Plugboard, template, and custom composite column recipes

[pchrist7]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

pchrist7:

I have a question for you, it's kinda related to the kindle template for annotations. I have a few books which some lost their annotation file, so I tried to "reacreate" them by opening the book back on the kindle and then re-running the fetch annotations. This worked as it was supposed to but of course now they have the later date instead of the true date in which they were read. I have a custom column which keeps track of this date and I thought if I went into the comments section and updated the date to the true date this info would show up in the custom column, but instead they show up as Not Read. Is there anyway to get these books to reflect the true date instead of the later date?

Nyn

Hi Nyn
I've been there myself a couple of times. Never found out why, and never really found a good way to fix missing/wrong mbp files.
You CAN edit the date in comments (use HTML view ! ) BUT next time you fetch annotations from K? it's changed to the values in the mbp file on the K?.
Unless I'm way wrong, I think this can only be done by using a plugin/program to SAFELY edit/modify the mbp file ON the K? !!!
Because the mbp file on the K? will always overwrite what we have in Calibre when we fetch fresh annotations, and then modify the book comments.
I wonder if anyone would be ready to do a plugin for calibre, only active in device view, where you could modify the mbp info ?
If YOU have the time, I suggest you create a new thread for this issue only.
I'm not quite sure where to put the thread. Maybe here, maybe in plugins ...
I would like this plugin/program to be able to modify date, and last page read info (location, %) but maybe you have other ideas.
Nyn: good point ! Would be sooooo neat to be able to edit the mbp file on K? instead of paging through the read book all over again.
Gurues: HELP !
Have a nice weekend all
Cheers,
Per (my first name)

[nynaevelan]

Thanks Per:

I do not have to worry about the annotations being overwritten because I only download them on selected books. I will try to update the comments again maybe I was doing something wrong.

And I will open this topic again in the plugin section, if it is in the wrong area I am sure the mods will move it to the proper place.

Nyn

[pchrist7]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

Thanks Per:

I do not have to worry about the annotations being overwritten because I only download them on selected books. I will try to update the comments again maybe I was doing something wrong.

And I will open this topic again in the plugin section, if it is in the wrong area I am sure the mods will move it to the proper place.

Nyn

Hi Nyn
Liked the idea so much I just posted a "challenge"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=142

Selected books ? I always thought that fetch annotations would get info for ALL books on the K? - can you limit it by selecting books in callibre, fetch ann. and then only those are updated ? Hmmm, never knew that.

Per

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by pchrist7

Hi Nyn
Liked the idea so much I just posted a "challenge"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=142

Selected books ? I always thought that fetch annotations would get info for ALL books on the K? - can you limit it by selecting books in callibre, fetch ann. and then only those are updated ? Hmmm, never knew that.

Per

That is what I am doing, 95% of the time I remove the books from my kindle once I have downloaded the annotations. But I have a select few still on my kindle because I want to eventually re-read the series. Interestingly enough 4 out of the 6 that have the messed up annotations are books that are still sitting on the kindle, I wonder if they were messed up because Calibre tried to re-download them. hmmmm

[pchrist7]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

That is what I am doing, 95% of the time I remove the books from my kindle once I have downloaded the annotations. But I have a select few still on my kindle because I want to eventually re-read the series. Interestingly enough 4 out of the 6 that have the messed up annotations are books that are still sitting on the kindle, I wonder if they were messed up because Calibre tried to re-download them. hmmmm

Hi Nyn
I'm not sure what happens re. the mbp file if you re-send a book from calibre.
IF the mbp file in calibre is up2date I wouldn't expect any issues. Not in reach of my K3 right now ( ) so can't test. So far I have all 800 books on my K3, read/not read, cause I like to re-read books as well.
Why would Calibre re-download these books ?

Per
Maybe we should move this issue to another thread. New users looking for plugins will hate us ;-)
P.S. Over & out for me. Had a great night with beer/food/pool/beer/beer/? with my colleges yesterday. I'm sorta braindead now.

[belledee]

Hi all, I need some help in choosing the right template for sending books to the kindle with series and series index in the title. I had to reinstall windows on my computer consequently calibre needed to be reinstalled so i lost all of my settings. I think i used this template "{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}" before and my books were in this format

"A Song of Ice & Fire - 01 - A Game of Thrones
A Song of Ice & Fire - 02 - A Clash of Kings
A Song of Ice & Fire - 03 - A Storm of Swords
A Song of Ice & Fire - 04 - A Feast for Crows"

Please help me figure out how to set the metadata plugboard to send the books like the above format. Thank you

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by belledee

Please help me figure out how to set the metadata plugboard to send the books like the above format. Thank you

To do this I use the info under the General Metadata spoiler in this sticky post.

[belledee]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

To do this I use the info under the General Metadata spoiler in this sticky post.

Using this example, is there a way i can add the full series name?

Thank you

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by belledee

Using this example, is there a way i can add the full series name?

Just look at the first example at the top of that sticky post.

