KindEbook Suite (BUGFIXes)

[TheSaint]

UpdateFromOPF updated, to v4.7 , see Post #5.

(v4.7)
Added some additional fixes for bad html elements (removes incorrect space).

(v4.6)
Added a PREVIEW button for Comments, to show what they will look like in Calibre.
Font Size for Comments can now be toggled through a few larger sizes with a SIZE button, to make editing easier.
Tag replacements for HTML in Comments, are now mostly automatic, for easier viewing etc.

(v4.5)
Bugfix & Improvements.
Added a FIX button for issues with Comments saving.
Author Initials has better processing etc.

[TheSaint]

AZWPlug updated, to v6.0, see Post #3. This includes all of AZWDrop v2.9 (source & exe). BUGFIX etc.

(v6.0)
Bugfix for blank Publisher automation option.
If an entry is removed using the right-click UP button option, then that entry line is now colored Red, and updating with that button will now fully restore the entry and line color (Status excepted).
During an adding to Calibre, the total count and currently processing number might be displayed in the program title (dependent on settings scenario).
Splash have been replaced by big red text for loading and sorting, with additional progress indication.
Due to a limitation of INI files, the method of reading section names has been changed.
Minor display bugfix.

(v5.9)
When changing Author name to Various, the original is saved and can be restored using that (UP button) right-click option.
Improvements made to the 'GET ALL UNLISTED' button process, including visual and some automated replacements or fixes (see the 'Settings' button on the SETUP window, if you want to change any).
Column width BUGFIX for Prior.

Edited October 26, 2019 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Batch Ebook Convert updated, to v2.3, see Post #41.

(v2.3)
Path currently being processed is now shown in the Source input field.
Other minor improvements.
A dialog query, allows a single selected entry to be processed instead of ALL the entries on the List.

(v2.2)
Gave preference to PRC and LIT source files over other extra types.

[TheSaint]

Add Book & All Formats To Calibre v4.1, see Post #4.

(v4.1)
Library name is now added to Log file entries and displayed on FIND dialog window.

(v4.0)
BUGFIX for adding KFX, where something like a hyphenated (alien) character exists in Title text. Now you either get prompted for course of action, or if such a character  has previously had a replacement specified, the KFX just gets added.

(v3.9)
Changed the order of how KFX is checked and processed.

[TheSaint]

Batch Ebook Convert updated, to v2.4, see Post #41. BUGFIX - Apologies to the single downloader.

(v2.4)
Bugfix for manual response to dialog prompt (process ALL or Selected entry only).

NOTE - The perils of copy & paste and changing your mind. I overlooked a necessary change from OK + CANCEL to YES + NO, forgetting to set the correct value for YES. It slipped through my own personal usage tests, because I just normally let it time out.

Edited October 27, 2019 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

UpdateFromOPF updated, to v5.0 , see Post #5.

(v5.0)
Changed the black 'Rank' label to a button, that grabs any number from trailing (first) or leading text from the 'Series' input field, for the 'Series Rank' of current ebook. NOTE - Best used in conjunction with Left and Right Trim buttons. This can make up for some 'Series' button failings.

(v4.9)
Added a RELOAD button.
EDIT (Preview) button is now named EDITOR.
Proper focus now given to Edit field after viewing enlarged cover and upon restoring Editor window from minimize.
Editor window is now slightly taller.
Edit field, Cover image and SAVE button resized to match changes.
Implemented an auto alternate method for direct query of Amazon.
CaSe buttons toggle order is now Titlecase first if not.

(v4.8)
Case buttons for Title and Author, now toggle between UPPERCASE and Titlecase.
BUGFIX for case change to Author name that wasn't sticking (finally solved I hope).

[TheSaint]

Add Book & All Formats To Calibre v4.2, see Post #4.

(v4.2)
Improved adding books & formats where the ebook title is the same as an existing.

[TheSaint]

AZWPlug updated, to v6.1, see Post #3. This includes all of AZWDrop v2.9 (source & exe).

(v6.1)
When using the GET ALL UNLISTED process, status is now displayed in the Title field instead of using Splashes, and the Database window is restored sooner.
The open selected entry in Wordpad etc, has now been updated to deal with KFX-ZIP files, viewing content of the metadata file instead.

[TheSaint]

KindEbook Wishlist updated to v6.9, see Post #2.

(v6.9)
Added a 'Go To' entry option, for when ADD results in existing for current user.
If an entry is marked as paid (bought) in the database, its price will now never be queried.
A 'Favorites' query or 'Favorite' status of an entry, can now be set as a 'Primary' or 'Secondary' favorite one.
ISBN is now finally corrected to MOBI-ASIN as column header.
When a sort occurs on the MOBI-ASIN column, Secondary items come after Pre-Orders.
The checkbox to indicate a Favorites query, now has three states, with the new third state being a filled in box or block, rather than a tick or cleared. Use that third state when just wanting to Query prices for any Secondary favorite items.

