Database Users

B&N Reader application stinks!

I've gotten totally disgusted with the B&N Reader program.
When I first got the phone and loaded the reader it immediately downloaded a .cab to the root and performed an upgrade. Great, I think, this is an app that's currently being supported and I had high hopes.
Upon running it though I found out what a piece of %^&* it really is. It forces a sync to B&N every time you load it! To make matters worse it takes longer and longer each time you add a book, because it has to transfer more and more data! It only supports .epub even though several of the books I owned came down in .pdb format (although that has stopped, I am able to read those few in .pdb format using the eReader.com reader, it seemed perfectly fine with them including the encryption coding using the credit card.
Anyway, what I have found about the B&N Reader is that if you try to do ANYTHING while it is busy it will corrupt your SYSTEM and never run again. So, say you open the reader and are a bit forgetful, and forget for the original Syncing library to finish, open a book, you get "Open failed" and it will then NEVER EVER open a book, old or new. The only way around this is a hard reset back to factory settings, or as I have Sprite Backup, a restore to a prior backup.
Also, if you are reading a book and change some of the text settings, font, spacing, or margins, forgetaboutit, you are toast and must do a restore.
If you download a book and try to do anything, open another book, exit, or whatever, while it is downloading, you get to do a restore.
This thing looks like it was written by a third grader (apologies if you are in Elementary School), and I am so disappointed in it you would not believe. We need to put BIG pressure on B&N to fix this piece of junk.
My guess is that they were in development with it and when M$ announced WP7 would replace WM6.5 they stopped and released it where it was. There may have been a few more upgrades that they slipped in to that .cab it upgraded with (which happens to be the same one that's on their web site), so for now we are stuck at 1.0.0.27.
Anyone got any ideas?
Marc

Dear Customer,
Thank you for your e-mail.
We are always eager to provide information on our services and the
selections we offer online. However, the questions you have posed are
beyond the scope of the information that we provide to the general
public. The information you are seeking may be proprietary. Therefore,
we are unable to answer your questions.
We regret any disappointment this may cause, and wish you well in your
endeavors.
Sincerely,
Nolan
Customer Service Representative
Barnes and Noble
http://www.bn.com/
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
I have a T-Mobile HD2 which comes with the B&N eReader software. This
was one of the reasons I bought the HD2 as I have had Windows Mobile for
12+ years and used your eReader.com company's eReader for many, many
years. I have over 150 books on it.
So when I got my HD2 upon starting your reader it immediately downloaded
an update and installed it. Great, I think, this is a supported
platform and they are keeping it up to date! I bought several books and
sync'd my library. The books came down and I was able to read them.
Then I bought a few more books and during one of the downloads I
accidentally hit the X button and closed the application and all heck
broke loose. When I restarted the application it would no longer sync
with B&N and also would not open any of the existing books on my system.
The message in light grey text in the middle of the screen is something
like "Open failed". At that point I tried logging out of the
application, it told me this would reset the application to "Factory
Settings" and I accepted, thinking I could just re-download my books.
Wrong. Upon logging on again I had the same problem Syncing my library
and no books would download.
So I'm a Sysadmin and know to back up my systems. Fortunately I had
done a Sprite backup a few weeks back and used it to get the system
fully restored and the reader working again. I found several other
scenarios that cause my reader to corrupt the library to the point that
it is unusable. Some are:
1. Trying to read a book while downloading another.
2. Closing the reader while downloading a book.
3. Changing ANY of the font or line spacing settings.
4. Locking the screen on my phone (Red hangup button locks the screen)
while the reader application is open.
Essentially this application is junk. It appears to have been written
by a third grader and your Quality Assurance group should be ashamed.
When I first had these problems the first few books I purchased I found
that if I got on the web page I was able to download the books directly,
and that they came down in .pdb format, which worked perfectly on my
eReader.com (a B&N company!) reader. I was a happy camper, I'd been
using this reader for years and love it, even helped Beta Test new
versions for several years when it was under development. Unfortunately
you seem to have plugged that backdoor and all the books I have now
download in .epub format and I am stuck using your horrible HD2 reader.
Please help me out here. I am thinking in terms of (1) Helping you Beta
Test new versions for free, (2) If you have stopped development of the
Windows Mobile version, possibly a LARGE discount (say 100%) off of a
Nook or other reader, or (3) Give us the specs for your .epub format
extensions UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE so we can write a decent reader for you.
I am thinking in terms of a public domain program.
I'd bee more than happy to discuss all this with someone in a position
to make a decision. I spent 2 hours on the phone with one of your call
center drones and all he could recommend was that I take the phone to
T-Mobile and ask them to reload the softare
BTW, I am a 54 year old Software Engineer at NASA with 35 years of
Software Development, System Engineering and Software Quality Assurance
experience.
Thanks for your consideration,
Marc Newman

