Does BookShelf support format XXXXXX?

BookShelf currently supports plain text, HTML, FB2 (FictionBook), Plucker, PalmDoc, and MobiReader. Note that the original release of BookShelf had a bug which caused it to crash on certain MobiReaders. This has since been fixed.

Does BookShelf support PDB files?

Yes and No...

Not all PDB files are created equal. PalmOS used the PDB file extension to hold every possible type of data that could be put onto a Palm device. Everything from calendars, address books, shopping lists, and even in some cases, ebooks.

BookShelf supports several types of PDB files (see the question on supported formats). Most notably, it does not support iSilo or eReader files at this time.

Does BookShelf support PDF's?

It's on the todo list. Along with LIT, RTF, and many others.

See BookShelf's bug tracker for a complete list of planned features and file formats.

The particular problem with PDF's is that the built-in PDF rendering functions in the iPhone don't wrap the text to fit the screen. In order to read a full page PDF, you need to scroll back and forth repeatedly to read each line of the file. Once I figure out a way to fix this issue, PDF support will follow shortly thereafter.

Is WiFi required to download books?

Ideally, yes.

While it's possible to configure BookShelf to connect back to your desktop over EDGE or 3G, this is considered an advanced topic and not supported. It does work, but it requires you to reconfigure your router/firewall and could leave you open to outside attackers or knock you off the Internet completely if done incorrectly.

There's information on how to configure ShelfServer on the Advanced page, but please understand: If it breaks, you get to keep the pieces. There are just too many variations of router/firewall and ISP setups for me to have any prayer of supporting them all.

I get "Cocoa error code 256" when connecting to ShelfServer

You probably need to adjust the firewall on your Mac.

See: instructions for configuration Leopard's firewall for ShelfServer.

Error 0xE800002E (or similar) when installing or upgrading

While Apple's done some amazing things with their iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 firmware, some bugs remain, particularly with application install and updates. The most common manifestations of these bugs are "installation failed" or similarly unhelpful error from the AppStore on your device or some variation of the 0xE........ error message from iTunes when syncing or installing applications.

Please note that if you haven't already installed the 2.1 iPhone or iPod firmware update, doing so is highly recommended before continuing. The 2.1 update fixed many (though unfortunately not all) installation related issues.

In most cases, the fix for these issues is simply to reboot the device and try again. To do a full reboot, hold the Power button for about five seconds until the "Slide to power off" screen appears. Slide the slider and wait a few seconds until the screen goes dark. Wait another second or so, then hold the Power button for one second until the screen lights up. The device should finish booting in about a minute, leaving you at the "Slide to unlock" screen.

Once the reboot is complete, most installations usually proceed without error.

If the install still fails, it may help to delete the app entirely from both your iThing and your computer and re-download it from the AppStore. So long as you use the same AppleID you did when you originally purchased BookShelf, you can re-download as many times as you need for free.

First, if BookShelf is still on your iThing, delete it from there (tap-hold the icon until it dances, tap the 'X', confirm, press the Home button to stop the dancing), then reboot your iThing (again).

Next, in iTunes, go to the Applications tab on the left and choose BookShelf from your list of apps. Delete it (delete key on your keyboard should do it), and allow iTunes to remove the file both from your iTunes Library and also from the disk.

Finally, re-download the app (either from the AppStore on the iThing or iTunes, it doesn't seem to matter), and hopefully all should be well.

If all of that doesn't work, unfortunately you're beyond my help. Anything that happens pre-installation falls into Apple's control with the various DRM and code-signing mechanisms on the iPhone platform, and developers have no access to any of the internals nor any way to debug the issue. If the app still won't install after all of the above, you'll need to contact iTunes support for further assistance.

Can't install apps or stuck in reboot loop

If after rebooting your device you still have problems installing applications, or if your device is completely locked and won't reboot correctly, you may wish to examine a recent article on Apple's Discussion forums which explains technical causes for the installation/upgrade problems and also gives some tips for avoiding the bugs.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7834367& [archived here]

To summarize, the problem is caused by the device running out of memory during an app install or update and ultimately corrupting some important data in the process. In some cases, the only way to fix the problem is to reinstall the phone's firmware from scratch.

To help prevent the problem from happening, the article suggests installing apps through iTunes instead of the on-device AppStore, disabling Mail syncing while installing to free up memory, and keeping the number of installed applications to a minimum.

Unfortunately if you find yourself having installation problems and none of the above helps, there's nothing I'll be able to do to help. Apple gives developers no control over the install/update process, and so your only choice would be to contact iTunes support.

Hyperlinks don't work!

Starting with version 1.2, BookShelf supports hyperlinks in HTML-like file formats including Plucker, Mobi, plain-HTML, CHM, etc. There are currently a few known wrinkles with the link support that I aim to improve in the future, but with just a little bit of practice, most people can use hyperlinks reliably.

The biggest issue is that links in BookShelf don't react instantly. Given that most users will probably scroll more than follow links, I felt it was important to make sure the existing tap-to-scroll mechanism stayed intact when link support was added. This compromise shows in the timing required to trigger links.

In order to trigger a link in a document, you need to tap & hold the link for just longer than the time it takes to highlight under your finger. If a pop-up "balloon" showing the link destination appears, you held too long. If nothing happens or the toolbars toggle when you release, you didn't hold long enough. The background of the link will turn dark if you hold for about 1/4 of a second, and that's when you want to let go.

I *think* most people will get the knack of it pretty quickly. I will likely tweak the timing a bit in a future release.

WebStart of ShelfServer fails (on Mac OS X)

Occasionally the WebStart launch of ShelfServer will fail, complaining about being unable to access a URL that looks something like file://localhost/Users/yourname/Library/Caches/Java/cache/javaws/http/Dwww.iphonebookshelf.com/P80/.... Retrying the WebStart usually doesn't work at this point.

I'm still not sure of the cause of this problem, but the fix is fairly easy and has worked for everyone who's tried.

1. If you have an icon on your desktop for "iPhone BookShelf", drag it to the trash.
2. Open Finder, and starting from your Home folder, navigate down to Library and then Caches.
3. At that level, you'll see several folders including one named "Java". You can either rename the Java folder (to something like "Java-backup"), or just simply drag the Java folder to the Trash. Everything in that folder will be automatically re-downloded whenever it's needed.
4. Finally WebStart ShelfServer again. WebStart should take a minute or two to download the app, and it should launch as soon as the download completes.

If for some reason the above doesn't work, the other option is to download the ZIP'd version of ShelfServer instead. You can get the latest version from http://www.iphonebookshelf.com/webstart/ShelfServer.zip. There are several drawbacks to this approach. First, this version doesn't self-update like the WebStart version does. It lacks the nice icon and operating system integration that Apple's Java WebStart process creates.

To use the ZIP'd version, download and unzip the file, and double-click the ShelfServerGui.jar file inside.