eBookInfo WDX/WLX

[beb]

eBookInfo WDX/WLX
Author: dimasic
https://totalcmd.net/plugring/eBookInfoWdx.html
https://totalcmd.net/plugring/eBookInfoWlx.html

eBookInfoWLX
Lister plugin for ebook file headers:
MOBI/AZW/AZW3 (Amazon Kindle), FB2, EPUB, PRC.
Displays cover image(jpeg, png) and basic headers.
2016.06.12: release
2022.01.27: last update (v.2.4.1.0)

eBookInfoWDX
Content plugin for ebook files:
MOBI/AZW/AZW3 (Amazon Kindle), FB2, EPUB, PRC.
Displays basic metadata fields.
2016.06.12: release
2018.09.24: last update (v.1.0.4)

Similar plugin by Psychedelic:
FastFb2_Epub.wdx
https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=44145

NB Once the author decides to develop the plugins further I would ask to add a WDX info field:
cover [presence] = yes|no

[Usher]

There is already similar topic in this forum:
https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=44145
And in the Germsn subforum:
https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=47252

[beb]

2Usher
If one compares my message to that of yours, they will find the exact correspondence as to a link to the FastFb2_Epub.wdx plugin discussion.
Though, they are the different pictures (two different sets of plugins by two authors, one of whom abandoned the lister functions, while the other one didn't).
Cheers.

[Usher]

2beb
My bad. I have copied wrong link in my previous comment. Fixed now.

Both plugins seem to have limited functionality and both seem to be abandoned. I will do some tests and report my findings soon.

[EricB]

Hi Usher,

Just a side note: the eBookInfoWDX is for me at least useful in the MultiRename tool. If the metadata of an ebook is proper, but the filename is all wrong, I can replace that in the filename box with [ebookinfo.author] - [ebookinfo.title] which is my preferred layout.

Regards, EricB

[beb]

If the metadata of an ebook is proper,...

And/or, if the metadata is improper, it can be easily seen and fixed.
I have repaired my entire library (of .fb2 and .epub ebooks) that way.

[EricB]

And/or, if the metadata is improper, it can be easily seen and fixed.
I have repaired my entire library (of .fb2 and .epub ebooks) that way.

Are you then using the MultiRename or a Custom view in the main panel?

[beb]

2EricB
A Custom view, indeed.
I made and keep three Custom view sets for that purpose (two with the eBookInfo WDX/WLX plugin, and one with the EPUB and FB2 content plugin), like this:

Code: Select all

Headers21=Title\nAuthor\nDate\nPublished\nSeries\nGenre\nAuthors
Contents21=[=fastfb2_epub.Book title]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Author]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Text date]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Publication Date]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Sequence]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Genre]\n[=fastfb2_epub.Authors]

Headers22=Title\nAuthor\nName\nLastname\nMiddlename\nDate\nPublished\nSequence\nGenres
Contents22=[=ebookinfo.Title]\n[=ebookinfo.Author]\n[=ebookinfo.Author Firstname]\n[=ebookinfo.Author Lastname]\n[=ebookinfo.Author Middlename]\n[=ebookinfo.Date]\n[=ebookinfo.Publish date]\n[=ebookinfo.Sequence] #[=ebookinfo.Sequence number]\n[=ebookinfo.Genres]

Headers23=Title\nAuthor\nSequence
Contents23=[=ebookinfo.Title]\n[=ebookinfo.Author]\n[=ebookinfo.Sequence] #[=ebookinfo.Sequence number]

Repairing .fb2 is easy because of its simple single-file xml/html like structure, where I put my attention mainly to these sections/fields:

Code: Select all

<description>
<title-info>
<author><first-name>Name</first-name><last-name>Author</last-name></author>
<book-title>Book Title</book-title>
<sequence name="Series Title" number="0"/>
<coverpage><image l:href="#cover.jpg"/></coverpage>
</title-info>
</description>

