"ComicViewer for Ubooquity" now available on Google Play Store

Installing the app and adding the server works fine. Comis are shown full screen as you say, but swiping doesn't work for me: I still have to tap to turn the page.
(Tested with Android 5.1)

I think I made a mistake in code. Can you confirm if your files are loaded in "Comics" or "Books" section? If you are talking about swiping during menu, I suggest increasing the 'items per page' to very high (1,000) so that it only loads one page.

I did another test, both with "Comics" (cbr/cbz) and "Books" (pdf). Swiping through menus is no problem (but that works without your app too), but swiping pages in a book/comic does not work.

About documentation and a full client (something that have been on my mind too but that I won't start before several years, if ever): the best way to programmatically get data from Ubooquity is through the OPDS feed (explained in this post).

Ubooquity implements the OPDS specification, and you'll find everything you need (metadata, covers, files, links to extract individual pages) in the feed.

The individual links for page extraction is an extension of the OPDS format described in this document.

Is there any documentation or guidelines on logging in with username or password? I have never done this before and if I add this, I want it to be safe and correct. Thanks.

For OPDS (and OPDS only, other parts of Ubooquity manage authentication using a different method), Ubooquity uses Basic HTTP Authentication.

This authentication method is made mandatory by the OPDS specifications, that's why it's different from the method used elsewhere in Ubooquity.

Let me know if you have specific questions about this.

Really good work on the app! I wanted to leave some feedback via Google Play but the option isn't there.

Would be nice to have the option to keep screen always on. It would also be nice to see some sort of loading icon appear after clicking a link. Really good work!

Program oddness....

Works/loads/runs on phone (LG4/T-Mobile/Stock)

Does NOT function on:

Acer Iconia 8" tab..(rooted only/stock rom)

Nook HD+ (rooted/rom:CM11)

--- --- ---

On Phone:

Icon shows:Comicviewer for ubooquity

On both tablets.

Icon shows: com.sethchhim.....MainActivity

?????

Richard sorry to hear that. Since Tom provided some OPDS documentation, I have scrapped the old and started development on a native client. The previous webview feels like a cheap workaround and we can do better.

Okay... kewl...

This unfortunate doesn't seem to work on tablets. It crashes when it tries to launch. Launches on my phone, but will not connect to my server at all. Does this not support https? I can connect to my library with a browser, just not the app. When it connects, it tries to download a file "download.bin". Kind of fishy.

Update: The downloadfile.bin is simply android trying to download the webpage or something. The app works without https. I would love if it supported https as I am not loving having to pass credentials unencrypted.

But otherwise, I am loving this app. So much nicer than running in a browser. I hope you continue working on this app as it is a godsend for those of us wanting access to our libraries on the go.

Thanks for doing this.

I can confirm HTTPS is working fine.

Not for me. Just sits at a blank white screen. When I disable https in ubooquity, it works fine.

Hey I trashed the old project and working on a native client right now. Its about 60% done, it has a recyclerview and xml parsing finished last night. The thing is lightning fast, just need to finish up bitmap pulling, give me a few more days.

This is the big one! We are now a native Android application and no longer use WebView. It is recommended to change the thumbnail cover size in the server software for a better experience, otherwise it will look pixelated. Example: Width:320 x Height:460 and also show 1,000 items at a time (or more if you have that much in a subsection).

I put a lot of work into this one and it is miles ahead of the previous release. Now that I'm done with most of the core functionality, I can work on making it look better but it admit I have no talent in this area. Let me know what you think and if you encounter any bugs. It will be live in a few hours.

Note: I have changed how the server list works. You need to follow this format "http://192.168.0.1:2202". Please do not add anything else to the end.

Just a few thiungs that appear to break it... Security,i get a blank white screen when i have user security enabled on ubooquity. and once security is disabled, I only get the all comics, folders, and latest options. Selecting one goes to a blank screen... I am using the reverse proxy,so my URL is :2202/comics. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the quick feedback. I did not account for secured connection yet. Its at the top of my list!

I also am having problems - - - just a white screen - - -

and I have username/password enabled as well...

I'll try turning that off, re-connecting and see if it works... Repost shortly...

