Build your EPUBs with Eclipse, and read them too

Build your EPUBs with Eclipse ...and read them too By Torkild Ulvøy Resheim Senior Software Engineer Itema as, Trondheim, Norway

The stort story• EPUB is a open and free format for electronic books.• Most non-Kindle devices support it.• Increasingly popular for technical literature and user guides.

Traditional user guides• Users are able to add bookmarks and notes.• Big (heavy) tomes.• But still portable.• There is a natural reading order. DataFlex 2.2 User’s Manual 453 pages (1986)

Contemporary user guides• User are often allowed to add bookmarks.• Not portable. Sometimes embedded in the application.• Plain HTML with a few extras.• Sometimes only online.• Context help (good). Eclipse SDK 1.0 Help Quite a few pages (2001)• No natural reading order.

Your next user guide?• eBooks are increasingly popular!• Add bookmarks and notes.• Very portable, carry hundreds or thousands of books on one device.• Synchronisation between reading systems. Pro Git• Feels natural – there is a 813 pages (2011) beginning and an end.

Beneﬁts of EPUB• Open and free, based on • Rich Content (video and existing standards – CSS, audio). XHTML, SVG...• Out-of-line content.• Allows DRM if required.• A large number of existing reading systems• EPUB3 allows JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, MathML, Video and more.

How to build an EPUB • Export from Pages, Adobe Digital Editions, Indesign etc. • ePubtools, various command line tools (requires Python). • Online tools, Feedbooks and BookGlutton. • Sigil the WYSIWYG EPUB editor. • GUI apps Stanza and Calibre can convert from other formats.

New tooling for Eclipse• API for deﬁning, reading and • Part of the Mylyn Docs writing EPUBs. Model project. represented using EMF. • Will be released 24. February• Apache Ant task for deﬁning (Mylyn 3.7/Indigo SR2) and writing EPUBs.• UI for generating EPUBs from wiki markup format.• Supports EPUB 2.0.1 (3.0 was released in October).

Tooling features• Supports most EPUB 2.0.1 • Validation of EPUB content features. (Not DRM). and structure.• Table of contents can be • Allows multiple publications generated automatically. within one EPUB.• Referenced resources • Does not do any data (images, out-of-line content) conversion. can be added automatically.• Cover page (compatible with most readers) easily created.

The API (provisional)• The data model (OCF, OPF, NCX, Dublin Core) is built on EMF. public void createEPUB() throws Exception { EPUB epub = new EPUB(); OPSPublication oebps = new OPS2Publication(); oebps.addTitle(null, null, "My title");• Utility methods for retrieving oebps.addLanguage(null, "en"); oebps.addSubject(null, null, "My subject"); content by identiﬁer, type, oebps.addItem(new File("My XHTML file")); epub.add(oebps); reference etc. epub.pack(new File("My new EPUB.epub")); }• Supports reading and writing of EPUBs.

Demo: UI Command Quickly generate EPUB from wiki markup

The Ant task• Structure resembles the OPF • Can be combined with structure. existing documentation generation schemes.• Supports ﬁlesets for adding non-spine resources. Markup HTML• Items are analysed for content so that correct MIME types are used. HTML• Makes some tasks, such as adding a cover page much easier. EPUB EclipseHelp

Demo: Ant taskSame source for Eclipse help and EPUB

In the pipeline...• EPUB reader and library manager inside Eclipse.• Support for EPUB 3.

Summary• EPUB is an excellent format for user guides!• Can be built in various (hard) ways. But new tooling makes it easier.• Coming to Eclipse in February.• Currently at https://github.com/turesheim/ org.eclipse.mylyn.docs• See http://eclipse.org/mylyn/docs/

Apropos...• Thanks to Steffen Pingel and David Green of the Mylyn team for helping out!• Any questions?

Build your EPUBs with Eclipse, and read them too

by Torkild Resheim

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 16

Statistics