Repairing .epub is a bit complicated but still relatively easily doable.
I need to unpack it first, then find its root .opf file (as a rule, it's .epub\OEBPS\content.opf; whatever name/location it has it has to be explicitly declared [and therefore found by its path] in the .epub\META-INF\container.xml file), fix it, and pack it back.
In case of .epub I put my attention mainly to these sections/fields (of root .opf file):

Code: Select all

<metadata[...]>
<dc:creator opf:role="aut" opf:file-as="Author, Name">Name Author</dc:creator>
<dc:title>Book Title</dc:title>
<meta name="calibre:title_sort" content="Book Title"/>
<meta name="calibre:series" content="Series"/>
<meta name="calibre:series_index" content="0"/>
...
<dc:date opf:event="creation">2024-03-05</dc:date>
<dc:date opf:event="publication">2024-03-05</dc:date>
...
<meta name="cover" content="cover"/>
</metadata>
<manifest>
<item id="cover" href="images/cover.jpg" media-type="image/jpeg" properties="cover-image"/>
...
</manifest>

As for me, the AuthorName, BookTitle, [SeriesTitle, SeriesNumber, if any], and Cover data in an ebook are a must.
If there are no ones, or some are missed, I recreate them by myself.
If the SeriesNumber is unavailable/unknown, in case of .epub I prefer to explicitly put "0" there (otherwise, some readers may render some strange numbers like -1.0E09), namely:

Code: Select all

<meta name="calibre:series_index" content="0"/>

(in case of .fb2 an unavailable/unknown series number just can be safely omitted at all: <sequence name="Series Title" number="0"/>)

Notes:

Code: Select all

<meta name="calibre:series" content="Series"/>
<meta name="calibre:series_index" content="0"/>

The above is the EPUB 2 syntax.
For EPUB 3 they developed another ("meta refines... property...") approach for the titling like this:

Code: Select all

<dc:title id="title">Main Title</dc:title>
<meta refines="title" property="title-type">Subtitle</meta>
<meta refines="title" property="title-type">Series</meta>
<meta refines="title" property="title-type">1</meta>

However, this won't actually work for me, so I prefer to leave those EPUB 2 data even for EPUB 3 ebooks, which proves to work well.

Even though the .fb2 format itself is dead, the ebooks are still there, and I use it from time to time, preferring .epub.

I don't use any specialized software for editing/creating ebooks, just a casual text editor that handles different file encodings well, TotalCommander/7zip to unpack/pack the .epubs, and PowerShell for automation of repetitive tasks.

[nemor]

Thanks for information

[beb]

For your information:
I came across an epub ebook from Amazon that at first glance looked fine, well-rendered by the readers (outside), well-structured, and with the content.opf metadata filled (inside).
However, neither of the plugins (eBookInfo.wdx/eBookInfo.wlx, FastFb2_Epub.wdx) displayed any info (including cover [eBookInfo.wlx]).
It turned out, content.opf in this epub file went with the tags "opf:" prefixes everywhere, like this:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<opf:package xmlns:opf=... xmlns:dc=... unique-identifier="BookId" version="2.0">
  <opf:metadata>
    <dc:title>...</dc:title>
    <dc:creator opf:file-as="..." opf:role="aut">...</dc:creator>
    <opf:meta content="..." name="cover"/>
  </opf:metadata>
  <opf:manifest>
    <opf:item  ... />
    ...
  </opf:manifest>
  <opf:spine toc="ncx">
    <opf:itemref ... />
    ...
  </opf:spine>
  <opf:guide>
    <opf:reference ... />
    ...
  </opf:guide>
</opf:package>

And nothing worked until I completely removed those "opf:" tags prefixes:
So all the tags with "opf:" prefixes like <opf:tags><opf:tags/></opf:tags> became just <tags><tags/></tags>;
At the same time, all the attributes with "opf:" prefixes remained intact (opf:file-as="..." opf:role="aut", etc.).
After that, the plugins displayed all available info as intended (including cover [eBookInfo.wlx])
And while it fits in XML itself, I can see no example of using <opf:> prefixes for the tags in epub specifications:
EPUB2: https://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0.1_draft.htm
EPUB3: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub/