chenlwnew/epub

node.js epub reader

epub

epub is a node.js module to parse EPUB electronic book files.

NB! Only ebooks in UTF-8 are currently supported!.

Installation

npm install epub

Or, if you want a pure-JS version (useful if used in a Node-Webkit app for example):

npm install epub --no-optional

Usage

var EPub = require("epub");
var epub = new EPub(epubfile, imagewebroot, chapterwebroot);

Where

• epubfile is the file path to an EPUB file
• imagewebroot is the prefix for image URL's. If it's /images/ then the actual URL (inside chapter HTML <img> blocks) is going to be /images/IMG_ID/IMG_FILENAME, IMG_ID can be used to fetch the image form the ebook with getImage. Default: /images/
• chapterwebroot is the prefix for chapter URL's. If it's /chapter/ then the actual URL (inside chapter HTML <a> links) is going to be /chapters/CHAPTER_ID/CHAPTER_FILENAME, CHAPTER_ID can be used to fetch the image form the ebook with getChapter. Default: /links/

Before the contents of the ebook can be read, it must be opened (EPub is an EventEmitter).

epub.on("end", function(){
	// epub is now usable
	console.log(epub.metadata.title);

	epub.getChapter("chapter_id", function(err, text){});
});
epub.parse();

metadata

Property of the epub object that holds several metadata fields about the book.

epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.metadata;

Available fields:

• creator Author of the book (if multiple authors, then the first on the list) (Lewis Carroll)
• creatorFileAs Author name on file (Carroll, Lewis)
• title Title of the book (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
• language Language code (en or en-us etc.)
• subject Topic of the book (Fantasy)
• date creation of the file (2006-08-12)
• description

flow

flow is a property of the epub object and holds the actual list of chapters (TOC is just an indication and can link to a # url inside a chapter file)

epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.flow.forEach(function(chapter){
	console.log(chapter.id);
});

Chapter id is needed to load the chapters getChapter

toc

toc is a property of the epub object and indicates a list of titles/urls for the TOC. Actual chapter and it's ID needs to be detected with the href property

getChapter(chapter_id, callback)

Load chapter text from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getChapter("chapter1", function(error, text){});

getChapterRaw(chapter_id, callback)

Load raw chapter text from the ebook.

getImage(image_id, callback)

Load image (as a Buffer value) from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getImage("image1", function(error, img, mimeType){});

getFile(file_id, callback)

Load any file (as a Buffer value) from the ebook.

var epub = new EPub(...);
...
epub.getFile("css1", function(error, data, mimeType){});