mknewman said:
(3) Give us the specs for your .epub format
extensions UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE so we can write a decent reader for you.
I am thinking in terms of a public domain program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, I could adapt Freda (see http://www.turnipsoft.co.uk/freda , and discussion threads elsewhere on these forums) to read B&N Epubs in about ten minutes work, because the EPUB DRM mechanism is not especially complicated.
But unless the DRM-decoder software is written with the permission of the book publisher (B&N in this case), it consititutes infringement of the DMCA and similar pieces of toxic legislation around the world.
The software could be free (indeed, Freda is free). But it couldn't be public domain (in the sense of open source) because if you publish B&N's DRM-decoding algorithm, you are effectively publishing the recipe for how to rip off B&N books - so the code has to be developed under NDA.
If you do get a useful answer out of B&N, please let me know because I'd be keen to work on the project.

Letter writing campaign
I highly suggest anyone interested write B&N Customer Support and request support for their Windows Mobile reader.
Marc

Anyone else notice this new video of what appears to be a new B&N eReader on the T-Mo site: http://htchd2.t-mobile.com/touch-screen-phones-ereader

Have you tried the Kobo Books Reader app? It appears only in the Navigation Tabs, not the Start Screen.
kobobooks.com

That won't help me read books I've bought from B&N.

mknewman said:
Anyone else notice this new video of what appears to be a new B&N eReader on the T-Mo site: http://htchd2.t-mobile.com/touch-screen-phones-ereader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I load up my BN reader and go to Settings --> About, I have version 1.0.0.27. There is also a Check for New Version link there that tells me there are no new updates.
The website vid likely just gussied up the splash screen. Nothing else looked different to me.

If you look carefully at the video the settings page is quite diffeerent, there are many new options, and new settings. Oh, and yes I am running the latest version, 1.0.0.27 that gets downloaded the first time you run it from a new ROM.

if there is a new version they need to release it. the version out there royally sucks.
My kids and I spend a small fortune at the local brick and mortar store, so much that everyone there knows us by name and the store manager will let my teen daughter run a tab if needed ( not a good thing for dad). They will lose all of my business over this junky reader. I bought the HD2 expressly for Ereader.
Wonder how long we have to wait for a kindle app ?

B&N Support No Help - I Installed eReader
Like Mark, I saw that the B&N reader was crippled and would show only ePub formatted books I had bought from the B&N website. My e-mails to the B&N staff basically told me to go to the phone company (T-Mobile). B&N clearly has no plans to support this product. There is no B&N reader for Windows Mobile on the B&N ebook website (althought there may be when WinPhone7 comes out).
Interestingly, the latest B&N/Nook reader on my desktop will recognize my HD2. It will let me supposedly sync and copy books from my desktop to the HD2. In fact, the books do get copied, but the reader will not recognize them. I assume this functionality is intended more for Android phones and the iPhone, which do have working B&N readers.
I still had an old version of the eReaderPro program (3.0.3fp Oct. 2007). I was able to install it. It works fine. I do have to unlock the books again after copying them to the HD2. Of course, this version will not run the newer ePub books, so I have to have two programs to access all my eReader and B&N books. I can live with that. But when Barnes & Noble sent me an e-mail offering me a free book because I had not bought one in a while, I didn't even bother.

