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JimmXinu · 01-12-2012, 09:52 PM

Hi all,

I'm going to describe how I've been using my eReaders so you guys can tell me if there's already something out there that does the same thing or if I should go ahead with making a plugin to do it. Or you can just call me crazy, I guess.

I read a lot of fanfic, which is very serial, with new updates coming out frequently. Probably +90% of my reading is in these 'new' books. I want to keep all my new or newly updated stories together somewhere easy to find.

I've used 5 different reader devices and programs and the only way I've found to do that, that works across all of them, is to manipulate the story title.

The short version is that I prepend "000 " to the titles of my 'current' books I load them on my eReaders so they're all grouped at the top. (I have a rather ugly set of scripts and tools I've evolved to do this for me and manage my collection.)

With a bit of setup, Reading List can sync my current three eReaders from Calibre relatively painlessly and, with kiwidude's help exposing some APIs for me, FanFictionDownLoader can update the lists automatically.

Now I'm working on the 000 title step.

I already have a (private) version of FanFictionDownLoader that will create/update a copy of the new/updated book with "000 " prepended to the title, and add both to the Reading Lists setup to sync the devices.

(When an epub or mobi is sent to a device, Calibre already changes the title in the metadata being sent. A copy is made because changing the title of the 'source' book causes issues with syncing--the 000 version is orphaned when the title is changed back.)

That's when I realized I've been using the 000 solution for other, non-fanfic books as well. And it occurred to me that rather than rolling it into FanFictionDownLoader perhaps it's something that other people would like to use.

I see such a plugin offering features to:

Create a 000 copy of any book(s), add it to configured 'add to device' Reading List(s) and remove if from 'remove from device' Reading List(s).
After selecting the 000 or original book(s), remove 000 copy from 'add to device' Reading List(s) and add to 'remove from device' Reading List(s).
Show list of the 000 books that have been removed from devices and are no longer needed. Perhaps remove automatically or semi-automatically.

If the 000 title books are offensive to see, they can be hidden with a 'Restrict to'.

Unless there's something better out there I don't know about, this is functionality I will be developing for my own use if nothing else.

The question is, would it be useful to make it available to other people, too. Or is it just too ugly a hack.

Jim

01-12-2012, 09:52 PM	#269
JimmXinu Plugin Developer Posts: 6,305 Karma: 3966249 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Midwest USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite(10th)	"Reading List" on Any eReader -- The "000" Solution Hi all, I'm going to describe how I've been using my eReaders so you guys can tell me if there's already something out there that does the same thing or if I should go ahead with making a plugin to do it. Or you can just call me crazy, I guess. I read a lot of fanfic, which is very serial, with new updates coming out frequently. Probably +90% of my reading is in these 'new' books. I want to keep all my new or newly updated stories together somewhere easy to find. I've used 5 different reader devices and programs and the only way I've found to do that, that works across all of them, is to manipulate the story title. The short version is that I prepend "000 " to the titles of my 'current' books I load them on my eReaders so they're all grouped at the top. (I have a rather ugly set of scripts and tools I've evolved to do this for me and manage my collection.) With a bit of setup, Reading List can sync my current three eReaders from Calibre relatively painlessly and, with kiwidude's help exposing some APIs for me, FanFictionDownLoader can update the lists automatically. Now I'm working on the 000 title step. I already have a (private) version of FanFictionDownLoader that will create/update a copy of the new/updated book with "000 " prepended to the title, and add both to the Reading Lists setup to sync the devices. (When an epub or mobi is sent to a device, Calibre already changes the title in the metadata being sent. A copy is made because changing the title of the 'source' book causes issues with syncing--the 000 version is orphaned when the title is changed back.) That's when I realized I've been using the 000 solution for other, non-fanfic books as well. And it occurred to me that rather than rolling it into FanFictionDownLoader perhaps it's something that other people would like to use. I see such a plugin offering features to: Create a 000 copy of any book(s), add it to configured 'add to device' Reading List(s) and remove if from 'remove from device' Reading List(s). After selecting the 000 or original book(s), remove 000 copy from 'add to device' Reading List(s) and add to 'remove from device' Reading List(s). Show list of the 000 books that have been removed from devices and are no longer needed. Perhaps remove automatically or semi-automatically. If the 000 title books are offensive to see, they can be hidden with a 'Restrict to'. Unless there's something better out there I don't know about, this is functionality I will be developing for my own use if nothing else. The question is, would it be useful to make it available to other people, too. Or is it just too ugly a hack. Jim