[GUI Plugin] Reading List

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by beckywc

I have a few questions, sorry if they are simple but, I'm a little confused:

Okay, I have both the book sync and reading list plug in.
1. Does this updated plugin take the place of the book sync?

As I put on the first post, you should uninstall the Book Sync plugin.

2. What happens to my reading list?

Nothing, it will be unchanged by upgrading to this version. However uninstalling Book Sync will lose any books which you had on your Book Sync lists, so you should sync those before uninstalling unless you don't mind adding them to new reading lists.

3. Do I now add books to this list that I want to side load onto my kindle?

That depends. Do you want every book on your reading list on your Kindle? Then sure, associate your Kindle with the list and you can Sync with it. Alternatively, create a second reading list just for Kindle sync purposes. That was why I was asking for input above as to why people had multiple lists, and they gave many valid reasons.

4. I have a TBR collection on my kindle and a currently reading on my kindle (by custom columns), how does the reading list affect these two collections? or do they?

Reading list has no involvement with collections on your Kindle, any more than Book Sync did. You can (when meme releases his next version) automatically create Kindle Collections after you sync a reading list to your Kindle. However what collections are created are nothing to do with this plugin, that is up to how you configure the Kindle Collections plugin. All this plugin will do is (1) send the books on a list to a device, and (2) effectively click the "Create Collections" menu of meme's plugin automatically for you. Both these things are optional and off by default.

[beckywc]

Thanks Kiwidude, you've answered my question even though I didn't phrase it correctly. What I wanted to know is if I it worked in conjunction with the kindles collection plugin to add the books to or delete books in a particular collection in relation to the list.

Thanks Much

[kiwidude]

The one possible area of "collection control" this plugin may now offer is that unlike Book Sync with this plugin you have the ability to add a tag/custom column value when you put a book in a list. I don't know this area of the Kindle Collections plugin very well as I don't use it, but I know meme's plugin allows you to create collections based on a custom column. So in theory you could tie the two together, by configuring a value to put in a column based on the Reading List you added it to and then have that list effectively become a collection on your Kindle. You would not want to automatically clear such a list though or your collection wouldnt last very long

Or so the theory goes - my own usage of Kindle Collections is extremely basic. I create automated collections based on author sort and that is all I want/need.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

The one possible area of "collection control" this plugin may now offer is that unlike Book Sync with this plugin you have the ability to add a tag/custom column value when you put a book in a list.

This is exactly what I do, and it works very well for me. In fact, that was my inspiration for initially suggesting that the two work together. I've been using the Collections plugin practically from day one, so when I discovered that the Reading Lists could assign tags, it was heavenly. Now that Sync is integrated into Lists, between that and Collections is a lot of power and a world of possible options.

[markdek]

I'm confused; if I'm already using the "kindle collections" plugin, and if I setup this "reading list" plugin, and select the "kindle collections" column that I set up for collections, won't this plugin wipe it out?........I certainly don't want to mess up my current setup. Do I create a new/additional custom column, w/ some other title, for this "reading list" plugin?

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

I'm confused; if I'm already using the "kindle collections" plugin, and if I setup this "reading list" plugin, and select the "kindle collections" column that I set up for collections, won't this plugin wipe it out?........I certainly don't want to mess up my current setup. Do I create a new/additions custom column, w/ some other title, for this "reading list" plugin?

No, this plugin actually triggers the Collections plugin (or, it will, when Meme gets changes done to make it work properly - there's a timing issue at the moment.)

Basically, once it's all working together, you would use the Reading Lists to create a sync list, then you can specify whether or not it will run the collections plugin after syncing. It saves a step.

[markdek]

Yeah, I've currently got a "Kindle Collections" column, w/ a collection called "To Read List"........this plugin detects the column, and detects the "to read list", BUT it currently does nothing when I run it. I have 24 "To Read List" books on my Kindle, but this plugin, even after setting it up, and sync'd, says I have Zero (0) books in the To Read List collections............does this make sense? Is this what's not working right now, as you indicated?

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

Yeah, I've currently got a "Kindle Collections" column, w/ a collection called "To Read List"........this plugin detects the column, and detects the "to read list", BUT it currently does nothing when I run it. I have 24 "To Read List" books on my Kindle, but this plugin, even after setting it up, and sync'd, says I have Zero (0) books in the To Read List collections............does this make sense? Is this what's not working right now, as you indicated?

Yes, that is what's not working yet. There needs to be time for the sync to complete and the updated contents of the Kindle to be polled before Collections can run and place the new items. Meme has been working on it, and I have no doubt he will succeed. For now, just change the setting for that List to "no" for collections.

[gweminence]

I think a good feature would be to add a checkbox to allow the list to stay intact AFTER syncing, but not sync again unless changes have been made. This way, if I want to look at the list in calibre, even after having sync'd it, it won't keep syncing, and triggering the collections plugin.

Just a thought!