There is a newer version of the B&N eReader that is far better, not perfect but definately usable. It should download the next time you run it or you can go to the About page and get it there. It's still not listed on the B&N site but I posted the link for it in another post.
Edit: Found it http://images.barnesandnoble.com/PResources/download/WinMo/BNeReader_1.1.0.22.CAB
Marc

I have spoken with BN support and they state that they do not support this app, but HTC should.
I spoke with HTC and they told be BN rep was crazy.
The only way I can sideload books is to translate them into the appropriate format (I use Callibre and choose the .epub format specific to the "nook")
Then I download one of the free books (dracula).
Then go into the root directory under program files/BN eReader and you will see a bunch of numbers. If you rename one of these with an added character, put your book in this directory, change the name of your book to the number corresponding to the downloaded book...you will find your book in the list of books you can read, but it will be named "Dracula" with the cover for Dracula.
If you want to change the cover you can drop a JPEG of the cover into the directory Temp/BNImages and do the same thing with the naming convention.
It is a decent little reader, but very unfriendly and a lot of work.
I have not used it for downloaded books from BN, but I would hope that is easier.

Try the new version, it's far better.

I thought I had the latest version.
what is the latest build number?
1.10.22...that is what I have.

How much of the B&N stuff can you delete?

I would like to pare down my Nook a bit.
I do like the native reader app and I borrow library books.
Yes, I could use the OverDrive reader, but the native reader is much better.
The first thing that went was Shop.apk
It was kind of annoying to search for stuff on my Nook and come up with 50,000 suggestions of books that I could buy.
Social.apk seems to go away painlessly too.
Deleting (or renaming) Home.apk breaks the "Last Read" icon on the desktop.
You can still get there by Library and hitting the top of most recent.
It gets you to the right page.
It probably would not be hard to write an app to do the last read function.
Moreover, you'd have a system icon to do with what you will.
(It sends an intent that is not handled. I'll have to make a receiver and see what it is.)
Okay, deleting Home.apk also breaks additions to Library.
But, you can still borrow books on Adobe Digital Editions and read them by clicking them in a file browser.
Oh, well, might as well delete Library.apk
Hmm, I guess that Library.apk is a search content provider.
Books no longer show up in global search.
I guess that I'll have to roll my own.
Re-enable Home.apk, disable Reader.apk and see what intent goes.
(Last page read is kept in /data/data/com.bn.nook.reader.activities/databases/lastreadingpoint.db
Select ean from lastreadingpoint order by lastupdated
I'm not trying to get around the DRM or anything. I just want to get rid of all the cruft.

I see what you're trying to do here

I've been playing with this some more.
Reader.apk keeps track itself of last page read.
If you just use a file manager to open your books you'll get the right page.
If you are a big library user and use Adobe Digital Editions,
then the info that ADE dumps on your Nook could be integrated nicely.
You could have your books listed and show the return date.

Hmm, do you think it could be possible to fully debrand the device and have it running a normal, common Eclair, but using the actual ROM as base? like, deleting the B&N apps and creating custom providers & intent receivers to avoid FCs and such?

Well, if you delete (or rename) Home.apk and Library.apk but still like to use Reader.apk (the native epub reader),
then you might need a convenient way to get to your last read book.
It's not rocket science and I haven't figured out the little book icon on the status bar yet,
but if you want to get back to your book here is a little app to go to last read.
Put the icon on your desktop and click the "L" to go to last read.

Did you replace library, or just completely delete it?

darkguy2008 said:
Hmm, do you think it could be possible to fully debrand the device and have it running a normal, common Eclair, but using the actual ROM as base? like, deleting the B&N apps and creating custom providers & intent receivers to avoid FCs and such?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also wondered this, I use my nook for Kindle more than I do B&N lol. It would be great if we could get a ROM to flash that removes everything from the device and just makes it run stock Android then use Kindle and B&N apps, as well as whatever other apps for reading epubs to read our books. Don't know if this is possible but it would be nice, then we could fully repurpose all the buttons on the device purely for Android OS

And make a custom e-ink friendly version of the android homescreen, possibly including no-refresh?

