today20050110/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

import EPub from 'epub'
const epub = new EPub(pathToFile, imageWebRoot, chapterWebRoot)

Where

• pathToFile 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 initialized now
  console.log(epub.metadata.title)

  epub.getChapter('chapter_id', (err, text) => {})
})

epub.parse()

metadata

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

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.flow.forEach(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.

epub.getChapter('chapter1', (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.

epub.getImage('image1', (error, img, mimeType) => {})

getFile(file_id, callback)

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

epub.getFile('css1', (error, data, mimeType) => {})