Thank you so much for this! It completes the Ubooquity experience (no disrespect to Tom, none of this would be possible without him and I like having the choice of app or webview for non android devices) . Being able to swipe is a godsend.

For what it's worth, my wishlist would be (in order of preference):

- Automatically loading next comic in series

- Showing read comics

(these are just icing on the cake)

- Windows 10 or if need be IOS version (my 10" android tablet is getting slow!)

- Ability to change ubooquity settings within your app

- Ability to open locally stored comics as well (eg on the SD card).

Not sure if any of them are possible and I'm sure you have your own ideas, and even if none of them ever happen, it's more than good enough for my needs.

I tested it on a 5.1 phone (stock) and a 4.4 (rooted but stock rom) tablet. Pretty much standard ubooquity settings on my PC. Pleased to say I didn't run in to any of the issues above.

Thank you again. I will use this every day so if you ever want a beta tester, I'll be happy to.

This project is only a few weeks young. You can certainly expect more features in the future, but it will just take time. Thank you for the kind words. If you have a chance can you rate it on the play store so others can find it.

On three different android devices w/different oses, and processors ---

Https. - works

Server side uses reverse proxy -

user/password - enabled.

I get as far as 1st screen

3 'link' buttons show

All comics

Folders

Latest

Nothing after that...

From a browser - looking at the atom feed - there is data...

I can use moon+ reader to navigate ...

Closer!

Rich

I am having the same result as richard... Though tested a bit further. Disabling my reverse proxy and it loads fine from the url with port. Turning the reverse prosy back on and get blank screen after thr initial all, folder, latest screen.

I think I understand the problem. Expect a fix in about a week. In the meantime, check out today's 1.4.5. This should have been the 1.0 to begin with. Sorry for releasing buggy software and thanks for sticking around with feedback! We will get there one step at a time.

Look forward to trying it out when you've got the reverse proxy issue corrected. And no worries, I work as a software engineer, everyone releases buggy stuff sometimes... The key is being quick to respond and correct bugs when you can.

You can opt in the beta and then upgrade in the Play Store if you want to test the pathing fix. I don't have a reverse proxy to test on so feedback is very much welcome.

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.sethchhim.comicviewerforubooquity

Just got it working. I'm running Ubooquity on an Unraid server and accessing through a Galaxy S6. All smooth. Had an issue with username /password but removed them, got it working and then reactivated them. Great work and look forward to seeing where the development heads. Thanks

So just tried the 1.4.6 beta app on a rooted Kindle 8.9 running Lollipop. Was able to connect and browse folders. Pulled up a book and read just fine. Went to find another comic and realized there was something goofy with the browse. My folders start with publisher then titles. Since a given publisher can have a ton of titles, there tends to be a pile of sub folders. The built in web app handles this as a number of webpages, 30 per page, or 3 rows of 10. This app will list the first 30 subfolders or the first webpage, but not the rest.

To be clear, the structure looks like

Marvel

Avengers

Captain America

etc.

DC

Batman

Superman

etc.

I can't browse past the first 30 subfolders of a given publisher.

Hi Scott, this is a known issue listed on the Play Store listing.

Current Known Bugs:- Can not load multiple menu pages. You should set "items per page" on the Ubooquity server to see all items.

Has anyone had luck getting this working with a reverse proxy and SSL?

I have a bit of a strange setup so it's difficult to diagnose where the issue is...

I've disabled Ubooquity authentication and built my own auth using cookies and php. I have a feeling that's where my issue is coming from.

Seth Chhim, any chance you could allow me to pass a cookie along with the connection to provide auth?

for more info on my auth: https://github.com/hjone72/PlexAuth

I fixed the reverse proxy issue today and it is live on the BETA right now. Thanks to Richard here on the forums for his help and providing some data. Opt in below and try it out!

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.sethchhim.comicviewerforubooquity

Edit: Ok, this looks a bit more complex. Let me read up and study.

Oh fantastic! I'll check out the beta.

EDIT:

Yeah looks like it still doesn't work. I guess it must be the additional request that occurs to ensure you are authenticated. It worked with your original version.

