request for a book read date field

InAFlap · 03-13-2013, 02:44 PM

I read a lot of books and I like to keep track of when I last read a book and how many times I have read a book.
I started using calibre a while ago and absolutely love it, the only thing missing for me is a way to track which books I have read and how many times I have read them.
I am not sure if this is the right place to ask if that feature could be incorporated at some point in the future, but I think it would be useful for lots of users.

AnemicOak · 03-13-2013, 03:23 PM

I think a few folks are doing this with a custom column in Calibre.

InAFlap · 03-13-2013, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I think a few folks are doing this with a custom column in Calibre.

Hi and thanks for that tip, and it works for the last read date.
However without a number of separate fields it is not possible to track the various times I have read the same book.
but it will certainly work for now.

BetterRed · 03-13-2013, 11:00 PM

You could use a long text field to record a reading log, that you would display in the Book Details panel - see screen shot

If you want to get a bit more sophisticated you could have a table in a long text column

Or you could just put the log at the top of the Comments - if you're sure you wont ever download comments at sometime in the future from a 3rd party such as VeryGoodReads

BR

davidfor · 03-14-2013, 12:14 AM

How about a "First Read" and "Last Read" date columns plus a "Times Read" integer? That gives some good basic details. Otherwise, what BetterRed suggested should work well.

InAFlap · 03-14-2013, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

You could use a long text field to record a reading log, that you would display in the Book Details panel - see screen shot

If you want to get a bit more sophisticated you could have a table in a long text column

Or you could just put the log at the top of the Comments - if you're sure you wont ever download comments at sometime in the future from a 3rd party such as VeryGoodReads

BR

thanks for the suggestion but would that be sortable.

Up until now I have been using an access database to store my book details and I have a separate table for the dates read linked by a title Id.

when the form is updated with a new date read it updates a field that shows the number of times read and a separate field with the last read date.

PeterT · 03-14-2013, 03:46 PM

I think that tracking each and every date you read a book is a very VERY personal habit, and one that it unlikely others would want it, or that someone besides you would want to put any time into developing an add-on to handle.

theducks · 03-14-2013, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InAFlap

thanks for the suggestion but would that be sortable.

Up until now I have been using an access database to store my book details and I have a separate table for the dates read linked by a title Id.

when the form is updated with a new date read it updates a field that shows the number of times read and a separate field with the last read date.

Timestamp (date) sorts down to the minute. I use one for my last_edited field

BetterRed · 03-14-2013, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InAFlap

thanks for the suggestion but would that be sortable.

Not as I've presented it - if you used an HTML table in the column then maybe you could add some javascript to do the sorting within that HTML table.

But sorting/selecting across multiple books so you could get say - a list of books you read for the second time in 1987 - would probably be harder, and very slow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by InAFlap

Up until now I have been using an access database to store my book details and I have a separate table for the dates read linked by a title Id.

when the form is updated with a new date read it updates a field that shows the number of times read and a separate field with the last read date.

My perception is that Calibre does not have any 'parent-child/1:N' relationships as you describe, 'essentially' its one table (books), where each row has a bunch of foreign keys referring to simple 'lookup tables'.

Suggestion - copy a calibre database (metadata.db) from a library folder to your desktop, download the sqllite browser from Sourceforge, point it at the copy of the Calibre database on your desktop. This will give you the opportunity to gain a broad brush understanding of 'how calibre works', without having to wrap your mind around any python

My hunch is that Kovid is unlikely to introduce the transaction processing complexities of parent-child relationships any time soon.

davidfor's suggestion is probably the best idea. There may be a way to increment TimesRead automatically when you update LastReadDate. That would allow you to sort on FirstRead, LastRead and TimesRead. You would only use my card at the back of the book idea - if sighting a reading history for an individual book was of any value.

I don't normally ask this question of an OP - but curiosity has got the better of me - ¿ why would you wanna do that!

BR

03-13-2013, 02:44 PM	#1
InAFlap Member Posts: 12 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2013 Device: Lenovo vibe P1	request for a book read date field I read a lot of books and I like to keep track of when I last read a book and how many times I have read a book. I started using calibre a while ago and absolutely love it, the only thing missing for me is a way to track which books I have read and how many times I have read them. I am not sure if this is the right place to ask if that feature could be incorporated at some point in the future, but I think it would be useful for lots of users.

03-13-2013, 11:00 PM	#4
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,622 Karma: 26960534 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	You could use a long text field to record a reading log, that you would display in the Book Details panel - see screen shot If you want to get a bit more sophisticated you could have a table in a long text column Or you could just put the log at the top of the Comments - if you're sure you wont ever download comments at sometime in the future from a 3rd party such as VeryGoodReads BR Attached Thumbnails

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Date field of finishing a book	peterklaassen	Recipes	0	08-04-2012 11:12 AM
Send 'Published' to 'Date'-field	Cryptopsy	Library Management	8	04-11-2012 09:12 AM
Default value for read field (Yes/No-field)	opitzs	Library Management	3	11-09-2011 07:17 AM
date field	iomari	Calibre	8	10-09-2011 03:32 AM
Published Date does not appear as a destination field	utterlygreat	Calibre	2	02-05-2011 12:07 PM

03-13-2013, 03:23 PM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	I think a few folks are doing this with a custom column in Calibre.

03-14-2013, 12:14 AM	#5
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,906 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	How about a "First Read" and "Last Read" date columns plus a "Times Read" integer? That gives some good basic details. Otherwise, what BetterRed suggested should work well.

03-14-2013, 03:46 PM	#7
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,217 Karma: 74000000 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	I think that tracking each and every date you read a book is a very VERY personal habit, and one that it unlikely others would want it, or that someone besides you would want to put any time into developing an add-on to handle.