[belledee]

I tried it but it does not for me...

[Dopedangel]

Is it possible to populate a custom column with cover dimensions or even just one would do like hieght

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by belledee

I tried it but it does not for me...

So you entered the plugboard like image 1 and saved so it looked like image 2 and after you save it did you click the big green Apply check in the top left corner? Then connected your Kindle and sent some books to see if it worked?

[belledee]

Thank you dwanthny, It is working now. For the device section I chose "Kindle" instead of "Kindle2" since I have a kindle 3; so I'm guessing that was where the error was.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by belledee

Thank you dwanthny, It is working now. For the device section I chose "Kindle" instead of "Kindle2" since I have a kindle 3; so I'm guessing that was where the error was.

You're Welcome.

[kjtaylor13]

Hi,

I've followed this instructions below on 2 computers and i seem to get the same problem. When I get to Step 6, and click the apply button I'm getting a Value error "Name List_Union" already exists, and it won't save the new template function. I've tried this on the 2 PC's I run Calibre from.

Does anyone have any idea where I'm going wrong. I've tried restarting Calibre and trying again and still get the same issues. I've also checked I'm on the latest version of calibre and I am.

Many Thanks

Kevin

Originally Posted by pchrist7

Hi All
The following HOWTO was developped in another thread.

Chaley suggested to put it here as well.

Do you have a Kindle ?
Did you ever want Calibre to show "Read Status" of your books in a column ?
Automagically ?

Then the following might for you as well.

You must be running Calibre 0.7.40 or newer to use this.
Also you must use "Fetch annotations" from you Kindle.

The following example is based on the following Kindler requirements:
"What I want is a custom column to show the "Last Opened" Date if Last location read > 95%.
If the book shows >0% but < 95%, I want the column to show "Reading"
And if the book is 0%, or unopened, the column should show "Not Read".


Howto "Fetch annotations" from you Kindle:
Start Calibre,
Connect your Kindle, wait a bit,
Click on the arrow just to the right of the "Send to Device" icon,
choose "Fetch Annotations"
and the Kindle "Book status" is added to the Calibre book details, in the comments.

You should Fetch fresh Annotations everytime you connect your Kindle to get updated information.

This is just an example of what I could get with my K3:

25-12-2010
Last Page Read: Location 7365 (68%)
Location 4603 • Bookmark
Location 4942 • Bookmark
Location 4980 • Bookmark
Location 5984 • Bookmark
Location 7363 • Bookmark


The best/fastest way, but hardest way, to get the needed information into a custom column, is to use Python Template functions.
Sounds scary, but don't worry. Copy/paste is your helper

Simply do as follows:

1) go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Template Functions.

2) in the Function box type: kindle_read_status

3) in the Arg count box type: 4

4) in the Documentation box, paste the following:

Check if the associated field contains a kindle annotation for percent read. 
If not, return no_page_read_str. 
If annotations are found, then compare that percent against is_read_pct. 
If the val is larger, then return date, 
if the val is >0 and < is_read_pct return is_reading_str. 
Otherwise return is_not_read_str. 

One usage: {comments:kindle_read_status(95,Not Read,Reading)}
( use the above when defining your custom column )

95 goes into variable is_read_pct
Not Read goes into variable no_page_read_str
Reading goes into variable is_reading_str

Feel free to change the %, the test strings to suit your needs.
Do this in the custom column definition.

5) In the Program Code box, paste the following:

def evaluate(self, formatter, kwargs, mi, locals, val, is_read_pct,  
				is_reading_str, no_page_read_str):
	try:
		test_val = int(is_read_pct)
	except:
		return 'is_read_pct is not a number'

	import re
	mg = re.match('.*\s(\d+[-/]\d+[-/]\d+).*?Last Page Read: Location \d+ \((\d+)%\)', val, re.I + re.DOTALL);
	if mg is None:
		return no_page_read_str
	date = mg.group(1)
	pct = mg.group(2)
	try:
		f = int(pct)
		if f > test_val:
			return date
		elif f > 0:
			return is_reading_str + ': ' + pct + '%'
	except:
		pass
	return no_page_read_str

6) press the Create button, then the Apply button.

7) Still in Preferences, Choose Add your own columns

8) Choose Add custom column bar at the bottom

9) enter the following into your custom column:
Lookup name: read_status
Column Heading: Read Status
Column type: Column built from other columns
Template:

{comments:kindle_read_status(95,Reading,Not Read)}

10) Choose Apply

11) Click Ok to the Restart Warning

12) Shutdown Calibre

13) Start Calibre

If you followed instructions minutely, you should have a new column showing the "Read Status" for your books.

If you like this functionality, please remember to send some Karma to chaley
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/rep....php?p=1351864

He has been absolutely fantastic and helpfull with this.

If this fails, please try one more time before posting to this thread.
This has been tested by several Kindlers succesfully.

Enjoy

Note: If you want a text returned instead of a date when a book is read
have a look here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=172