Right now I've got the following apps deleted:
DemoMode.apk
Home.apk
Library.apk
Shop.apk
Social.apk
I will be working on a replacement library app.
I don't use the Kindle app. Do people who do also use the Nook native reader?
At the lowest level, all you need is a file manager.
I presume that each of the readers keep track of last page.
(Regarding the Nook lastreadingpoint:
Going straight to the database is the wrong approach, using the content provider is the right way.
LastRead.apk uses that.)
Ok, it's a neat hack to watch video on the Nook, but you really wouldn't want your Nook in A2 mode all the time.
As I've said before, the best uses of A2 is when an app knows when to use it, when dragging, scrolling, zooming.
If you have the source code to a browser/viewer/whatever, putting wrappers around the dragging/scrolling/zooming operation would be an improvement.
Personally, I have no problem with my ADW Launcher.
That it blurs and trails when parking an app on the desktop is no big deal.

I've got the little book icon on the status bar to open the last book in the native Nook reader.
That is, if you don't have Home.apk or (B&N) Library.apk
Here is a stop-gap release.
It works fine for the "Currently reading" but there is not yet other functionality in it.
I left it as a complete application so that you can easily see if you have it installed.
The actual "application" part of it is a blank screen.
No need to run it or put it on your desktop.
Just install it and click the little book on the status bar.

Renate NST said:
I've got the little book icon on the status bar to open the last book in the native Nook reader.
That is, if you don't have Home.apk or (B&N) Library.apk
Here is a stop-gap release.
It works fine for the "Currently reading" but there is not yet other functionality in it.
I left it as a complete application so that you can easily see if you have it installed.
The actual "application" part of it is a blank screen.
No need to run it or put it on your desktop.
Just install it and click the little book on the status bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, looks interesting, seems like you've managed to already wrap some events to dummy workers we can attach to in the future and mod this thing up . Awesome!
I'll be testing it somewhere between today and tomorrow. Right now I'm trying to replace the stock keyboard. LatinIME.apk is deleteable but there isn't any working keyboard for it yet (I've tried GO Keyboard, GB Keyboard for Froyo/Eclair and HTC IME with no avail) and it's one of the biggest annoyances I have with it since I need more of a PC-keyboard-lookalike rather than an ebook keyboard

Although I am not getting the point of your mission :-D try Hacker's keyboard. It is possible to google out android 2.1 version. It is the best I have found so far although it is quite dark.

Just thought I'd drop this link here for hacker's keyboard.
http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/issues/detail?id=57
Also, make sure that after you install it you move it to /system/app

Googie2149 said:
Just thought I'd drop this link here for hacker's keyboard.
http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/issues/detail?id=57
Also, make sure that after you install it you move it to /system/app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, you rock! I've wanted that keyboard to work specifically. Thanks a lot!!

I've had some progress on the Library replacement.
It's not ready for prime time, but it is cute.
It will list the expiration date of your library books.
It's nice to be able to fit over 10 titles on the screen.

Renate NST said:
I've had some progress on the Library replacement.
It's not ready for prime time, but it is cute.
It will list the expiration date of your library books.
It's nice to be able to fit over 10 titles on the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's awesome!
When will you release it?

I've been working on two different approaches.
One is to use the Android native mediastore.
There are some bugs with this and it can get out of sync.
The other is to do all the searching for books myself.
That works ok as long as the books are found in the usual places:
/system/media/books
/data/media/B&N Downloads/Books
/media/My Files/Books
/media/Digital Editions
/sdcard/My Files/Books
Are there any other locations that I am missing?

darkguy2008 said:
When will you release it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't know if it suits anyone's needs besides my own.
Because the stock Home.apk, Library.apk and Shop.apk are all tied together,
to have my app work correctly you have to rename or delete the three of them.
As far as I know it should allow books bought from B&N to still work correctly,
but I don't know because I don't own any. I only get library books or Gutenberg.
Is it important for people to be able to buy B&N books directly on their Nook?

Renate NST said:
Is it important for people to be able to buy B&N books directly on their Nook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not if it's free?
Naturally, I speak for myself only.
You need credit card added to buy B&N free books still...
From another hand you can get same free books somewhere else, right?

Apokrifx is right, also, that app would suit me too. I need a credit card to buy B&N books, which I don't have -and- I'm not interested at all in using it as a reader. If I want to read something I'll download it and slam it through a PDF reader installed on it.
My main use for it is to take out ALL of the B&N stuff and use it as an android tablet, so, to me, it's really useful

Monitoring reading activity on the Nook Touch?