Thanks for taking a look at it! :)

Works great for me with a reverse proxy. I see that you added the requirement to include the opds-comics in the url... Not a big deal since it works.

So that I could test out the app I've temporarily disabled my auth.

I can load the "Browse Library" screen, but it won't load any of the items.. I am simply faced with "Server Not Available". The connection to my server is often a bit slow, do you think this could be the cause?

Thanks,

Looks like Ubooquity needed a restart. Nothing to do with your app.

I've finally had a chance to check it all out, it looks awesome! Great work!

Nice to hear. Check tomorrow for an update. I fixed a lot of bugs and add some new features. Also, same thing happens to me. I have to restart Ubooquity every so often. Nothing shows up in logs, it just doesn't respond. Could be anything but its not that frequent.

Finally got around to trying 1.4.6 after rebuilding my library. Amazing work Seth. I had no idea it would pick up the metadata (the reason I was rebuilding my library), nor that you'd put the "Next comic" feature in. Then the icing on the cake is the way Recently Viewed keeps track of where you're at in a series.

Incredible work. Now I just want a version for my Windows tablet as my 10" Android one is getting too long in the teeth, but thats being greedy :)

Thank you again for this.

Thanks, I'm uploading update tomorrow. Unfortunately I recommend CLEAR DATA or uninstall to get a clean slate before upgrading. Some good changes and fixes, such as transition animations, search, and memory fix. Sorry, only develop for Android only.

Another great release. Working like a charm still (even without clearing data, which I know is generally good practice). Totally understand about only doing an Android release - I'll just have to treat myself to a new tablet :)

This is not something thats really that important to me as I hardly read books through Ubooquity, but will it be possible at some point to have two servers (or rather URLs), so that we can have both our /opds-comics and /opds-ebooks feeds?

I personally use Google Play books. You can purchase books and upload your own epub as well, so its pretty hard to beat. My focus is on comics and still have a lot of work to do.

I cannot get this to browse my collection. If I choose "All Comics", I get a blank "Recently Viewed" and blank "Latest Comics". If I click on either of them, it just goes back to add server.

If I choose "Latest Comics" from the Browse Library, I just get an endlessly scrollable white screen.

Hello Gilgamex, have you enabled OPDS feed in the Ubooquity server?

Also make sure your server uses this format exactly:

Example "http://192.168.0.1:2202/opds-comics/"

I am able to recreate your problem if I leave out the last "/" in the server. Let me know if you get it working!

Thanks Seth. The missing trailing "/" was the problem. Let me mess around with it and see how it goes. Will give more feedback once I have some time with it (currently running the beta build).

Love the latest beta. It seems to do a much better job of connecting for me. One tiny nitpick. For the life of me, I can't find where you configure the server connection. I stood up a second server for testing and can't figure out how to talk to it.

I'm sorry I don't understand your question. What are you trying to configure exactly? To setup a new server, you just need to setup these things:

1.Enable OPDS feed

2.Open network ports

3. Optional authentication

Oh it seems I broke something and the button disappeared. Will fix right now.

Yes, the missing button. Sorry I wasn't more clear. Thanks for the quick turnaround, everything is working now.

Is there any way to get the app to fit the image to screen? When I'm reading, the bottom quarter of the page is below the threshold and I have to scroll. If I resize, it will get reset to the detail view upon page turn.

I know about this bug. The app does autosize for fit to width which works well with most phone/tablet. Yours must be shorter aspect ratio and fit to height would be better. I will implement an option to choose. Thanks for feedback.

Check back on weekend.

Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply!

The beta is live with the feature requested. You can opt in inside the play store and install like usual. Let me know if anything goes wrong, otherwise I consider this issue closed.

any chance of a dark theme? I do a lot of reading at night and the current theme, although very nice, is very bright.

Sure, will add it to the to do list.

Can you add an "immersive mode" where the software buttons disappear? It would allow more space on the screen for comics.

If you are talking about the top title bar in the browser mode, I was thinking about making that hide while scrolling.

I'm referring to the back, home, task manager software buttons you get at the bottom of a tablet. There's more info here: https://developer.android.com/training/system-ui/immersive.html

Amazing project!

