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[syndromeofadown]

This is how I personally use MC for eBooks and eComics. The steps I have laid out can be tweaked to fit most people’s needs.


Enable data support if not already done:
Go to Tools-->Options-->General-->Features and check ‘Data Support’


Setup MC to import desired file types:
In the JRiver installation directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 19\Data\) find the folder called default resources.
In this folder find the file called FileAssociations.
Make a new folder beside the default resources folder called "Custom Resources"
Copy the FileAssociations file into that folder.
Open the fileassociation file with notepad and edit the data line so it contains the extensions you want.
This is what I add to the data line: “eComics (cbr,cbz);eBooks (lrf,epub,mobi)”
Here is the unedited data line:

Code: [Select]

<Data>MS Office Files (doc,docx,xls,xlsx,csv,ppt,pptx,mde,mdb);OpenOffice Files (odt,odg,odp,ods);Adobe Acrobat Files (pdf);Text Files (txt,rtf,log);Source Files (cpp,h,c);Webpage Files (html,htm,mht,url);Executables (exe);Disk Image Files (iso,img,nrg,mdx);</Data>Here is the edited data line:

Code: [Select]

<Data>eComics (cbr,cbz);eBooks (lrf,epub,mobi);MS Office Files (doc,docx,xls,xlsx,csv,ppt,pptx,mde,mdb);OpenOffice Files (odt,odg,odp,ods);Adobe Acrobat Files (pdf);Text Files (txt,rtf,log);Source Files (cpp,h,c);Webpage Files (html,htm,mht,url);Executables (exe);Disk Image Files (iso,img,nrg,mdx);</Data>MC needs restarted for changes to show up.
When done you will see new file types in auto import like below.





Tag fields:
I view eComics and eBooks together in the same views.
I view by Author-->Series (book)-->Title
All three fields are data type lists (as opposed to String).
Reason being that books can have multiple artists and comics can have multiple series and names because of crossovers.
MC has a field called Series but it is not a list, hence the field called ‘Series (book)’.
Author is an existing field but Series (book) and Title need to be created.
To do so go to Tools-->Options-->Library & Folders-->Features and select ‘Manage Library Fields’
Select ‘Add New Field’
Name it ‘Series (book)’
Set flags to ‘Data’
Set Data Type to ‘List’



Do the same thing for Title.


Naming conventions and Tag On Import:
Field values are parsed from the filenames on import using Tag On Import.
To make this simple, all files should have a common folder structure.
I use Documents\Author\Series (book)\Title
Examples:
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\1 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.epub
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\2 - The Girl Who Played with Fire.epub
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\3 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Castaneda, Carlos\Don Juan\1971 - Separate Reality.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Castaneda, Carlos\Don Juan\1972 - Journey to Ixtlan.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Anthony, Piers\- No Series\Alien Plot.lrf

Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 303.cbz
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1; Fatal Attractions\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 304; Fatal Attractions 003.cbz
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 305.cbz

Note that when a book is not part of a series I put it in a folder called “- No Series” to keep folder structure consistant.
All comics have “Comics” in the Author field.
If I want Books to be sorted in a particular order I put a date or series number in the name.
If a field has multiple values, separate them with a semicolon.

Add the following three expression to tag on import:
Author = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,1)
Series (book) = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,2)
Title = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,3)



The expressions get the filename info that is contained between the folder called “Documents” and “.” for the file extension.


Views:
I use a pane view and a category view which are basically setup the same: Author-->Series (book)-->Title
In customize view I make a rule that filename contains “\Documents\” and sort by Title (a-z).
I use thumbnails with thumbnail text as follows:
Replace([Title],;,/ as well as)
[File Type]

Cover art sits beside each file and is named the same as the file it is for.
It won’t show up in MC by default. To get it to show up:
- Select all the documents in MC
- Change Media sub type to video (in the tag window)
- right click files and choose cover art-->quick find in cover art directory
- change media sub type back to data

Covers for comics can be obtained by:
Make a copy of the Comic.
Change the extention to rar or zip.
Extract rar or zip to folder.
The first jpg in the folder will be the cover.

Covers for Books can be found by doing a google image search and setting size to large.
I add “site:amazon.com” to the search.









