QStripper - The Open Source Edition.

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Introduction

This is yet another version of my old favourite Stripper program. This one is written using the Open Source version of Qt 4 toolkit for C++ developers.

This version allows output to plain text, pdf, DocBook XML and HTML. You can (hopefully) soon run the same code on Windows and/or Linux. Version 1.06 added support for Open Office and Libre Office by allowing exports in ODF format.

Executable Downloads

The downloads for this application are in two parts. The first is the support files - dlls on Windows - that are required by the compiler system, the QT4 system and whatever else I can squeeze in as well!

The second is the application itself. Because the application is not statically linked (to the libraries etc), you only need the support files once - unless a new release of QT or the compiler I use comes out which requires an upgrade.

Only Windows users require the support files. Linux users, especially those with KDE as their desktop, most likely already have the support files installed. If not, install them using your package manager.

The main downloads page for all versions of QStripper is here.

Sourcecode Downloads

The source code can be checked out from the Subversion repository using the command:

svn co https://qstripper.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/qstripper qstripper

The source can also be obtained from the daily snapshot as a tarball from here.

SourceForge Project Page

The main SourceForge project page for QStripper can be found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/qstripper/. There you can see the developer side of things along with various screen shots etc.

Installation

Installation is simple:

Create a folder.
Download the two zip files to that folder.
Unzip the two zip files into the new folder.
Double-click on QStripper.exe.

Windows

The program is not statically linked so you must first download the support files for your version of Windows, then install the application and when you have done this, it is all ready to go.

There are versions available for 32 and 64 bit Windows.

Remember - whenever I make subsequent updates to the program, you will only have to download the updated application - that saves a lot of time!

Linux

The program is not statically linked so you must first install the support files via your package manager, then install the application and when you have done this, it is all ready to go.

From version 1.07, both 32 and 64 bit Linux is supported. Prior to 1.07, only 64 bit Linux was supported.

MAC-OS

As I have no access to any Apple kit of any kind, I'm unable to supply a compiled version of QStripper for your particular brand of computer. However, the Qt toolkit and tools are all cross-platform, so Mac users may download the source code and compile it locally.

Features

The features of the application are :

It's free.

Source code is available from the Subversion repository using the command:
```
svn co https://qstripper.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/qstripper qstripper 
```
or, alternatively, as a tarball from
here.
Multi-platform. 32 and 64 bit Windows, 32 and 64 bit Linux. Unfortunately, Mac users need to get the source and compile it at present I'm afraid.
Drag and Drop files from Explorer, Dolphin, Konquerer etc.
Pass filenames on the command line.
Can convert both QL and PC versions of Quill documents.
Produces plain text output.
Prints Quill docs.
Can output PDF files.
HTML conversions of Quill documents.
Did I mention that it was free?
Output to DocBook XML for further formatting.
From version 1.06, output to Open Document Format (odf) for Libre/Open Office.
...

Going Further With PDF

The pdf output from the program is quite good and acceptable. However, if you output in DocBook XML format and run a special utility, you can produce even better looking and usually smaller (by about 10-15%) files. This utility is named XMLMind FO Converter, it is free and is available here. You should select the Personal Edition.

XMLMind FO Converter produces the following output from a DocBook XML input file :

Rich Text Format
Word ML - whatever that is!
HTML - paged with navigation bar etc.
HTML - all on one single page.
PDF
EPUB - for eReaders, but not Amazon's Kindle. See below.

On the above web site, they advise that the utility is suitable for smaller personal projects and is quite simple in its features. Should you wish to go the whole hog, then you should wander over to the RenderX web site and download a personal copy of XEP which (apparently) does a far better job. (Just don't install it in a folder that has spaces in the name!)

XMLMind FO Converter has a GUI interface which makes life easier when selecting files, formats and so on. XEP is a commandline utility only, unless you buy the full version.

However, having said that, get both and you can use the later versions of XMLMind's utility to call out to the XEP utility instead of it's own one to do the final rendering into pdf.

Both of the above require a version of Java to be installed on the machine you are using and both run quite happily under Windows or Linux.

Creating Kindle eBooks

It is possible to create Kindle ebooks from Qstripper, via an application named KindleGen which is available from Amazon's web site for a number of diffrent platforms. Ebooks created with this utility can be previewed using KindlePreviewer but only on Mac and Windows. Linux users are somewhat left out.

The process is "simple". Export your document as HTML and then run the command:

kindlegen filename.html -o filename.mobi

You might find, on testing the generated mobi file, that you need to do a little tidying up of the HTML and/or the CSS. I suggest you use one of the following programs:

Sigil. Free, cross platform - Windows, Mac, Linux.
Ecub. Free, cross platform - Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris.
Jutoh. Ecub's big brother. Not free, but reasonable. Cross platform - Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris.

The default export to HTML option does tend to be a tad 'wordy' and include a lot of Qt specific settings, classes and identifiers which the KindleGen completely ignores and creates an eBook with very little formatting applied.

It's probably better to generate Docbook XML instead, and the pass that through a transform to create HTML and the try running Kindlegen on that instead.