This application allows you to read large Text (.txt,.text), eReader/Peanut Press (.pdb), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Palm Doc (.pdb), Mobipocket (.pdb,.prc,.mobi), Plucker (.pdb), HTML (.htm,.html), CHM (.chm), and Fiction Book (.fb2) files quickly and efficiently on the iPhone/Touch. This application doesn't have the fancy formatting of ruBooks or Books.app, but it supports many formats and can quickly load and display large text files that currently cause problems with some UI Text View/Web View based apps. It also gives you some options to reformat/reflow text so that it might be more readable on the iPhone's smaller screen. If you want to load books quickly and read text, this may be the app for you.

OS 3.0 - Not Working

NOTE: textReader uses APIs that have been removed from iPhone OS 3.0 I just ordered a mac Mini and I'll see what I can do to fix things once it arrives.

Sorry for the trouble, -Jim

2.1 for OS 2.0

This is pretty close to where version 1.1 was for OS 1.1.4 but not quite as pretty.

• Font Zoom isn't going to happen until the App Store or a better SDK, so I have disabled it.
• CHM support is currently broken so I have disabled it.
• To install, copy contents of zip file to /Applications using scp, "Disk Aid" or your favorite file transfer method
• Remember to set eXecute permissions using ssh or terminal "chmod a+x /Applications/textReader.app/textReader" then "chmod a+x /Applications/textReader.app/unrar"
• If you have problems with textReader exiting/disappearing, try the following from the command line: "ldid -S /Applications/textReader.app/textReader"
• Let me know of problems in issues ...

Version 1.1 for OS 1.1.4

• Adds support for CHM, ZIP and RAR files. These files will be expanded into cache directories so you can navigate into them and open the files they contain. Cache directories can also be deleted.
• Improved formatting for eReader, Mobipocket, RTF, Palm Doc, Plucker, HTML, FB2, PDB, PRC, and Text files.
• Adds an option to automatically delete cache directories when you leave them
• Adds an option for "File Scrolling": Swipe left

  <->

  right to go to the next or previous file in the directory.
• Better file management including improved file ordering and updating after a delete
• Added an indicator to differentiate between opened and unopened files
• Split up the settings page into sub-pages
• New search options
• Minor bug fixes

Previous Change Logs: http://code.google.com/p/iphonetextreader/wiki/ChangeLog

Screen Captures

Alternate Icons

You can download the icon pack, copy the icon you like to /Applications/textReader.app/icon.png, and then restart your iPhone/Touch to use the new icon.

A Cry For Help

Several people have asked about a user's manual. I only have a limited amount of time to work on this, so I wind up spending it coding. If someone wants to take a first whack at a manual/instructions/FAQ/whatever I'll be happy to edit it a bit and put it up for others to use.

Using textReader:

• To hide/display the menu bar and slider, tap in the middle of the screen.
• Select Open on the menu bar to get a list of files.
• Tap on ".." or folders to navigate the directory tree
• Select Download File via URL to specify a URL and name for a file to download to /var/mobile/Media/textReader
• Select "screwdriver/wrench" icon for settings page to set screen color, encoding, fonts, etc.
• Files are loaded using the specified encoding. If the file is not in the first encoding, the second will be tried, then the third, then the fourth. Note that many encodings overlap so you may need to order the encodings carefully if you have files with multiple encodings.
• "Show Cover Art" will display a .png or .jpg image with the same name as the file, or cover.png or cover.jpg in the same directory as the file.
• Smooth Scroll will enable the classic iPhone "sliding scroll"
• "Align text - Word Justify" will add space between words to make the text align with the left and right margins.
• "Align text - Character Justify" will add space between characters to make the text align with the left and right margins. Suitable for many Asian languages.
• "Strip Line Feeds - Single" will remove single carriage return/line feed characters. This can improve the appearance of text that has been formatted for a wider display with hard line breaks.
• "Strip Line Feeds - Format" tries to be a bit more creative - it will a carriage return/line feed unless it is
• followed by a '-', a single or double quote, or a tab
• after a '.', ':', '!', '?', or a single or double quote (ignoring any intervening blanks)
• Select "lock" icon to toggle automatic screen rotation changes on or off.
• Use the slider to jump to a specific part of the book.
• To scroll down a page, tap on the bottom half of the screen.
• To scroll up a page, tap on the upper half of the screen.
• To search the currently open text, use the magnifying glass icon

Please report any problems in the Issues section.

Note: Books.app http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/ and ruBooks http://colel.info/rubooks/ provide a formatted display of text and images. If you are willing to break up your book into smaller chapters they may also be options.

Installing:

Now on Installer thanks to Big Boss!

• Open Installer, go to Productivity, and then scroll down to textReader.
• Or - download the latest version in the Downloads section. Make sure you set the eXecute bits on /Applications/textReader.app/textReader and the /Applications/textReader.app/images directory (if using version 1.0 or later)

Adding eBooks

The default directory for textReader is /var/mobile/Media/textReader, but it remembers where the last opened file was so you can navigate to any directory you want. (The directory will be created when you run textReader) I recommend installing OpenSSH on your iPhone and using WinSCP for Windows to install files. Mac users can use Dropcopy, which should work even better. Or, you can always just use scp from a Unix command line ... Note: Version 1.1 and above suppports opening zip files in place.

Download eBooks via Safari

If you install the Safari Download Plugin from http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1136 you can click on Palm Doc .pdb and Mobipocket .prc files and download them directly to your iPhone. They will be downloaded to /var/root/Downloads, so you can navigate to that directory or make a symbolic link to it in /var/mobile/Media/textReader. I recommend the books from http://manybooks.net and http://www.baen.com as a starting point. This should also allow you to download zip files containing supported eBooks as well.