Dear XDA community,
First I apologize for the long post, if you want to see only my actual question, just skip the next 2 paragraphs.The stuff before is for context on why your help will be so crucial to us!
Friends and I have started a non-profit organization with the aim of bringing Nooks Touch loaded with literature and DIY books to Kenya (the website is readandprosper.org) The idea is to provide children in their last two years of secondary education with choice and easy access to both Kenyan, pan-African, and US/European literature, as well as replace their textbooks with electronic versions. Currently, up to 5 children share a single textbook (generally in bad shape as well). We also would like to include lots of Do It Yourself books to encourage children to learn useful trades (carpentry, irrigation, mechanical repair, etc).
We have made significant progress in our work, identified the school where we will pilot the project, identified the books we'd like to use (though publishers are giving us a hard time; shocker!) etc. Right now, we are working on the monitoring and evaluation plan and are looking into collecting data about the use of the devices by children and professors. This is where the XDA community's help would be crucial!
Our hope is that there is a way to record what books are being read and also basic information about basic reading patterns, like how many pages are being read in sequence vs. just browsing through the book. Do you guys and gals know any way this can be done via a script/app?
I have a pretty good understanding of Android, having rooted and tested lots of roms on my G2x and having done some basic customization work in the guts so I'm OK with a not super simple and easy solution. It would be really helpful for us to understand use patterns and what books have the most value so we can better tailor our approach!
Thank you so much for any suggestions/help!

Depending on how in-depth you wanted the info, this could get complicated.
You'd need to modify the reader.
You'd have to safeguard against logging as read when somebody holds down a side button continuously.
You can look in the Nook and check the content provider content://media/external/docs and see if a book was ever opened.
If you took occasional snapshots of this you might make some sense of reading.
There's also content://com.bn.nook.reader.providers.lastreadingpointprovider/
It's not what you want, but the easiest data that you can get is if people are using Adobe Digital Editions to borrow from libraries.
You can look in C:\Users\Whoever\My Documents\My Digital Editions and see all the books ever borrowed.

Renate NST said:
Depending on how in-depth you wanted the info, this could get complicated.
You'd need to modify the reader.
You'd have to safeguard against logging as read when somebody holds down a side button continuously.
You can look in the Nook and check the content provider content://media/external/docs and see if a book was ever opened.
If you took occasional snapshots of this you might make some sense of reading.
There's also content://com.bn.nook.reader.providers.lastreadingpointprovider/
It's not what you want, but the easiest data that you can get is if people are using Adobe Digital Editions to borrow from libraries.
You can look in C:\Users\Whoever\My Documents\My Digital Editions and see all the books ever borrowed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the info Renate!
I think our first interest is in finding out which books are read most often. Number of pages read would be interesting, but as you said, it will be difficult to collect the data without getting a lot of "noise" or some kind of access to the reader's innards.
We are also open to installing a different reader than the Nook standard, like Moon+ or Aldiko (after root of course). Do any of these third party readers provide an API-type access that would enable more extensive data collection? Otherwise we might try to talk to the app makers and see if they might be able to cook up something for us.
The ADE aspect doesn't really work for us, there is no WiFi where the e-readers are going and we will be sideloading all the books.
We'll continue to think about all this. I got one of our refurbished Nook yesterday to play with, and so far I haven't really gone the rooting route just yet, but I think it will be happening pretty soon.

I just wanted to revive this thread on logging how students use their e-readers.
Since my last post, I haven't really been able to find much more information, which is incredible frustrating.
School libraries, public libraries, and so forth are all using or at least beginning to use e-readers and I can't believe that there exist no app or reading software that tracks reading habits or use. I understand there are some privacy issues, but anonymized data would carry incredibly useful information. In our case, we will have multiple kids using each reader, and no log-in so the privacy issues is essentially void. Plus the data will inform what books we should load up on our readers in the future.
Does anybody on XDA have any clue about an app that can collect reading data? I know Moon+ Pro has some reading statistics for example, but do you guys/gals know what data is available?