NOTES
I have been meaning to add a secondary favorites ability for some time, as my non-favorite list of entries has now grown considerably ... so much so, that I rarely price query them, as it takes too long. So the Secondary, is really for those that don't quite make the Favorites list or may be in waiting for some reason. before assigning that to them. Generally, if an item doesn't make the Favorites list, then my interest in it is not that high, and I am only likely to buy at great discount ... if even then, depending on my mood etc at the time. But as you may imagine, there are some on the list that score much higher in my desire for them than others, and some I am unsure of for a variety of reasons (i.e. they sound good, but I don't know the author yet, but intend to ... may even have a book by them to read). Having a Secondary list items like that, increasing sounded like a good idea to me, and so finally I implemented it. The other benefit of course, is that the non-favorites list is now smaller, so I may now indeed check it more often.

In the beginning, when I named the ebook ID column to ISBN, I really wasn't sure what to call it, even had some limited notion it might actually be the ISBN. It was a while before I found out what the ID really was, MOBI-ASIN, and I have been meaning to change it ever since, but kept overlooking it for an update or been in too much of a hurry to bother ... and of course I was ambivalent about it for a good while ... did it really matter. I also had no idea how long I would keep bothering with the program, and at one point it even stopped working (a good while ago now), and looked unlikely to work again. So here I am years later, and I still pretty much use it every day, so why not fix that outstanding issue, so I did.

[TheSaint]

UpdateFromOPF updated, to v5.2 , see Post #5.

(v5.2)
Bugfixes for errors added to calibre metadata, including importing again and using FIX buttons.
NOTE - This is primarily for Authors and Comments, for things either overlooked or misunderstood.

(v5.1)
Added detection and conversion of some Roman Numerals for Series, when using the RANK button.

NOTES
The bugfix in v5.2 relates to if you re-processed an OPF file using the program. This could in some cases, result in unwanted and incomplete HTML formatting details. I apologize for that, and have also added some more code to the Comments FIX button to hopefully remove such detail (if you want to fix any that has occurred, and haven't already done so manually). Clearly my thinking was faulty at the time, when I developed what I did ... that and lacking some knowledge. All should be okay now for future processing.

[TheSaint]

Add Book & All Formats To Calibre v4.4, see Post #4.

(v4.4)
Implemented a query to close the 'calibre.exe' process, if running when the FIND window closes.
NOTE - This may aid, if some ebook folders are deemed in use still, by calibre.

(v4.3)
Implemented starting Calibre with the specified (selected) library.

[TheSaint]

Bucket-for-URLs updated to v2.1. See Post #17.

(v2.1)
Improvement or Bugfix, the program uses a 2nd method (if 1st fails) to process a dropped URL.

NOTE
I finally added some information (Post #17) about how & why I use the program.

[TheSaint]

Batch Ebook Convert updated, to v2.6, see Post #41. New screenshots included.

(v2.6)
Added AZW3 format as a 'Convert To' option in 'Program Options'.
NOTE - Previously the program had been limited to converting to either EPUB or MOBI or both. Just recently it occurred to me, that AZW3 is also a good smaller alternative to the now default KFX, and has better features than MOBI. Until KFX became the new Kindle standard, AZW3 was it, and that was when I created this program, hence why it wasn't an option. I have now belatedly added it back into the mix, as it is a significantly smaller file size compared to KFX. Older Kindle devices still natively download & use AZW3 anyway, and I seem to recall that Kindle For PC does too, but then converts on-the-fly to KFX.

(v2.5)
Added a 'Minimize DOS' console checkbox option, that can be set before or during conversion processing.
NOTE - If it is set during, then current process needs to complete before it is implemented. By process, I mean instances of the RunWait command, which can occur two or more times during a full job (i.e checking on formats, during format conversions).
The 'Query & Timed Pause' option can now be temporarily set or unset during conversion, and it will automatically be restored immediately afterward.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

KindEbook Wishlist updated to v7.0, see Post #2.

(v7.0)
Bugfix for Number column - belatedly realized it only showed numbers up to 999, so now it supports up to 9999 ebook entries.
To accomodate the change, Number column has been widened and Author column narrowed.
NOTE - Most users would not have been impacted, as it was probably only for their bought (b) user(s), who may like myself, have over a thousand bought ebooks, that this fix will be relevant. I also have users named after a category (i.e. Freebies(b) etc) where I keep other separate copies of ebooks I have purchased, and some of these were also impacted by the original 999 limit.

[TheSaint]

AZWPlug updated, to v6.2, see Post #3. This includes all of AZWDrop v2.9 (source & exe).

