eternity! (grin)

[BryanK]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I mean, if you don't already know the answer to the question about whether or not the Magic Golden PDF comparison Tool doesn't exist, really, you got no bidness making no PDF-to-ePUB-making tools.

Yeah, I had the same initial impression, but it's likely that the "we" developing the application are not the same as the "we" responsible for testing it.

[mrmikel]

From a testing approach, limited to errors in text itself, of which there are likely to be many, you could take each section of the book and copy it onto the clipboard from a program which displays epubs.

Then you could paste it into Word or other word processing program which has both spelling and grammar correction and do a spelling/grammar check. You could then fix the errors in Calibre's new editor program or in Sigil or even edit the original in a text editing program.

This may speed up the process from forever to way too long.