NST library files

Anyone knows where the files/databases are for the library to use, e.g., sorting files for recent, author and title, as well as for shelves. It seems the library module from time to time doesn't sort correctly, after adding new books. Sometimes, a book from search is not placed in the 1st in the library ( for most recent order ). So I guess there must be something wrong in related files. Any tips are appreciated.

smjohn1 said:
Anyone knows where the files/databases are for the library to use, e.g., sorting files for recent, author and title, as well as for shelves. It seems the library module from time to time doesn't sort correctly, after adding new books. Sometimes, a book from search is not placed in the 1st in the library ( for most recent order ). So I guess there must be something wrong in related files. Any tips are appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK there is nothing specifically for the Library app other than an xml file (/data/data/com.bn.nook.library/shared_prefs.xml) which I imagine is supposed to control how the various library options display when the library is accessed. I've never had any luck with changing the settings (which are obfuscated anyway) as I would like the library to open a certain way but it insists on reverting to something else no matter how many times I set it.
As for databases, there are two associated with the Reader app (/data/data/com.bn.nook.reader.activites/databases/lastreadingpoint.db and /readerlocal.db). Historically there have been issues with the databases becoming garbled and there are a couple of postings somewhere in the forum with sqlite sequences for clearing out the dross and starting over. I'll see if I can scare those up but you should search also. And you'll need a sqlite database viewer if you want to examine the databases on your PC to see what's there.
Edit: This is the main thread I was remembering: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/solved-on-the-problem-of-broken-bookmarks.1467429/

nmyshkin said:
AFAIK there is nothing specifically for the Library app other than an xml file (/data/data/com.bn.nook.library/shared_prefs.xml) which I imagine is supposed to control how the various library options display when the library is accessed. I've never had any luck with changing the settings (which are obfuscated anyway) as I would like the library to open a certain way but it insists on reverting to something else no matter how many times I set it.
As for databases, there are two associated with the Reader app (/data/data/com.bn.nook.reader.activites/databases/lastreadingpoint.db and /readerlocal.db). Historically there have been issues with the databases becoming garbled and there are a couple of postings somewhere in the forum with sqlite sequences for clearing out the dross and starting over. I'll see if I can scare those up but you should search also. And you'll need a sqlite database viewer if you want to examine the databases on your PC to see what's there.
Edit: This is the main thread I was remembering: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/solved-on-the-problem-of-broken-bookmarks.1467429/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, I will dig a bit. Strange thing is just read books from search don't appear in library's beginning at all. On the other hand, books read from library do change order in the library. Besides database, any other possible modules that would such problems?

smjohn1 said:
Thx, I will dig a bit. Strange thing is just read books from search don't appear in library's beginning at all. On the other hand, books read from library do change order in the library. Besides database, any other possible modules that would such problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've come up empty. From examining the two Reader databases it is clear that they do not contain any information that would create placement in the Library such as shelves. That information must be somewhere but I have not been able to find it. There is another database, home.db, which is part of the bn.home app. There is minimal data there about books, but nothing helpful.
What is distressing (besides not being able to track down where this information is stored) is that there seems to be no mechanism to flush out the databases. Looking over mine I see (sideloaded) books that I have deleted a long time ago. No wonder things act funny after awhile.
Edit: Never say never. This post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/automating-shelving.1378510/ reveals the whereabouts of the information for the Library. I never would have guessed B&N would use stock Android for that!

Yeah, there used to be problems with the MediaScanner on the NST.
I got used to not relying on it.
Even now, my Library app has a fixed number of locations for books and you just hit Refresh once in a while.
The AdbSync script (makefile actually) that I use just pokes a refresh after syncing the Books directory.

nmyshkin said:
I've come up empty. From examining the two Reader databases it is clear that they do not contain any information that would create placement in the Library such as shelves. That information must be somewhere but I have not been able to find it. There is another database, home.db, which is part of the bn.home app. There is minimal data there about books, but nothing helpful.
What is distressing (besides not being able to track down where this information is stored) is that there seems to be no mechanism to flush out the databases. Looking over mine I see (sideloaded) books that I have deleted a long time ago. No wonder things act funny after awhile.
Edit: Never say never. This post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/automating-shelving.1378510/ reveals the whereabouts of the information for the Library. I never would have guessed B&N would use stock Android for that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Thx. I need to learn sqlites to see all the contents.

