[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections

[Nyssa]

Hi Meme,

I just set up Kindle collections on my iMac, and any time I go into "Customize Collections" it crashes when I click "Ok", whether I make a change or not.

I then get an extremely long error message, which I've attached to this post.

[SASSBS]

Hi Meme

quick question, is there a way to use the plugin to control the kindle for pc application? since it uses a sqllite database as well I was wondering if we can use the collection to setup kindle collections and add books automatically?

Thanks

[ixtab]

Hiya,

I have created a Collections Manager for the Kindle Touch.

I guess that many Kindle Touch users would like to manage their collections using calibre. That would be possible if the Collections Manager was able to synchronize the internal database with the system/collections.json file. I could write the logic required to do that, but I'll need a little more information.

First, I only have a Kindle Touch, so I don't know what the expected format of collections.json is. Could you please give me some sort of "specification" ? I did create a test collection, this is how it looks:

{"Sample Series@en-US": {"items": ["#7af2ad8e-f04e-4797-bab4-8dfc0277210d^EBOK", "#B004UBEKXI^EBOK"], "lastAccess": 1234567890000}}

What I would need is some more information about the format. For instance, will a collection always (only) contain an "items" array and a "lastAccess" timestamp, or are there more fields to consider? Will an entry always be in the form of "#$CDE_KEY^$CDE_TYPE", or are there other formats? Also, which CDE types are supported by calibre ("EBOK" only, or others, such as "AZW2", as well)?

I'm sure that being able to manage the Kindle Touch collections with calibre is something that many users would like, so thanks in advance for helping me out with this.

[meme]

ixtab:

Very nice. Since your code requires jailbreaking the Kindle I'll post my comments to your development thread.

[meme]

Originally Posted by SASSBS

quick question, is there a way to use the plugin to control the kindle for pc application? since it uses a sqllite database as well I was wondering if we can use the collection to setup kindle collections and add books automatically?

The plugin does not use an sqllite database, it uses the json file of the pre-touch format, and its setup to work directly on a Kindle.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by meme

ixtab:

Very nice. Since your code requires jailbreaking the Kindle I'll post my comments to your development thread.

Thank you for the quick reply!

I have now released a new version of the Kindle Touch application, which can create or update collections based on the output of the plugin. Maybe you could add a link to it from the first post, so Kindle Touch users can benefit as well...? (Yes, it requires jailbreaking, but it's still worth mentioning IMHO)

Cheers!

[SASSBS]

Originally Posted by meme

The plugin does not use an sqllite database, it uses the json file of the pre-touch format, and its setup to work directly on a Kindle.

Hi Meme I know the plugin writes to a json file, but the calibre application uses the sqllite database so there must be a way to link the 2?

If I send the collections to a K3 Keyboard, and then import to a touch it doesn't work.

[fishwithsticks]

Any word on if there will be an update to the Plug In so it will sort AZ3 files? That's all I'm getting these days from Amazon on my Kindle (NOT Touch or Fire).

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Hi Meme,

I just set up Kindle collections on my iMac, and any time I go into "Customize Collections" it crashes when I click "Ok", whether I make a change or not.

I then get an extremely long error message, which I've attached to this post.

Any chance of my getting a response to this?

[NiLuJe]

Simple patch to handle azw3 files, for K4/K5 users .

Didn't test much yet, but the headers are basically the same for what we care about, so it shouldn't cause any problems .

EDIT: Kill deprecated attachments, merged in 1.7.11 .

[meme]

@NiLuJe Thanks. I will try to get this into a new version - its pretty much what I was expecting to do, but I wasn't sure if the formats were close enough that the code to extract the information would work.

@Nyssa I don't have a Mac so I've no way to test it or to find out if other Mac users have the issue, or what might have changed in calibre or the Mac to know what's causing the issue...

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by meme

@Nyssa I don't have a Mac so I've no way to test it or to find out if other Mac users have the issue, or what might have changed in calibre or the Mac to know what's causing the issue...

That crash is almost certainly caused by some QAction in your plugin that is being garbage collected. Make sure you keep references to all QActions in your plugin to prevent them from being garbage collected.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That crash is almost certainly caused by some QAction in your plugin that is being garbage collected. Make sure you keep references to all QActions in your plugin to prevent them from being garbage collected.

That can be the case, yes.

But I recently saw a problem with a user on Mac that had all the symptoms of a garbage collected QAction but wasn't.

Just something else to look at if keeping references doesn't fix it.

[Eljayb]

I have a perplexing problem.

If I put books onto my Kindle from my laptop, sort the Kindle by title then the Collections appear first in alphabetical order and also in the Collections sort.

As I read my authors they do not jump to the top in the Title sort which is what I want.

If I put books across using my desktop, sorting under titles actually shows the titles (which I am sure is supposed to happen) and I can find my collections under Collections only. The last read author jumps to the top which ?I do NOT want to happen.

The question is how do I copy the laptop behaviour to my desktop machine so they both will put the Collections in the Title sort.

I am using the same versions of Calibre and the Kindle Collections plugin on both machines

I would be grateful for any suggestions.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Hi Meme,

I just set up Kindle collections on my iMac, and any time I go into "Customize Collections" it crashes when I click "Ok", whether I make a change or not.

I then get an extremely long error message, which I've attached to this post.

Originally Posted by meme

@NiLuJe Thanks. I will try to get this into a new version - its pretty much what I was expecting to do, but I wasn't sure if the formats were close enough that the code to extract the information would work.

@Nyssa I don't have a Mac so I've no way to test it or to find out if other Mac users have the issue, or what might have changed in calibre or the Mac to know what's causing the issue...

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That crash is almost certainly caused by some QAction in your plugin that is being garbage collected. Make sure you keep references to all QActions in your plugin to prevent them from being garbage collected.

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

That can be the case, yes.

But I recently saw a problem with a user on Mac that had all the symptoms of a garbage collected QAction but wasn't.

Just something else to look at if keeping references doesn't fix it.

Thanks guys. I hope Meme can work it out. I'd hate to lose the use of Kindle Collections, its one of my favorite Plugins.