External programs for reading eBooks:
For Books on a PC I use Calibre’s “ebook-viewer.exe” NOT the full calibre program.
It can be found in Calibres’s install folder C:\Program Files\Calibre2\ .

For comics on a PC and Android I use Comicrack.

For books on android I use Aldiko, FBReader, and ezPDF Reader.

I don't know anything about kindles, Kobos, Nooks, etc.


Additional notes:
Some eBook and eComic formats support embedded metadata.
I have no idea what file types or software support it.
I personally don’t have a use for them but others may.
Please share if you have some expertise in this area.

Some software uses opf files similar to how MC uses sidecar files.
As far as I know, MC will not read, write, or use these in any way.

I don’t care about Publisher, ISBN, Description, Genre, or Date.
The steps I have shown can be adapted for people who do.

MC has a lot of tools that make naming and organizing large numbers of files easy.
It’s good to know how to use: ‘Fill properties from filenames’ and ‘Rename, Move, & Copy Files’.

If anyone has information to add to this, please share.

[JimH]

Thanks very much for taking time to post that.

[rudyrednose]

Amazing post syndromeofadown, you documented well how to generalize to another type of collection   
Thank you very much !

Cheers,
'nose

[paulx]

Thanks a ton syndromeofadown for taking time to post a detailed  account  on how to manage the documents.  This is fantastic. This is exactly what i was looking for.  I found that the best and lightest free ereader that can  us to open all documents including pdf, mobi, djvu, etc  is Sumatra. I have linked it  as my external reader for ebooks  in jriver and it can  open almost any kind of ebook. From Calibre i save the data to my folder on my hard drive and then i can import the document, its image and the opf file (all having the  same name) to jriver.

Opf is an informative file as it contains the detailed book description of the book so one doesn't have to go to the web  to look it up. I can open  opf as txt fle  but it  screws the format. So the challenge  is to find a reader that can read the opf file  as they are read in Calibre. I don't want to use calibre to read the  opf, as opening it  makes unnecessary entry into the Calibre  database. I would want an external reader that i can link to the jriver and so when i click the opf from jriver it would open it.

When i put a book in calibre and then save it, it automatically save the metadata to the pdf documents with the cover. If you open a pdf and check its properties you will notice it.  I am sure there is a way to pull the metadata form the pdf directly into JRiver. I am new to jriver so i don't know how to do this.  If anyone knows  this , please let me know.

[Ekpen]

This is how I personally use MC for eBooks and eComics. The steps I have laid out can be tweaked to fit most people’s needs.


Enable data support if not already done:
Go to Tools-->Options-->General-->Features and check ‘Data Support’


Setup MC to import desired file types:
In the JRiver installation directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 19\Data\) find the folder called default resources.
In this folder find the file called FileAssociations.
Make a new folder beside the default resources folder called "Custom Resources"
Copy the FileAssociations file into that folder.
Open the fileassociation file with notepad and edit the data line so it contains the extensions you want.
This is what I add to the data line: “eComics (cbr,cbz);eBooks (lrf,epub,mobi)”
Here is the unedited data line:

Code: [Select]

<Data>MS Office Files (doc,docx,xls,xlsx,csv,ppt,pptx,mde,mdb);OpenOffice Files (odt,odg,odp,ods);Adobe Acrobat Files (pdf);Text Files (txt,rtf,log);Source Files (cpp,h,c);Webpage Files (html,htm,mht,url);Executables (exe);Disk Image Files (iso,img,nrg,mdx);</Data>Here is the edited data line:

Code: [Select]

<Data>eComics (cbr,cbz);eBooks (lrf,epub,mobi);MS Office Files (doc,docx,xls,xlsx,csv,ppt,pptx,mde,mdb);OpenOffice Files (odt,odg,odp,ods);Adobe Acrobat Files (pdf);Text Files (txt,rtf,log);Source Files (cpp,h,c);Webpage Files (html,htm,mht,url);Executables (exe);Disk Image Files (iso,img,nrg,mdx);</Data>MC needs restarted for changes to show up.
When done you will see new file types in auto import like below.





