1

I've been struggling for a couple of weeks trying to get a .epub file to dynamically "paginate" into multiple UIWebviews on the iPad to make an enhanced ebook app. If anyone has downloaded the Adderall Diaries app, or used the app "eReader", we want that style of pagination.

I've seen lots of hacks and workarounds to get .epub to paginate book style, but nothing seems to work quite as smoothly as we want. It seems clear that html, which is pretty much what .epub is, is not meant to be paginated, at least not easily.

I recently found out that eReader uses a format called ".pdb", for their texts, and seeing as they have exactly the effect we are looking for, decided to check it out. However, it's a format I am totally unfamiliar with, and can't find much info on. I assumer that eReader is showing it in a UIWebView, mostly because it is stylized text in iOS.

Is anyone familiar with this format? How easy is it to implement on iPad? Is there a magic bullet to get this done that I am missing?

Chris
  • 884
  • 1
  • 11
  • 30

1 Answers1

1

I am familiar with threefour meanings of PDB : Python Debugger (which isn't even a file format), Microsoft's Program Database debugging info format, and Palm Database ().

Of these, the only one that makes any sense is Palm Database, but unfortunately that doesn't tell us much about the actual format of the data inside the file: almost every PalmOS app that stores data stores it in such databases (there is one app of which I am aware that insists that everything be stored on a flashcard, though), and they always get transferred to/from computers (and flash media) in this file format. In fact, PalmOS apps are also stored in this form.

The MobileRead Wiki lists many possible formats that could be stored in a Palm Database, including the eReader format (which it has something resembling documentation of).

Correction

The fourth meaning (which I usually forget about) is Protein Data Bank, which is actually the name of a file format, but it isn't relevant either as it is used to describe molecules (and obviously designed for proteins in particular), not ebooks. (It does make for some pretty pictures, though!)

SamB
  • 9,039
  • 5
  • 49
  • 56