Since there isn't native support for displaying ePub format in iOS/macOS (besides Apple Books app) and I can't find an active 3rd party framework that works, I've spent the past 5 hours trying to build my own reader in #Chunk….ugh. Might have to punt on this for now. So far no dice and I'm not sure why at this point… #SwiftUI #Swift #indiedev

@gobert it's just HTML in a zip file with a table of contents, putting together a simple reader should be straightforward — but I've only ever written a builder, not a reader

@gobert I’ve written several readers over the years but then abandoned each project for one reason or another 😛

EPUB is basically a renamed ZIP file with a specific structure but the issue I had with writing my own reader was the various ways that structure could be implemented. The content could be inside a folder with sub-folders or it could be in the root folder etc.

I used several different 3rd party frameworks for my later efforts and they mostly worked at that point in time, but since that was a few years ago, it’s certainly possible that none of them have been updated since then …

@stroughtonsmith You’re correct. I've even built a basic reader a couple of years ago (but can't find that code). 🥴 But for some reason I'm having trouble now. I'm sure its something dumb i'm doing. Currently having issues unzipping from local file after downloading file using ZIP framework.

@f Ha. Same I've built one before too. It can get tricky depending on the file structure but I just keep running into issues. I think I just need to step away for a moment. I'm sure its me overlooking something basic. But thats for the encouragement.

@stroughtonsmith I probably just need to step away for a while. I'm sure its me being dumb about something. Thanks for reminding me of the structure of the file tho

@gobert If you need somebody to run your ideas/issues over with, I’m here 🙂

Sometimes, it helps to just talk it over and you get what’s going wrong yourself. Of course, stepping away helps too 😛

Good luck and if it helps, just found this which seems to be a recently updated project which might be useful (or might not)?

https://github.com/leminhcse/EpubReader-iOS

But possibly only if you are looking at iOS?

@f Ahh thank you. Haven't seen this one. I need support for macOS as well. But i'll give it a shot. I've got so far in my code. I feel like i'm 95% of the way there. Gonna take a break a take a look with fresh eyes.