Tag fields:
I view eComics and eBooks together in the same views.
I view by Author-->Series (book)-->Title
All three fields are data type lists (as opposed to String).
Reason being that books can have multiple artists and comics can have multiple series and names because of crossovers.
MC has a field called Series but it is not a list, hence the field called ‘Series (book)’.
Author is an existing field but Series (book) and Title need to be created.
To do so go to Tools-->Options-->Library & Folders-->Features and select ‘Manage Library Fields’
Select ‘Add New Field’
Name it ‘Series (book)’
Set flags to ‘Data’
Set Data Type to ‘List’



Do the same thing for Title.


Naming conventions and Tag On Import:
Field values are parsed from the filenames on import using Tag On Import.
To make this simple, all files should have a common folder structure.
I use Documents\Author\Series (book)\Title
Examples:
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\1 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.epub
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\2 - The Girl Who Played with Fire.epub
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Larsson, Stieg\Millenium Trilogy\3 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Castaneda, Carlos\Don Juan\1971 - Separate Reality.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Castaneda, Carlos\Don Juan\1972 - Journey to Ixtlan.pdf
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Anthony, Piers\- No Series\Alien Plot.lrf

Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 303.cbz
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1; Fatal Attractions\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 304; Fatal Attractions 003.cbz
Z:\Documents Z\Documents\Comics\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1\Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 305.cbz

Note that when a book is not part of a series I put it in a folder called “- No Series” to keep folder structure consistant.
All comics have “Comics” in the Author field.
If I want Books to be sorted in a particular order I put a date or series number in the name.
If a field has multiple values, separate them with a semicolon.

Add the following three expression to tag on import:
Author = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,1)
Series (book) = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,2)
Title = regex([Filename],/#\\Documents\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\.#/,3)



The expressions get the filename info that is contained between the folder called “Documents” and “.” for the file extension.


Views:
I use a pane view and a category view which are basically setup the same: Author-->Series (book)-->Title
In customize view I make a rule that filename contains “\Documents\” and sort by Title (a-z).
I use thumbnails with thumbnail text as follows:
Replace([Title],;,/ as well as)
[File Type]

Cover art sits beside each file and is named the same as the file it is for.
It won’t show up in MC by default. To get it to show up:
- Select all the documents in MC
- Change Media sub type to video (in the tag window)
- right click files and choose cover art-->quick find in cover art directory
- change media sub type back to data
Covers for comics can be obtained by:
Make a copy of the Comic.
Change the extention to rar or zip.
Extract rar or zip to folder.
The first jpg in the folder will be the cover.

Covers for Books can be found by doing a google image search and setting size to large.
I add “site:amazon.com” to the search.









External programs for reading eBooks:
For Books on a PC I use Calibre’s “ebook-viewer.exe” NOT the full calibre program.
It can be found in Calibres’s install folder C:\Program Files\Calibre2\ .

For comics on a PC and Android I use Comicrack.

For books on android I use Aldiko, FBReader, and ezPDF Reader.

I don't know anything about kindles, Kobos, Nooks, etc.


Additional notes:
Some eBook and eComic formats support embedded metadata.
I have no idea what file types or software support it.
I personally don’t have a use for them but others may.
Please share if you have some expertise in this area.

Some software uses opf files similar to how MC uses sidecar files.
As far as I know, MC will not read, write, or use these in any way.

I don’t care about Publisher, ISBN, Description, Genre, or Date.
The steps I have shown can be adapted for people who do.

MC has a lot of tools that make naming and organizing large numbers of files easy.
It’s good to know how to use: ‘Fill properties from filenames’ and ‘Rename, Move, & Copy Files’.

If anyone has information to add to this, please share.

Hi:
I created a folder called Custom Resources beside the default folder.
I then copied the fileassociations there, edited it. It will not allow me save the file there, instead it moved it to another folder in Documents.

Is it possible to ask MC folks to just add these ebooks, ecomics etc to the file assaciations?
Permission  or security thing, will not let me save the new file, even if I change the security level.
I am using Win 8.1 Pro.

Thanks
George.

[syndromeofadown]

It will not allow me save the file there

Same on my PC using windows 8.1.

This will work.
1 - Drag or paste a copy of the 'FileAssociations' to your desktop.
2 - Edit it there.
3 - Drag or paste it back to the Custom Resources folder.