(v6.2)
Improved & Expanded the search options (FIND and SHOW).
SHOW button will now search the whole database, if the List is empty, and leading/trailing wild card asterisk can be used.
FIND button now advises etc if List is empty.

[TheSaint]

KindEbook Wishlist updated to v7.5, see Post #2.

(v7.5)
Major Update. Future proofed the program for greater number of entries on the list.
NOTE - Depending on the number of entries for a user, loading the list could take several seconds longer now. This is of course dependent on the power of your processor etc.

NOTES
Basically I swapped out the IniReadSectionNames function (several instances) for some code of my own, as one of my user lists is fast approaching the 32767 characters limit of that original INI function. You can see an example of similar code here.

I did briefly toy for a couple of days spending many hours updating the program to use SQL instead of INI, but in the end I wasn't satisfied enough with the result. I got the basics working well enough, but during live testing Query prices failed, and at this point I haven't bothered to troubleshoot yet, and may not. I like to keep things simple, which is why I have stayed with using INI over XML (which I dislike as it is slow etc with any sizable database file) and SQL (which I kind of like but is more complex than I really want). This was my first attempt at converting one of my INI based programs to SQL, and I doubt I will bother again. However it was one of those things I had on my to do list. Perhaps I should have tried a simpler program first.

Some of you may be aware that I built an INI To SQL conversion program some time back and also a UDF that replicated INI functions using SQL instead. I used a modified version of those, and the conversion portion at least, worked well. On the third day, after having completed the SQL update to my program (bugs aside)  on the second day, and having decided to do my replacement code for the IniReadSectionNames function instead, I belatedly thought of a better way to do what I had done, which would have saved a good number of hours (probably avoided the second day entirely) ... oh well, such is life ... not that those two days were full days of coding.

Just for the record, the better way would have been to rename all existing INI functions doing a Replace All, using the underscore character at the front (i.e. _IniRead). Do that so all of the functions went back to my own replicated function variants, which I could then replace with the SQL ones where relevant (dependent on source file). Instead I had a dumb moment and replaced all the relevant INI functions with another generic function, carefully picking and choosing which ones to do it too ... which took an awful long time .. not helped by me changing my mind a couple of times about the formation of the parameters (another dumb moment). Basically I was using two functions for all the original INI functions, but passing a read or write parameter. Please note, I wasn't replacing every INI function, because many being used purely for the Settings.ini file, were left intact. It was only the INI functions dealing with the user database files, that needed changing. I guess the heart of the issue, was that I just jumped right in, without spending much time cogitating over how I should best do so ... a lesson to be learned there I suspect. In any case it is always easier to be smarter after the fact ... hindsight being such a lovely thing to have.

As to why I decided to give up on the SQL update I spent many hours over two days on. Well, like I said, I prefer simple, and SQL takes a lot more thought than INI, plus starting and loading database files and checking things. All rather more complex than I prefer, plus I can open my INI files in a text editor like Notepad and edit manually or troubleshoot far more easily. Far easier to work with two INI files simultaneously too, for comparisons or transfers. I get the benefits of SQL, but for me there is the offsets that must always be considered too. Another thing, that really irked me, was finding blank entries in a SQL DB file, that turned out to be due to apostrophes in a couple of names. I had a to write replace and restore code to cater for that and other illegal characters. I honestly thought that in 2019, that sort of nonsense would well and truly have been catered for inside the functions themselves, with a different approach ... apostrophes are so common after all.

[TheSaint]

UpdateFromOPF updated, to v6.2 , see Post #5.

NOTE - This is a major update with some significant changes/improvements. I have been a bit remiss in not uploading for a while, but I have been on a continuous roll of testing and finding issues and fixing, and until now was not really happy enough to upload.

ADVICE - All screenshots at Post #5 are now significantly out-of-date. One day I will get around to updating them.

(v6.2)
You can now see or check or change the current default (active) calibre library, plus remove or add other libraries to the selection list.

(v6.1)
Finally remembered to add some missing tooltips for buttons etc.
Several bugfixes for combo selection issues (index related).
Various other little tweaks.

(v6.0)
Finally got around to making better sense with the display of 'On Exit' options, etc.

(v5.9)
Added a CTRL option to the '1 - Series' button, where you can instead use leading Title text for the Series ... the separator is whatever comes first out of : - (.
Minor improvement for the FIX button for Author(s), where an entry is now selected on completion of changes.

(v5.8)
Added two buttons to the Editor (Italic or Emphasis and Bold or Strong).
Use CTRL to get the alternate option for those plus the Heading button (H3 or H4).
SHIFT held down when copying Author name to the Author Sort field, joins multiple author names with an ampersand to that field.
Other minor changes to how Comments text is treated after fetching.
FIX button for Comments, now shows a query and provides two options, with one being an Input for text replacements.

