---
author: ''
category: ''
date: 2010/09/23 22:33
description: ''
link: ''
priority: ''
slug: BB919
tags: programming, pyqt, python, qt
title: 'eBooks and PyQt: a good match'
type: text
updated: 2010/09/23 22:33
url_type: ''
---
I have been putting lots of love into `Aranduka <http://aranduka.googlecode.com>`_ an eBook manager, (which is looking very good lately, thanks!), and I didn't want it to also be an eBook reader.

But then I thought... how hard can it be to read ePub? Well, it's freaking easy!

Here's `a good start at stackoverflow.com <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1388467/reading-epub-format>`_ but the short of it is... it's a zip with some XML in it.

One of those XML files tells you where things are, one of them is the TOC, the rest is just a small static collection of HTML/CSS/images.

So, here are the ingredients to roll-your-own ePub reader widget in 150 LOC:

* Use python's zipfile library to avoid exploding the zip (that's lame)

* Use Element Tree to parse said XML files.

* Use PyQt's QtWebKit to display said collection of XML/CSS/Images

* Use `this recipe <http://www.diotavelli.net/PyQtWiki/Using%20a%20Custom%20Protocol%20with%20QtWebKit>`_ to make QtWebKit tell you when it wants something from the zipfile.

Plug some things to others, shake vigorously, and you end up with this:

.. raw:: html

   <a href="http://twitpic.com/2ragil" title="Share photos on twitter with Twitpic"><img src="http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/2ragil.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Share photos on twitter with Twitpic"></a>

Here's `the code (as of today) <http://code.google.com/p/aranduka/source/browse/src/epubviewer.py?r=1d5df32bf717651e5ed5d1d22012666ee06d63a2>`_ and `the UI file you need <http://code.google.com/p/aranduka/source/browse/src/epubviewer.ui?r=1d5df32bf717651e5ed5d1d22012666ee06d63a2>`_.

Missing stuff:

* It doesn't display the cover.
* It only shows the top level of the table of contents.
* I only tested it on two books ;-)
* It sure can use a lot of refactoring!

Neither should be terribly hard to do.