Epubgen: Creating epub files from Elsevier dataset

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What is epubgen?

epubgen is a tool for generating ePub files from Elsevier's Journal and Book (Stand-alone and Book-Series) CONTRAST-out datasets. epubgen is created as a command line interface (CLI) tool. This tool is compatible to both Linux and Windows platforms. The input is Elsevier's CONTRAST-OUT dataset and the output is ofcourse the epub file. A dataset is actually an archive (in other terms a container of files). This archive may contain, the PDF, XML, stripins (gif images of MathML code), figures and mainly a dataset.xml. dataset.xml is the entry point to the dataset which may contain the details of the files including path names of the files which are in the dataset.

This program is issued under the GNU General Public License.

Features

  1. A single dataset may contain a collection of issues. By default each issues will be seperate ePub file. But if epub files of each item (ie, article) is needed, then you can split the files.
  2. In the XML file, both MathML code and as an alternative, stripins (images of MathML code) are available. This program is now set in such a way that you can select to render MathML or view the images or SVG or all of them.
  3. You can select the level of the table of contents using the command line switch. Default is 3.
  4. A parser is included in this package to check the ePub file generated.
  5. This tool will work both in Linux and Windows Platform.

Software dependencies

  1. Perl 5.8.8 or higher
  2. xsltproc for Linux. For windows this program has been included in the archive. This is required to convert XML files to ePub format using XSLT stylesheets.
  3. zip program for Linux. For windows this program has been included in the archive. The ePub file is actually a zip file with extension .epub.
  4. Java 1.6 or higher for parsing.
  5. Cygwin is required for Windows.

Installation

The installation is so simple that you just need to unzip the archive. All the files will be extracted to a folder named epubgen-*.* which will be called `installation path' from now onwards. *.* stands for the correct version number which you see in the folder you get when you unzip the archive. This folder contains epubgen.pl, epubgen.sh, epubgen.bat, epubgen.conf etc. If you add the installation path to the system variable PATH, that will be the more efficient way of working.

Firstly, edit the epub.conf file to set the path of Java. Even if Java path is set properly in your system variables, setting this path in epub.conf is also necessary. For both Linux and Windows, seperate variables are given. If you are a Linux user, then set the variable for Linux and comment out the variable for Windows and vice versa.

How to create epub files?

Unzip the CONTRAST-OUT dataset to any folder and use the following syntax:

Linux

Syntax 

epubgen.sh -d [Options] [name of folder where dataset.xml resides] -p [folder where epub file should be generated]

Example 

epubgen.sh -d /opt/my-dataset/EWX00001158/ -p /opt/my-epub-files/
Windows

There is difference in the usage of commands for Cygwin terminal and default command line terminal. In the following syntax, the first one is for Cygwin terminal and the other is for default command line terminal:

Syntax 

epubgen.sh -d [Options] [name of folder where dataset.xml resides] -p [folder where epub file should be generated]
epubgen.pl -d [Options] [name of folder where dataset.xml resides] -p [folder where epub file should be generated]

Example 

epubgen.sh -d e:/my-dataset/EWX00001158/  -p  e:/my-epub-files/
epubgen.pl -d e:\my-dataset\EWX00001158  -p  e:\my-epub-files\

List of options

--valid or -v         Validate the epub file produced. Default is to validate

--path or -p          Path to which epub files are to be copied

--nostripins or -S    Not to include stripins. Default is to include stripins

--svg or -g           [yes|no] Whether to insert SVG code for math
                          
--mathml or -m        [yes|no] Whether to retain mathml code. 
                      Default is no. Either stripins or mathml is required however

--item or -i          To split epub files item wise. Default is single epub for single issue

--level or -l         Level of table of contents to be included in the toc.ncx file of epub. Default is 3

Project home page

This project is hosted in gna.org. The URL is: 

https://gna.org/projects/epubgen

To get the information about how to access the source code repository, please visit the following URL: 

https://gna.org/svn/?group=epubgen
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