Renate said:
Yeah, there used to be problems with the MediaScanner on the NST.
I got used to not relying on it.
Even now, my Library app has a fixed number of locations for books and you just hit Refresh once in a while.
The AdbSync script (makefile actually) that I use just pokes a refresh after syncing the Books directory.
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Click to collapse
how tro refresh? Is there adb code for that? Thx again.

smjohn1 said:
Wow! Thx. I need to learn sqlites to see all the contents.
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You can do sqlite manipulations via ADB is you have sqlite3 installed on the NST, but for a better overall view you really need to copy the database file to a PC use a tool like this.

smjohn1 said:
How to refresh? Is there adb code for that?
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Click to collapse
Not really.
There are ways to make the MediaScanner scan a single file.
There is no simple way to tell it to just rescan everything.
I was talking about my Library.apk which does a simple foreground scan when you:
Code:
adb shell am start -a com.temblast.library.REFRESH

[SOLVED?] The mysteries of the "now reading" button

I must have a unique way of using my devices because I've never seen this issue reported on the forum.
Firstly, I just want to say that lastreadingpoint.db seems to be something of a garbage bin. I'm working with one of my older devices right now (formerly my principal reader) and the db is filled with books that were deleted long ago. Now, perhaps, cleanup of this file is supposed to happen when books are removed via UMS since that's the only provision B&N made for removing side-loaded content, but I doubt it. Since I just use a file manager, I may be frustrating some grand design that would keep the db file tidy. NOT.
But I digress. My real beef is the unpredictability of the button. When I select a new book from the library and move along a few pages to the first chapter, I often return to the home page to deal with some other things and then set the device aside until I'm ready to start my new book. But when I do return and tap that button, I generally get the last book I just finished (at the last page....). If I have deleted that book already then I'll get some other book, maybe an anthology I frequent, wherever I left off.
Inspection of lastreadingpoint.db shows no indication that I ever selected a new book.
I have struggled with this for a long time and realize that without knowing exactly when and under what circumstances the db would actually be updated, this is really difficult to run down. I just tried another experiment and put the device to sleep manually after starting a new book (book still displayed). Then I woke it up and returned to the home screen (i.e., my launcher, not the B&N Home). The "now reading" button worked correctly! And repeatedly.
BUT...A look at lastreadingpoint.db still did not show that the new book had been opened! This helps explain why my overtures with sqlite were not having much effect.
It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, enclosed in a B&N box.
I just want the #$%&*% button to do what you would expect it to do without a lot of nonsense. It's easier to get it to consistently open a current Kindle book then to open an epub in the stock reader.
Why?
Edit: The next day: I accessed the book one more time this morning without any problem and copied out the database again. This time it finally showed an entry for the book with the correct access time.
Edit: 9-12-22 Nothing seems to work consistently except for one change. I have installed on my devices a little app called "NookReader". It's buried deep in the old posts of the forum and its purpose is to allow epubs to be opened via a file manager (which I never do). In effect it creates a "listener" which the stock system lacks.
Well, it seems the stock system doesn't like eavesdropping. When I uninstalled the app from the device I had been experimenting with the effect was immediate and I was able to move from selection to selection, each time returning to the most recent book correctly using the "now reading" button. Another device required an uninstall as well as a reboot in order to start behaving properly.
Moral: if you're not using it, get rid of it!