Download via URL

You can also use the download page to download a file.

• Tap in the middle of the screen and select Open
• Select Download File via URL
• Enter a URL to download from
• ex: URL: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15772/15772-8.txt
• Enter a name for the Download:
• ex: Save As: The Prince - Machiavelli
• Select Download File Now - file will be placed in /var/mobile/Media/textReader
• See http://manybooks.net/site_news/2008/05/03/new-iphone-app-textreader/ for a way to use Download with Manybooks.net

Palm Doc .pdb and .prc Support

textReader can open most Palm Doc, eReader, Plucker, and Mobipocket unencrypted non-DRM files (i.e. generally purchased files are protected in some way and can not be read). It will display them as plain text - no links, contents, pictures, etc. Plucker books will work, but links will not work so it may be of limited use for Plucker fanatics. It can read the books off of Project Gutenberg just fine and will display all of the book rather than just part of it. Formats like Isilo and Tome Raider will not work. Some of these formats are proprietary or DRM'd which means I won't be able to open them. If you want support for one of the other formats, let me know the details and I'll see what I can do.

PDB/PRC File Redux

Some folks are having problems opening .pdb files. PDB/PRC files are kind of like AVI files - a container than can hold things in various formats. If you have a PDB/PRC file and it isn't in Palm Doc, eReader, Plucker, or Mobipocket format there probably isn't much I can do. Formats like iSilo are not public, so textReader can't read them. If you buy an encrypted PDB/PRC file, textReader probably can't read it either ... sorry, but it isn't my fault - blame the company you bought the book from (although they probably didn't have much choice either). Note that some companies like www.baen.com sell unencrypted Mobipocket books that should work fine. Others sell "multi-format" books that include Palm Doc - these should work as well. Let me take this moment to suggest that you use a good old plain text file. It's fast, portable, easy, future-proof, and as long as the encoding is supported it will simply work and everyone will be happier!

File Encodings

File Encoding changes take effect after the file is opened. textReader will try to open the file with each encoding specified on the Settings page in order - if the encodings are not correct you'll get an error and the previous file will remain open. Of course, many encodings overlap so you may also get a page of garbage characters. Certain types of files (HTML, RTF, etc.) get preprocessed in order to display properly. A cache file will be created at the first open for these files so that they can be reopened. Since cache files are Unicode, they will always open properly (assuming they were initially opened properly) even if you change the encoding later on. There is also a "Cache All Files" option that will create a cache file for everything you open - even if no proprocessing was needed. This can help you avoid encoding issues if you use files with many incompatible encodings.

Future enhancements:

• Add way to scroll between files in a directory with swipes (1.1Beta1)
• Add support for CHM/LIT files (Note: Loading non-DRM Text only) (CHM in 1.1Beta1)
• Support zip files (i.e. treat like a directory) (1.1Beta1)
• Make file list use smaller font and/or be multi-line so the full title can be seen.
• Bookmarks - if interested, add suggestions in the Issues section
• Hyphenate word breaks (need to figure out better word break rules)
• Improve download - allow textReader to get a list of files for you to select from
• Provide better control of line spacing
• Allow the "default" directory to be set
• Provide option to change inter-character spacing (this will probably be slow ...)
• Provide option for custom margin sizes
• Improve scrolling smoothness, especially up/backwards
• Improve load speed (especially for HTML, FB2 and Plucker)
• Add support for Word/Doc and PDF files (Note: Loading the Text only)
• Add UMD support (may need to wait for OS 2.0)
• Add support for other formats (request formats in Issues)
• Improve formatting - possiby retain simple things like bold, underline, and italic
• chapter/index support (create automatic bookmarks for chapters?)
• Add visual cue for previously opened books
• password support
• Suggest more enhancements in the Issues section

Contact

You can email comments, requests, questions, etc. to iphonetextreader at gmail.com. I'll try to get back to you when I can, but I'm a bit busy at work right now. Thanks!

Special Thanks! to the following

• The iPhone Dev Team for the toolchain and more!
• James Yopp for the UIOrientingApplication example
• Paul J. Lucas for txt2pdbdoc code
• Jed Wing <jedwin@ugcs.caltech.edu> For the CHM code
• Paul DuBois dubois@primate.wisc.edu For the RTF code
• Algernon E Mouse and Kapila De Silva for eReader format help
• Bill Janssen for Plucker code
• Will Dietz - http://dtztech.com/ - unrar
• http://iphonedevdoc.com/index.php - random hints and examples
• mxweas - UITransitionView example
• thebends.org - textDrawing example
• Books.app - written by Zachary Brewster-Geisz (and others)
• mobileTerminal http://code.google.com/p/mobileterminal/ for gesture code ideas
• http://garcya.us/ - for application icons
• Allen Li for help with rotation lock and scrolling
• pieroxy for help with HTML character entity code
• cxyut, Сергей Кропотов, Pericles Pericleous, Wolfgang Kurtz, and pieroxy for Localization help
• Travis Wang, Pericles Pericleous, Wolfgang Kurtz and Jay Sun for alpha testing
• Wolfgang Kurtz for the new icon
• je44 for another icon - http://je44.deviantart.com/art/textReader-iPhone-icon-88727857
• xumaozhe (weiphone.com) for yet another icon design
• Jenry Ma for an additional icon design
• Pericles Pericleous for additional icon designs
• Big Boss for handling Installer issues and hosting
• Hachu, Spyboy, and iClarified - Safari Download PDB/PRC support
• Sample background images from http://www.escrappers.com/textures.html
• The fine folks at www.weiphone.com who provided more sample backgrounds
• Anyone who sent a Thank You letting me know they like it!