[Ekpen]

Thanks
George

[paulx]

You had mentioned in your post that .....Covers for Books can be found by doing a google image search and setting size to large.
I add “site:amazon.com” to the search.

 I wanted to know if there is a way to automate the image search in JRiver  or you have to do it manually  for one book/comic at a time.

I will appreciate a response.

Thanks
Paul

[MrC]

There's nothing to automate this in MC, but you can create Link to help you in your search:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=83371.0

[6233638]

Thanks for the great post.
I have been wondering what to do about managing my ebooks recently, and using Media Center seems like a great option, since the Calibre UI is horrible.
 
I wonder if it might be possible for Media Center to view CBZ/CBR comics, or at least extract cover art from them directly since they are just zip/rar files full of images.

[glynor]

Thanks very much for taking time to post that.

+1

[4BYE]

The subject is saying it all: Is it possible to play .epub and .cbr through library server?

I added a FileAssociations.xml in Custom Resources with both but when I click on either comic or book in the library it doesn't show the epub or cbr.

Any help is welcome!

Theo

[astromo]

The subject is saying it all: Is it possible to play .epub and .cbr through library server?

I added a FileAssociations.xml in Custom Resources with both but when I click on either comic or book in the library it doesn't show the epub or cbr.

Any help is welcome!

Theo

Yes.

A search of Interact offers up this comprehensive guide:
Managing eBooks and eComics with MC19

The Wiki gives:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Comics
that then directs to the previously mentioned URL.

[4BYE]

I do understand this. I have everything on my PC the way it is described. However my question is about playing epub and cbr through the Library Server. And that doesn't work for me right now. On my laptop I did install the same programs to view them with.

[ferday]

another thanks.  i have a daunting collection of white papers that i've been meaning to get at.  this is helpful

[syndromeofadown]

And that doesn't work for me right now

What do you mean by it doesn't work?

Here is how documents work on my PC to give you an idea.

While using the local library on my laptop, I can use MC to open epub, cbz, and all other documents I have off of my server. I use mapped networked drives. They open immediately with external programs and I have never had a problem doing so.

If I load the server library into MC on my laptop, then open a document from the server, a "GetFile" dialog appears which I can use to select an external program. The document then opens immediately. Maybe there is a smoother way to do this but I don't know. I don't have much experience running MC like this.

I suspect you will be able to get things working properly.
Something to check is:
Either
1 - choose the external program by browsing to the exe in MC Tools/Options/Filetypes.
2 - make sure the external program you want is set as the default in windows and leave MC set to automatic.

Hopefully helpful.

[4BYE]

When using Cdisplay for my cbr I get the program with a "There are no images to display" error.
With Calibre I get a "[error 13] permission denied" error.
PDF do work, and these are on the same disc.

My video's and audio do work great.

When I switched to "automatic" in options I got a different approach. I have to give my pw again and I get a file to download.
This isn't working either.

In CDisplay I get a screen with all kinds of characters. (external program (default))
With an .epub I get a zipped file.

[syndromeofadown]

I think i found a solution.
When playing from the server library don't just select your document to play like you do with audio, video, images.
Instead, right click and select "add to playing now". Then go to playing now and play your document from there.
I just tested with a few different file types and they all worked fine.


Couple notes/ideas:

Maybe file types that are not native to MC (the ones you add in the 'custom resources' folder) don't play the same as native file types when using MC as a server.

When i said earlier

"GetFile" dialog appears

I just realized that Firefox was opening the files and that's where i chose my external program from.

I have never had problems opening documents before because i never use MC's Media Network options for anything other than Gizmo.
My typical setup is a follows:
I have drives S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z on my server. I map all these drives on my other PCs using the same letters.
Once in a while I export the library from my server and restore it to all my other PCs to use as the main library.
I'm not suggesting you do this. It's just an idea.

[4BYE]

I work the (about) same way. I have 10 HD from WD 2TB each. These are attached to a Belkin homebase, along with the printer. I agree that Gizmo is great but on my laptop I would prefer MC19 with all it's ways to search for the things I want to watch.

I did what you do with each PC having it's own library. But the problem is that you have to update every time. With Library Server it's much easier. However I do have to start my PC to be able to work with Library Server.

Your way of "add to playing now" doesn't work for me. I get the same thing as if I would double click the thumb.





