Columns

[Noughty]

I was wondering if somebody could help me out. I have shelves and tags for my book. These both have just list of words. Is it possible to make a column which combines info from both those columns?
Like:
Tag
Fantasy

Shelf
Vampires

Combined Column
Fantasy, vampires

Also could you point me in the right direction for calibrary "language". Where I could learn how to make columns and similar things. I know about the one in calibre manual. I think there has to be some more as I didn't find anything about combining two columns into one.

TIA

[Manichean]

What you want is a custom composite column (I'm not sure at the moment what it's called in the english version, look for a column type "made from other columns"). Say your tag-column is called '#mytags' and your shelf-column is called '#myshelf', then the combined column would be defined by the template '{#mytags}, {#myshelf}' (without the quotes, of course). You should be aware, though, that you can't edit the content of a composite column- if you try to edit one, you'll just see the template, and any changes you make will affect all the columns' fields.

Originally Posted by Noughty

Also could you point me in the right direction for calibrary "language". Where I could learn how to make columns and similar things. I know about the one in calibre manual. I think there has to be some more as I didn't find anything about combining two columns into one.

There is a short note on the relevant user manual page. I know of no other documentation on the template language.

[Noughty]

Thanks will try your template. I made that column before just the template was wrong and the result not what I wanted. Hope this works.

I wrote
{tags}, {shelf}

And the result is
tags,

But no shelfs

What am I doing wrong? I chose column built from other columns, behaves like tags.

[itimpi]

Custom column names start with #

[Noughty]

I tried
{#tags}, {#shelf}

but the result was
,
Just a comma. Without # I get just tags.

My columns are tags and shelf
How to write it correctly?

I also tried
{#tags, }{#shelf}


And
{#tags}{#shelf}

And
{#tags|| , }{#shelf}
And a bunch of others
What's left?

Can someone just tell me what to write in template?

I am also interested how to make template for saving books to disk. I have {author_sort}/{series}/{authors} - {series} {series_index} - {title}

It works fine if a book is part of series, but if it is a single title I get
Author - - Title.
I would like to have
Author - Title.
Is it possible?

[itimpi]

The tags column is a standard column and does not require the #.

If you hover the mouse over a column header in the main Calibre window it should show you the actual name to use in a template. I think the name displayed may also be case significant but I am not sure about that.

[Noughty]

Ok,that was the problem. Thanks you so much.

Is there a way to make it recognize the same tags and shelves so they aren't repeated?
For example
I have Tags: Contemporary, Shelf: contemporary, fantasy
In custom column I get: Contemporary, contemporary, fantasy

And if there is no tags (which is first in template), is there a way not to have it start with a comma in a new column I made? Like this:
, contemporary
, historical, fantasy


And any ideas about:

Originally Posted by Noughty

I am also interested how to make template for saving books to disk. I have {author_sort}/{series}/{authors} - {series} {series_index} - {title}

It works fine if a book is part of series, but if it is a single title I get
Author - - Title.
I would like to have
Author - Title.
Is it possible?

[itimpi]

Glad you got somewhere.

I cannot help with the latest question, though. Maybe someone who is more acquainted with the Calibre template capabilities might have ideas when they came around.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Noughty

Is there a way to make it recognize the same tags and shelves so they aren't repeated?

Not with the current template language. However, it seems like it might be a useful, so I added merge_lists. It might appear in today's release, or it might not.

And if there is no tags (which is first in template), is there a way not to have it start with a comma in a new column I made? Like this:
, contemporary
, historical, fantasy

For this and your other 'what about', see this section of the manual.

[Noughty]

Worked like a charm . Thanks to everybody who helped to fix my calibre.

Looking forward to the merge lists.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Noughty

Looking forward to the merge lists.

Kovid accepted it for this release.

Once you upgrade, assuming that you want to use the case of the item in tags if there is a non-case-equivalent duplicate, use any one of the following 3 templates. The first two use "template program mode", while the last one is uses"general program mode".

{tags:'merge_lists($, field('#shelf'), ',')'}

{#shelf:'merge_lists(field('tags'), $, ',')'}

program: merge_lists(field('tags'), field('#shelf'), ',')

The documentation for merge_lists will be in the template language manual section as soon as the next release is prepared.

[Noughty]

Thanks works great

[Noughty]

I was wondering in custom column it is shown correctly alphabetically (tags and shelves) but in book details window I see:
Tags alphabetically, shelves alphabetically

Why isn't it the same as in custom column? How to make it simple alphabetical?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Noughty

I was wondering in custom column it is shown correctly alphabetically (tags and shelves) but in book details window I see:
Tags alphabetically, shelves alphabetically

Why isn't it the same as in custom column? How to make it simple alphabetical?

Sorry, but I don't understand what you are asking. How to make what "simple alphabetical"?

If you are talking about the output of merge_lists, then use:

program: list_sort(merge_lists(field('tags'), field('#textmult'), ','), 0, ',')

However, there is a bug in the current release that causes sort_list to always sort descending. That will be fixed in the next release.

[Noughty]

I mean that in book details it is written all tags first after all tags all shelves are written. Instead of having all tags and shelves mixed with each other so they would be alphabetical.
You suggestion will fix it?