External book/comic book readers?

[Nabistay]

Specifically on android: Is there a way currently to trigger an external application and pass it info so it can load say, a book reader in my book library or a comic book reader for my comic book library?

[morvayo]

i could not find a selectable external book or comic reader in the current main reader flow

the normal read action opens the built in reader
there is an open externally button in book_reader_screen.dart but it belongs to the fallback screen when a book cannot be rendered internally
it launches the document url through the operating system rather than handing a chosen reader the library item and reading position

the external video player preference is a different path and its eligible item types do not include books

for now downloading the book through your server web client and opening the file in the other reader is a practical workaround
automatic handoff to a particular android reader with progress syncing would need additional integration

[jmawet]

Like @morvayo said, currently your best bet is downloading the file to your reader device and opening it there. (There is a bug preventing comics from downloading in moonfin, that has been fixed already for the next update).

The book reader has been lower priority up until now due to a focus on video functionality taking priority. But now that video is stable, we're working on a number of book improvements for the next update, like fixing comic downloads, adding progress syncing for comics/pdfs (ebooks are still a work in progress), revamping the book page, etc. Given that progress syncing for the built in reader is just now being added, external player with progress reporting would definitely be a ways away still, if we ever implement it.

That being said, if there's any features you would like to see related to the book experience, feel free to submit a feature request in the issues tab. We'll take a look and implement if/when we're able.