I've got a lot of problems when i try to use it (huawei p8 lite) It'seems that connects right to the server but when i want to navigate the app starts to swipe madly, impossible to use it :(

Thanks again for your effort dude!

a.

I am unable to recreate this issue and have not heard anyone else with this problem. What version android are you on?

I'm using Android 6.0 over EMUI 4.0.

Good news, I was able to recreate the problem and working on the fix now. I will upload a beta test tomorrow, you can opt in the play store if you want to try it out (tomorrow).

Wow, that was fast.

Ok, i will try it tomorrow!

Thanks Seth.

The problem I believe is a funky unintentional loop after network timeout. The version with the fix applied is 1.5.0 Beta2 and above. Let me know if this fixes it for you.

Amazing, works prefectly now (i had to reinstall the app).

I'm not sure if I'm now encountering the same issue but on my 4.4 Android Tablet, I can add the server fine, but then the screen goes "strange". I guess the best way I can describe it is the menu where normally you'd browse keeps flashing (with a slight "zoom in") animation before I'm told its crashed.

Working fine on my Marshmallow tablet and phone however (would prefer to have it working on my 10" tablet though!).

I submitted a bug report through the app.

Fix one thing, break another. I have applied the fix and uploaded it as version 1.5.1. It will be live in a few hours, thanks for the patience.

Incredible - its the weekend! Take a day off! Seems to be working fine now with the new update. Absolutely amazing turnaround time. Thanks Seth.

It looks so polished these days, great work.

Seth, not to sound really negative... but maybe you should create your own usercho for the app or just move all the app support forum out of ubooquity's since it looks like this might benefit from it's own issue tracking and what not.

I don't mean to intrude on Ubooquity's doorstep. This is just a small project and active development is about to end in about 2 more revisions while I iron out major bugs. Just bear with me for a little bit longer.

The app is nice, but still incomplete:

- it seem to not support pagination of results, it shows only the first 30 comics in a folder

- doesn't support double page view

It would be nice if you publish the source on github, maybe some smart people could help improving it..

Have you changed the number of comics to view in Ubooquity? I've set mine to 500 - just checked and the first 500 issues of DC comics have come up. Admittedly its not paginated but it does the job unless you are working with a single folder with hundreds of issues.

If you want a work around for double page, a quick fix is to change to Aspect Fill - seems to work for me.

Considering its one guy and only been in development for 3 months its pretty amazing how close it is to feature complete.

I am so impressed with how the app is coming along. The dark mode is fantastic.

Keep up the good work Seth.

Can you make it so that the app respects rotation lock?

I am working on a dual pane setting so I needed to force landscape mode if its on. I simply forgot to enable the user defined setting if the dual pane setting is off. Easy fix but...

The interesting thing I never noticed is that when 'Auto Rotate' is switched off it automatically turns to portrait mode and then disables auto rotation, effectively locking you into portrait mode only. This seems to be the intended effect for other apps I have tested too. If you would like a "lock portrait" and also "lock landscape" mode I will need to put in some buttons or selection mechanism. Let me know what you have in mind.

TLDR;

Option 1: Disable auto rotate from Android quick setting, locks into portrait mode only

Option 2: Add two buttons, lock portrait and lock landscape

When I used to use ComicRack they had the following options:

• Lock to portrait
• Lock to landscape
• Auto adjust based on device
• Respect Android setting

The main thing is I'd like to be able to lie down and read comics without the screen flipping to landscape :)

The request is live on version 1.5.5.

Am I the only one having authentication with password that not works ?

I tried with Nginx reverse proxy, then I tried without proxy with only 2202 open on the router.

is that https works on the application, I have not tried yet ?

If the software is amazing, if I set the two problems mentioned above, the application will be perfect, it will answer. my expectations

with comics works fine, but, doesnt appears my books library section,

solve that and be the best you can do

Hey Seth, just wanted to drop in and say thanks for building such a great viewer for Ubooquity.

Are there any plans for adding a thumbnail view for folders? That would make it near perfect for my usage.

I have been working hard on the next release. Unfortunately I have decided not include thumbnails for folders unless it is offered by the opds feed.

At present the Ubooquity webviewer represents each folder with a thumbnail from the first issue of each comic. Is that not something the opds feed allows?