(v5.7)
Bugfixes for multiple author names, including for re-processing.
Support added for WIN XP.

(v5.6)
The calibre library path is now determined by the last used library in calibre, but can change based on the path of an ebook being processed (Folder button excepted from any processing change).

(v5.5)
Many changes & additions & improvements.
Existing TAGS can now be optionally transferred to the Comments field on SAVE.
A red line appears above the TAGS button when existing Tags are present.
TAGS button and other buttons related to Comments have been resized & moved (icons assigned to some), and some new ones added, including a limited UNDO button (only works for last changes from new buttons).
Comments code are no longer modified for improved visuals, which can be seen using the Preview button anyway.
Path to the calibre library, for 'metadata.opf' being processed, is now explicitly specified.

(v5.4)
Major Update.
Many changes to the program to support the optional 'Various' as the author name when multiple individual authors detected & queried, with the other author names displayed separately regardless of the new 'Various' setting, plus relocated to 'Comments' etc if 'Various' is enabled.
In addition, all author names are now also set separately as a Tag in the XML 'subject' field.
Existing tags can now be skipped during saving, if desired (often these Tags are abused).
The 'Metadata Editor' window has been enlarged a little to accommodate changes, and the preview popup cover image has been increased in size.
A 'TAGS' button has been added to view existing Tags (Subjects).
Minor changes have been made to other GUI elements.
PLEASE NOTE - The program still needs more intensive testing, as bugs may have been introduced with the complex new changes for authors and related.

(v5.3)
Minor bugfixes & visual improvement.
 

Edited April 28, 2020 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Batch Ebook Convert updated, to v3.4, see Post #41. New screenshot for 'Program Options' included.

Apologies for taking so long to upload an update ... but I am sure some of you know how it is.

(v3.4)
Bugfix for zipping issues.

(v3.3)
Changed how entries are added to the Log file - still at the start, but no longer in reverse order, so now listed top downward.

(v3.2)
Added the option of ripping an ebook to HTML based content (in a folder) first and then zipping that, before then converting, using that zip file to speed up conversion to multiple formats.

(v3.1)
Bugfix & improvements to ensure the right calibre Library path and file are used.

(v3.0)
The option to 'Convert With Errors', is now displayed in red text if either enabled or if set for a retry temporarily.
NOTE - Retry only occurs after a prompt, if that has been enabled for KFX errors.

(v2.9)
Improved how 'Convert With Errors' is presented and processed during proceedings, with an 'Abort ALL' option added, plus an auto restore for skipped error entries.
Minor Bugfix.

(v2.8)
The 'Stop After Current' option is now a three state setting (tick, block, cleared).
The new block option allows for cancelling between format conversions, whereas the tick only cancels after all specified formats have been converted to (for the current entry being processed).

(v2.7)
Changed some Status colors, including for EPUB, MOBI and AZW3 ... each now having a conversion color of their own.
 

[TheSaint]

Add Book & All Formats To Calibre v4.7, see Post #4. Screenshot for FIND window is now slightly out-of-date.

(v4.7)
Improved the FIND option, and added an alternate GoTo option.
GoTo is very limited, as it is based upon first character of Author name and/or book Title.
NOTE - The GoTo enabling checkbox, is a three state one (ON/OFF/Neither).
ON (a tick) or Neither (a block) are required for GoTo use.
ON means jumping to the start of the List, selecting Column 2 (authors), finding the first Author starting with the first character of listed name.
If the second lower checkbox is selected, then the jump starts from the currently selected entry, and finds the first Title starting with the first character of listed book.
If you also wish the jump to include Author name, put the GoTo checkbox in the Neither state.
However, the Neither state paired with the second checkbox being selected, can mean missing the first book listed.
You can pretty much achieve what the GoTo option does, by just clicking a character on your keyboard, while the Calibre window is active.
WARNING - By default, calibre has many single characters assigned to shortcut keys (and some will cause unwanted actions from calibre), so they will impact the success of the GoTo option or even manual use of your keyboard (see the additional information in program for more about that).
In reality, the GoTo option mostly only achieves what happens when you close the search result window after using FIND.
FIND will be much faster usually, and better targeted.

(v4.6)
Bugfix for precise Calibre window recognition.
KILL button added.

(v4.5)
Bugfix for selecting first author when adding, for Log report file and FIND.
 

[TheSaint]

AZWPlug updated, to v6.4, see Post #3. This includes all of AZWDrop v2.9 (source & exe).

(v6.4)
Improved and added to List right-click menu options.
Attempt made to deal with an auto selection bug when auto updating.
'Restore Latest' and 'Selected Entry - Undo Update' right-click List menu options added.

(v6.3)
Current default library folder is now detected on demand, from calibre settings.