nmyshkin said:
I have struggled with this for a long time and realize that without knowing exactly when and under what circumstances the db would actually be updated, this is really difficult to run down. I just tried another experiment and put the device to sleep manually after starting a new book (book still displayed). Then I woke it up and returned to the home screen (i.e., my launcher, not the B&N Home). The "now reading" button worked correctly! And repeatedly.
BUT...A look at lastreadingpoint.db still did not show that the new book had been opened! This helps explain why my overtures with sqlite were not having much effect.
It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, enclosed in a B&N box.
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Click to collapse
@nmyshkin ... even i've struggled with something like this ... inconsistencies of the last reading point actions ...
nmyshkin said:
Edit: 9-12-22 Nothing seems to work consistently except for one change. I have installed on my devices a little app called "NookReader". It's buried deep in the old posts of the forum and its purpose is to allow epubs to be opened via a file manager (which I never do). In effect it creates a "listener" which the stock system lacks.
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Click to collapse
are you referring to the app that goes by 'dev.nookreader.apk' ? ... for now i've just renamed it to 'dev.nookreader.apk.bkp' so its as good as removed ...
some database problems i think i can report, one that i've annoyingly encountered, in this I've sometimes found the order of the books in the default library aren't displayed as they should have ... Iam referring to the 'Most Recent' sorting option where the last opened/accessed book should ideally show up at the top most ... BUT SADLY IT DOESN'T !!! ...
Most annoying is when i search a book open and read it and expect it to show up on the top or at least in the first few pages of the library ... but they don't ... search is the only option to reopen such a book ...
Aren't the books that are opened using the 'Search' option of the library not supposed to show high up the library ?
I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO GET THIS ANNOYANCE RID OF ... i would love to find all the last accessed books in the topmost sorting order as its supposed to work ...
I don't even know what database records the last accessed book information ... any and all help appreciated to identify and fix this annoyance.
PS : Are "New"' books(Lend Me) installed from the B&N store supposed to show up at the topmost ?

Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???

aiamuzz said:
Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???
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OK, well, I can't say that I know a lot more now than when I started this thread.
What I can say is that the device seems to work with a copy of the database in RAM or else keeps variables in RAM that are not written to the database until much, much later (like during or after a nap).
I began to think about how I use the device vs. how B&N intended it to be used so I made a few tests going from the B&N Home to the Library, to a book. Then, there is really only one way to get out of the book and that is through the QuickNav buttons. I thought that maybe the trigger to the database update was somewhere in there, but I saw the same inconsistent results and delayed updating of the file as with my own sequence.
This is why I eventually abandoned the database as a source of info for my SetCover app and started relying (at least partly) on my own data. All I can say for "sure" at this point is that a good nap on the open book seems to aid in the correct information making its way into the database. Not very technical, I know.
If you are getting really spurious behavior from your lastreadingpoint.db or you find that it is full of deadwood, you can clean out the entire thing as here. Of course you will lose absolutely everything in the database if you do that, so it's a "last gasp" scenario.
For me, things seem to have calmed down if I just leave an epub open in the stock reader for awhile. And after all, what's the rush to get back to the home screen? (in general). That's not how the reader was probably meant to be used.

aiamuzz said:
Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you run this test ?
1. Open stock library.
2. Search for some book that is buried in the last pages of the Library.
3. Open that book from the search results.
4. Flip a few pages to emulate that you've read that book.
Ideally that book should be the Last Read (Reading Now) ... WHICH INDEED DOES WORK SO !!!
Having been a recent book that one has read ...
The Library app should also show that book on the very first page as its the most recent one ... BUT IT DOES NOT SHOW SO IN THE LIBRARY !!!
I would really like the searched and opened books to move to the front pages of the Library App and stay there and get moved down as and when other books are opened ... at worst it should be easily locatable in the first few pages of the Library App ... the 'recent' book sorting option in the Library and the place where this info is stored may have to be trouble shot ...

aiamuzz said:
Can you run this test ?
1. Open stock library.
2. Search for some book that is buried in the last pages of the Library.
3. Open that book from the search results.
4. Flip a few pages to emulate that you've read that book.
Ideally that book should be the Last Read (Reading Now) ... WHICH INDEED DOES WORK SO !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there you are. I've never used the "search" function on the NST for anything! But I did, just to humor you, and I see that it actually turns up a "hit".
I use the Library almost exclusively in shelf format. What I personally would like is for the @%W$#% Library to remember that. Of course, it will not, because then I would not see all the nifty new books I just purchased (NOT) from B&N as they are delivered.
Any "adjustments" to the Library behavior are beyond my pay grade and you won't get you-know-who interested in that either, as she has her own Library app. I've looked at a lot of Library alternatives. There were many promising looking ones in the early days but all seem to have been abandoned at some incomplete point by their developers (except for the one mentioned above).
I just live with it. I don't have hundreds of books on my device. When I finish a book I actually delete it (gasp!) [except for something like the Bible].
But it would be nice to understand the rules or thinking behind the "reading now" business. However, since the database doesn't seem to accept input (although you can read from it), it doesn't matter much I guess.