 

[syndromeofadown]

Your way of "add to playing now" doesn't work for me

I tried it on a second PC and it worked for me there too.

I wonder if it's a problem with Cdisplay. It hasn't been updated for over 10 years so it's possible.
You could try with comicrack as your default program to see if it works any better.

Just an idea. I'm not sure what else you could try.

[glynor]

The files must be locally accessible on the Client via the same path that they exist on the Server.  This is (short of a VPN) typically only possible on a LAN, and you have to have your network shares set up properly.  The easiest method is to import the files via their UNC paths, so that you don't have to replicate the exact same network drive lettering scheme on every possible client.

And, of course, the Windows user logged into the client machine has to have read permissions for the files and file share.  This could be troublesome if you use different usernames on your different network client machines.

An easy way to test this is to find the files in question on the Client in MC and do Right Click > Locate > On Disk (External)

If MC does not pop up a Windows Explorer window and pre-select the file in question, then something with your drive paths is wrong (the client doesn't match the server).  If it does pop up, but you can't read the files externally, then it also won't work (and this indicates a permissions issue).

You should be able to avoid the Add to Playing Now method by configuring the File Type setting properly to open in an external player.

[4BYE]

Hello Glynor, I did try "right click, Locate, On Disk (External)" and you're right, it doesn't show Windows Explorer. But since the audio and video files do not either and still play I thought it didn't matter...

[jreigner]

Thank you for this information.  I followed the instructions as they were posted and it worked great, plus I got a little taste of modifying MC! There should be a forum location just to post users setups. (Hardware & pictures)

[syndromeofadown]

I have owned a ‘Dell Venue 8 pro’ Windows tablet for over a year. It was basically a paper weight until recent driver/firmware/BIOS updates. Now that it is working I actually really like it and have been using it for reading. I am even using metro apps for the first time. So after sorting out all of my new and old books and comics I have some general information to add here. I won’t get too detailed as it doesn’t really have much to do with MC.

Books:
I use MC with theater view and touchscreen skin as the frontend for all of my books.
The windows app I am using is ReaderPro($1.49) and I like it.
For book formats epub format is the way to go.
With epub, text can be scaled in readers and cover art and metadata are supported.
I have converted all of my books to epub with calibre(free).
Calibre will download art and metadata for books and store them in an opf file. By default they are stored beside the epub but you can make calibre put them inside which is a lot nicer.
An easy way to edit epub metadata is with EPubMetadataEditor(free).
If you need to fix any strange formatting after conversion you can use Sigil(free).
The odd time I use android for reading I am now using Mantano Reader. It supports metadata.

Comics:
I use MC with theater view and touchscreen skin as the frontend for all of my comics.
The windows app I am using is comicsjolt!($1.99). It’s very nice.
The comic format I use is cbz. It is just a zip file with a renamed extension.
I convert cbr(rar renamed) to cbz by extracting then re-compressing to zip.
For pdf’s I use PDF-Viewer(free) to batch convert each pdf page to jpg then zip it to make a cbz.
The odd time I use android for reading I use Comicrack. Comicrack for PC can add metadata to cbz files. It is stored in an xml file inside and is read by Comicrack for android.

I have been buying digital comics from ‘Image’ and they come DRM free in four formats: epub, PDF, cbr, cbz.
DriveThruComics also have DRM free comics in pdf and epub format. It’s easy to convert to cbz.

All conversions and extracting/compressing can be done in batches. Using MC’s renaming tools along with the above software makes everything pretty quick. An 8 inch screen is great for books and comics but a 10 inch would better if you are really into comics as it is closer to the original size. My Dell tablet screen is 1280 x 800 and it is nice, but I will be upgrading to something with a better screen, and not a Dell, sometime after Windows 10 comes out. I am really enjoying MC with touchscreen. Without MC, my tablet would probably still be a paper weight.

[yannl]

where is the fileassociation file on Mac ? I did not find anything in application support

[blgentry]

^ I'm pretty sure that MC for Mac doesn't have a "file associations" setting.  Instead, file types and what program launches them are controlled by OS X.  You can set individual file associations in Mac using this technique:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/08/change-default-application-open-files-mac-os-x/

Brian.