Date Added changing

lgladen · 04-14-2011, 04:29 AM

There is still on occasion a problem with the date added being changed to that of the imported .opf file, as referenced in this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=122692
Specifically, it seems to occur when I add books to the library then edit the metadata in bulk. Most often, when I do this, I'm just changing something simple like the "authors" field - no other changes. When I exit the bulk editor, though, I find the dates of books with epub or mobi formats in the mix (not sure which of the two, might be both) have changed to the date that was in the opf file in the original directory. I had understood from the thread that this was old behavior, so I thought it might be a bug.
ETA:
OK, I just saw it happen again - this time, without the bulk metadata editor. I added a book in 3 formats from a single directory - epub, mobi, and txt. The expected automerge popped up telling me that the books had been merged into one entry. The date added, however, was for May 2010 - the date from the original opf file. The "date modified" custom column shows today's date correctly.
This is calibre 7.54, Win XP 32 bit.

kiwidude · 04-14-2011, 05:05 AM

I believe this is the expected behaviour. Calibre will always defer to the values found in the .opf file.

Personally I would like a way to disable that but I can see the arguments both ways. If you are restoring a corrupted database, then using the .opf file date sounds the "right" thing to do. There are probably other scenarios I haven't mentioned where it is seen as desirable.

If however you are moving stuff from one library to another for the purposes of a "fresh start" then it is unfortunately not what you want. Similarly if you are sharing your book with another family member's Calibre PC by preparing all the metadata, doing save to disk and letting them import it. They would rather have the date that *they* added it to their Calibre, not the date I added it to mine.

It doesn't just apply to date. It applies to custom column values as well. Say for instance I have a #read custom column, and I save to disk to share with my parents. I had to get them to rename their #read custom column to something else, because otherwise the data displayed for them is incorrect.

As I said I can see the behaviour being a blessing and a curse, it just would be nice to have an option for when adding books to ignore certain data. Yes I could just not export the opf file, but then my parents have to source all their metadata from scratch which is not desired.

lgladen · 04-14-2011, 05:14 AM

That was what I thought at first, that it was expected behavior - but then I found that thread from Feb. that said it had been removed. Perhaps Kovid added it back in deliberately after "date modified" was added - I don't know, but thought it was worth asking here.

DoctorOhh · 04-14-2011, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lgladen

That was what I thought at first, that it was expected behavior - but then I found that thread from Feb. that said it had been removed.

Kovid in that thread states that the date from a external opf file will be added. What had been "removed" was grabbing the date from the epub's internal metadata.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lgladen

Perhaps Kovid added it back in deliberately after "date modified" was added - I don't know, but thought it was worth asking here.

The thread seems to do a decent job of explaining this action and nothing has changed (regarding the date added) since that thread.

lgladen · 04-14-2011, 06:25 AM

Thanks for the clarification, Dwanthy. I had misread "epub metadata" to include the external opf file, not the internal data. I thought that meant Kovid had removed the behavior changing the date. My confusion stemmed from not seeing the date change every time an epub was added. I now understand that it was because there was only sometimes an external opf file in the directory the book was in - perhaps for the mobi format? I'm still very new to calibre and the epub format, but growing to like both quite a bit!

Starson17 · 04-14-2011, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwidude

I believe this is the expected behaviour. Calibre will always defer to the values found in the .opf file.

I'll just briefly confirm that this is correct. When writing the automerge code, I had a chance to look closely at Kovid's code for adding books. It checks for the presence of an .opf file first, and ignores the selector option between internal metadata vs. filename/regex metadata. In essence, the presence of an .opf file signals Calibre that the metadata is known (stored in the .opf file).

04-14-2011, 04:29 AM	#1
lgladen Member Posts: 19 Karma: 258 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: evo	Date Added changing There is still on occasion a problem with the date added being changed to that of the imported .opf file, as referenced in this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=122692 Specifically, it seems to occur when I add books to the library then edit the metadata in bulk. Most often, when I do this, I'm just changing something simple like the "authors" field - no other changes. When I exit the bulk editor, though, I find the dates of books with epub or mobi formats in the mix (not sure which of the two, might be both) have changed to the date that was in the opf file in the original directory. I had understood from the thread that this was old behavior, so I thought it might be a bug. ETA: OK, I just saw it happen again - this time, without the bulk metadata editor. I added a book in 3 formats from a single directory - epub, mobi, and txt. The expected automerge popped up telling me that the books had been merged into one entry. The date added, however, was for May 2010 - the date from the original opf file. The "date modified" custom column shows today's date correctly. This is calibre 7.54, Win XP 32 bit. Last edited by lgladen; 04-14-2011 at 04:36 AM.

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04-14-2011, 05:05 AM	#2
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,636 Karma: 2162064 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	I believe this is the expected behaviour. Calibre will always defer to the values found in the .opf file. Personally I would like a way to disable that but I can see the arguments both ways. If you are restoring a corrupted database, then using the .opf file date sounds the "right" thing to do. There are probably other scenarios I haven't mentioned where it is seen as desirable. If however you are moving stuff from one library to another for the purposes of a "fresh start" then it is unfortunately not what you want. Similarly if you are sharing your book with another family member's Calibre PC by preparing all the metadata, doing save to disk and letting them import it. They would rather have the date that they added it to their Calibre, not the date I added it to mine. It doesn't just apply to date. It applies to custom column values as well. Say for instance I have a #read custom column, and I save to disk to share with my parents. I had to get them to rename their #read custom column to something else, because otherwise the data displayed for them is incorrect. As I said I can see the behaviour being a blessing and a curse, it just would be nice to have an option for when adding books to ignore certain data. Yes I could just not export the opf file, but then my parents have to source all their metadata from scratch which is not desired.

04-14-2011, 05:14 AM	#3
lgladen Member Posts: 19 Karma: 258 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: evo	That was what I thought at first, that it was expected behavior - but then I found that thread from Feb. that said it had been removed. Perhaps Kovid added it back in deliberately after "date modified" was added - I don't know, but thought it was worth asking here.

04-14-2011, 06:25 AM	#5
lgladen Member Posts: 19 Karma: 258 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: evo	Thanks for the clarification, Dwanthy. I had misread "epub metadata" to include the external opf file, not the internal data. I thought that meant Kovid had removed the behavior changing the date. My confusion stemmed from not seeing the date change every time an epub was added. I now understand that it was because there was only sometimes an external opf file in the directory the book was in - perhaps for the mobi format? I'm still very new to calibre and the epub format, but growing to like both quite a bit!

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