Love what you've done so far Seth. Are there any new features planned for your next release?

Will the ability to download issues ever be a feature? It would be great to download issues in case you are planning to go offline.

You are correct that the web viewer shows thumbnails but the opds feed does not have it. I would request it later though, looks like the Ubooquity server is undergoing some serious changes (for the better).

Entire rewrite of the app implementing a proper mvp architecture. This makes the code modular and enables easier updating or implementing features. Some features finished already are oled black theme, pagination support (that includes bookmarking), tons of bug and performance fixes.

If I add downloading it will require android permissions to write to disk. I'm proud of the minimal 2 non critical permissions now and intend to keep it this way. Thanks for your interest, I will keep at it.

Are you planning to add plain url support or is it always going to have to have an ip address? This greatly limits functionality in that I can't use my dynamic dns address for outside of my home. I'm also noticing limited functionality with the Kindle HD Fire.. in that I can't browse and I'm unable to actually view a file.

I would be happy to write up a fix. Could you set up a mock server for me and send me the direct ip address and also dynamic ip address so I can do some testing? E-mail me if you can set it up, sethchhim@gmail.com

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding your question but my dynamic dns address works fine for accessing my library remotely via Seth's app

I've narrowed it down to the Kindle Fire not displaying it at all.

Installing a custom rom fixed it.

Sorry I couldn't troubleshoot Fire OS considering I don't have a Kindle Fire. All my testing concluded no errors on the corresponding Android version which would have been 5.1. Glad you found a work around.

I'm just glad I could use it, it's better and less cumbersome (for larger collections) than other apps and is just generally easier to use.

Seth, just wanted to say I'm excited to see what you come up with to complement Ubooquity 2.0. Your app has become indispensable to my enjoyment of comics.

- Improve performance. I'm stuck because its hard to balance quality and performance when accounting for so many device configurations. I have to program for lowest possible specs which would be an Android 4.1 device. Some other apps accomplish this by down sampling the image but it makes it kinda blurry if you look close enough. I don't want to do that too much, so still tweaking.

- Give the epub reader some attention like font type, font size, font color, background color.

- Rewrite everything in Kotlin. This is a perfect test bed for me to try out the cool new language on the block.

This is still a side project and moves at it's own slow pace. Anything in particular you are wanting? I, myself, am a reader and the current feature set is enough for me.

Will you be able to support the server side bookmarks in the app? That's my main feature. I read at work sometimes, and other times on my phone or tablet, so finding my place across devices can be annoying. I'd also like to be able to tap the screen and get a menu that lets me type in a page number or drag a slider to change page. Have you seen chunky reader on iPad? I'd like something similar to the "in comic" menu on that.

I don't see server side bookmarking in the opds feed so I don't know how to interface with it. I implemented a seekbar for you this morning. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. There is a lot of empty space above it, but I'll fit in book details there when I have time to design something.

About the bookmarks:

http://ubooquity.userecho.com/topics/499-expose-server-bookmarks-via-opds/

would it be possible to mark books as read?

Yes there is both a LEFT drawer and RIGHT drawer with options you can check out.

@Admins You can lock this thread if you want. This thread is getting out of control. Anyone who needs help can e-mail me personally and I will be glad to help. sethchhim@gmail.com

Your call.

I don't mind letting it live if you want.

Let me know.

Yes, please lock. It has been a few months and I have learned a lot. It is time to fork a new project and start from the ground up with proper architecture in mind. I'm going to try Kotlin and some new architecture components released by Google last month. Also, my eyes are on Tensorflow. It would be interesting to have machine learning parse the image and find panels.

Thanks for your hard work @Tom. I get a lot of complements for my app but in reality it is the server doing all the heavy lifting.

If you end up figuring out "Guided View" like Comixology, I'll buy an app no questions asked.

And now I realize I can't lock threads...

Anyway, I'll just put a big lock image to ask people to stop posting.

Thanks for your work too, It's really nice to see people building things around Ubooquity. I'll continue expanding the "interaction points" Ubooquity offers (customization, APIs...).

Have fun with Kotlin and Tensorflow. :)

Please don't post here anymore