Conflict between plugin, plugboard, and perhaps PRS+

[denverh]

Hello,

I have a Sony PRS-650 with PRS+. I'm using a plugboard to add the number of pages as well as any series information to the author:
(device_db - any device)
{author_sort} {series:| - | }{series_index:0>2s} ({#pages} Pgs) ==> authors
Collection sorting is:
sony_collection_sorting_rules = [(['series'], 'series_index'), (['*'], 'author')]
Metadata management is set to automatic, and "Use Author Sort" is off.

I'm also using the Sony Book List plugin with a custom column to maintain the Unread Books collection.

Everything has been working fine. However, when I try to use the Sony Book List plugin to also set the reader's Book List to specific books I loose the extra information I'm adding to the authors, and all the authors change from LN,FN to FN LN (sorted by FN). That happens to all the books on the reader.

That behavior seems to be related to something I read a while ago, but can't find again, regarding books that were just added to the reader having authors listed as FN LN instead of LN, FN. As I recall, the issue was thought to be related to a discrepancy between the system's clock and the reader's. I have also seen similar behavior with my reader in the past. If I add one book, the author will be FN LN. If I later add another, that one will also be FN LN, but the previous one will now be LN, FN.

When I select books for the Book List their dates get set one year ahead. It looks like that's what is messing up the author information for all the books. It's hard to see why that should be, but I'm hoping someone has an answer. It would be nice to be able to have two or three specific books readily accessible from the Home screen, as well as the other changes I've made.

Since I'm not that expert on plugboards, etc., it's possible that I'm doing something wrong. Most of the customizing I've done has followed things I've read here.

Thanks,

Denver

[kpw]

Hi Denver,

If I understand correctly the scenario you're describing (and I'm a little tired right now, so I may not be ), I think the reader is deciding that the book records that have been updated to appear on the Book list by the Book List plugin have changed and it reprocesses them, which ends up resetting the author metadata, overriding what you want that data to appear as.

I see this with new books added to the reader quite often (and I'm not sure why it happens as the plugin synchronizes the date in the metadata cache file to align with the book file timestamp, which should trick the Sony firmware into thinking the records have not changed).

In any case, when this occurs, connecting the reader again to your computer and letting Calibre do its thing (without invoking the plugin action) should put things back in order. Have you tried that?

[denverh]

Hi kpw,

Thanks for the reply. Actually, what I was seeing affected all the book on the reader, not just the ones on the Home screen Book List. Since it's a little difficult to describe accurately in words, I decided to collect some screenshots. After taking one that shows a page from the list of all books with everything as it should be, I selected one book for the Home screen Books List. However, I don't see the original problem now. I currently have three books on the Book List and all the books on the reader are still listed the way they should be, with authors as LN, FN, followed by any series info, then the number of pages.

If I add books, those will appear with authors as FN LN, and no additional info, but using your work-around of simply replugging the reader takes care of that.

I've no idea what was going on before, but it was persistent until I removed the one book that had an "added" date a year ahead. I had tried power cycling the reader, as well as adding one or two additional books, but nothing seemed to work. I don't trust problems that go away by themselves. They have a tendency to come back by themselves also. But for now, everything seems fine.

Thanks again,

Denver