[markdek]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Yes, that is what's not working yet. There needs to be time for the sync to complete and the updated contents of the Kindle to be polled before Collections can run and place the new items. Meme has been working on it, and I have no doubt he will succeed. For now, just change the setting for that List to "no" for collections.

Even if I uncheck the Device and/or set "Collections" = No; this plugin should still work for my main library, should it not? BUT, it's not.

My "Column to update:" is the Kindle Collections column
My "Value in Column to add/remove is the To Read List

So, this plugin should still list the 24 books that have this value, but it doesn't.....confused

My Default List Books is empty (no books)

[markdek]

Originally Posted by gweminence

I think a good feature would be to add a checkbox to allow the list to stay intact AFTER syncing, but not sync again unless changes have been made. This way, if I want to look at the list in calibre, even after having sync'd it, it won't keep syncing, and triggering the collections plugin.

Just a thought!

Per chance is this why I see no "To Read List" book list in calibre in this plugin? It doesn't show the To Read List book list after the sync?..........if so, this doesn't flow for me. The whole point of the plugin, it seems to me, would be to always to be able to view OR edit the To Read List, and send it to the Kindle/device when ever I want. But I would always want to see this list in the Calibre library.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

Even if I uncheck the Device and/or set "Collections" = No; this plugin should still work for my main library, should it not? BUT, it's not.

My "Column to update:" is the Kindle Collections column
My "Value in Column to add/remove is the To Read List

So, this plugin should still list the 24 books that have this value, but it doesn't.....confused

My Default List Books is empty (no books)

Hmm... I'm trying to get a handle on what's happening here. You've added the books to the list but they aren't showing? Or were the books already tagged prior to using Lists?

To clarify something that may be getting missed here, the plugin tracks the books it places in the list - it's not actually tracking the tags except for the purpose of removing them if you've got it set to clear the list after syncing. It won't automatically pick up the books that have that tag if you didn't actually add them to the list via the plugin.

But if you are using the plugin to add them to the list and they still aren't showing, that's something else entirely. Let me know which it is, and I can try to help you get things where you want them.

[markdek]

Yup: ......the books [were] already tagged prior to using [and installing] Lists
FYI: I selected Collections [a pre-existing one], and not Tags

Yup, so, that would explain it...........I assume.

My potential problem w/ this is that if I use my Kindle to add a book to the To Read List (Collection), list, then, as you say, this plugin will not detect this change. Is that true?


If true, this plugin is pushing/pulling list values, not syncing values [w/ the database].

.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by gweminence

I think a good feature would be to add a checkbox to allow the list to stay intact AFTER syncing, but not sync again unless changes have been made. This way, if I want to look at the list in calibre, even after having sync'd it, it won't keep syncing, and triggering the collections plugin.

Just a thought!

If I'm understanding correctly, it seems the easiest way to accomplish this now would just be to leave the option "sync on connection" turned off, uncheck the "clear list after syncing" option, and sync manually when you need to using "sync now" on the plugin menu.

Right now there's no duplicate-checking to poll for "new items", so it syncs the whole list. If you don't keep a lot of books on your Kindle, that's not such a problem, but if you do (like me) it can slow things down considerably.

I keep separate lists, not only because of this, but because I use them for different things, as somewhat described in this post. Nyna does something similar, as described in the post following that one.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

Yup: ......the books [were] already tagged prior to using Lists

Yup, so, that would explain it...........I assume.

My potential problem w/ this is that if I use my Kindle to add a book to the To Read List, list, then, as you say, this plugin will not detect this change. Is that true?

Yes, that's correct. Part of the issue, and the reason some plugins exist, is that the Kindle (most ereaders, actually) was never designed to get externally manipulated to any great degree. It was designed to mostly sync within its own ecosystem. Honestly, the fact that calibre and the plugins allow us to use our Kindles the way we do is nothing short of a miracle.

Because of this, anything changing on one or the other requires some sort of polling process to detect changes and compare them with the Library. Collections can do this with the collections.json file, which is how it can be used to manually edit collections on the Kindle, and also import collections from the Kindle to calibre. But there is a limit to how much of this can be done while still maintaining any degree of efficiency.

Now that I've bored you with that, I would recommend the old-fashioned manual method for getting your lists in sync with your tags - filter your books on the tags and add them to the appropriate list. Repeat as necessary.

This probably seems like a lot of work, and it can be, but my experience has been that once you get things in place, it soon starts to increase your efficiency. You might have to get out of the habit of manipulating your collections using the Kindle. I know, it's a trade off. Which is why only you can decide the point at which it is no longer efficient to use a given plugin for what you need to do. Since you've just recently made the move to manage the entire set with calibre, there will be some trial and error as you find what works best for you.

And I, and several others, are always here to help. Since some of the recent plugin changes are basically my fault, I'm happy to provide whatever support I can to any and all that run into issues. Feel free to PM me if you want to get into a detailed look at your workflow or work out the kinks in the process. I don't mind at all, and as an organizing maniac, I enjoy putting my obsession to good use.