[GUI Plugin] Goodreads Sync

[currysue]

Hi, This is my first post on the forums so apologies in advance for any mistakes on my part.
I received the following error when trying to upgrade 'goodreads_sync' plugin.
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Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\dialogs\plugin_updater.py", line 731, in _install_clicked
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\preferences\plugins.py", line 387, in check_for_add_to_toolbars
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\__init__.py", line 543, in load_actual_plugin
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'GoodreadsSyncAction'
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I closed and restarted calibre. The plugin is now listed as having been upgraded. Hmm interesting. Is it upgraded or isn't it?

So I removed the plugin, restarted Calibre and then re-installed the plugin from scratch and received the following error:
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calibre, version 0.8.33
ERROR: Install Plugin Failed: A problem occurred while installing this plugin. This plugin will now be uninstalled. Please post the error message in details below into the forum thread for this plugin and restart Calibre.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\dialogs\plugin_updater.py", line 731, in _install_clicked
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\preferences\plugins.py", line 387, in check_for_add_to_toolbars
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\__init__.py", line 543, in load_actual_plugin
File "importlib\__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\zipplugin.py", line 145, in load_module
File "zipfile.py", line 867, in read
File "zipfile.py", line 579, in read
File "zipfile.py", line 621, in read1
File "zipfile.py", line 596, in _update_crc
BadZipfile: Bad CRC-32 for file 'action.py'
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I closed and restarted calibre. The plugin is now listed as having been installed. Again interesting. Is it or isn't it?

Additional (perhaps useful) information:
I tried several times but was unable to upgrade from calibre 0.8.32 to 0.8.33 from primary site due to following error:
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Calibre setup
The file 'file_14' cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file 'calibre.cab'. The could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package.
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But I was able to successfully install calibre 0.8.33 from the alternate site. Go figure!!
I don't usually have any problems with calibre so perhaps the problem is not calibre but rather the resources on my computer outside of calibre or the network connection? Any help would be appreciated.

[kiwidude]

@currysue - welcome to MobileRead.

Not seen an error like that before, but I will say there isn't anything there that is specific to this particular plugin in those error messages. More likely it is something like an antivirus conflict issue. Perhaps Kovid may have some suggestions.

[kovidgoyal]

It sounds like a corrupted install. I suggest uninstall, reboot and re-install calibre. Note that uninstalling and re-installing does not affect your settings/books/plugins.

[currysue]

Hi all, I will re-install. Thanks for the advice!
Sue

[xterminus]

I recently started fooling with this plugin and I can't seem to get it to syncronize calibre's tags to goodreads shelves. I can of course add a book to a shelf via the plugin in calibre, and it shows up properly on the website. But that seems to be the limit of what the plugin does.

Basicly, what I've tried is to link a book to goodreads (works, or at least the goodreads id shows up in the metadata). Then I click on the dropdown, select "linked book", and either "upload tags to shelves" or "download shelves as tags". When I do either, nothing happens. Are these options functional? Is there some step in the configuration process I'm missing?

Thanks for any ideas/help!

[jesscat]

First, let me say that I absolutely love the new features - thank you! This makes this plugin one of my most used and most valued; it saves me so much time, and I'm very grateful.

However, something seems not to be working right - or maybe I'm doing something wrong. I have the plugin customization set up so when I add a book to my GR "read" shelf, the "shelf add actions" include adding the value "today" to my Calibre "dateread" column. Also, I have checked the option to upload Calibre date read to GR.

When it is actually time for me to use the plugin to add a book to the "read" shelf, sometimes I want a "date read" value other than today - e.g., yesterday, since I am not always able, or don't always remember, to do this on the actual date I read the book. So in the add-to-shelf dialogue, I simply change the date in that field from today to yesterday.

When I do this, the date uploaded to GR is, as I want it to be, yesterday. But the date added to my calibre "dateread" column remains today.

I can't figure out what is going on. If "today" is the only accepted value, then 1) why does the field in the add-to-shelf dialogue allow me to change it to another value, and 2) why is the value I enter - yesterday - being uploaded to GR rather than today, since it is supposed to upload my calibre date read to GR, and my calibre date read is today? If I am allowed to change the field to a date other than today (which I hope is the case, for reasons above - as much as I'd like to be that prompt, it's not always possible), why isn't the date changing from today to yesterday in calibre as well as in GR?

Or am I missing something?

Thanks for your help.

[kiwidude]

You have conflicting actions. You don't need to set "today" to your dateread column in your list of actions, you just need the checkbox "Upload date read..." for that shelf.

Right now that shelf add action is overwriting the value you have specified in the dialog.

[jesscat]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

You have conflicting actions. You don't need to set "today" to your dateread column in your list of actions, you just need the checkbox "Upload date read..." for that shelf.

Right now that shelf add action is overwriting the value you have specified in the dialog.

Oh, I see - so checking "Upload date read..." also has the effect of filling in the field for my calibre dateread column. I didn't realize that. I thought I had to fill in that column manually first unless I also had a shelf add action, but I see now that whatever date I put in the add-to-shelf dialogue gets entered into to my dateread column. Yay!

So that completely answers my question and is exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you! And thank you again for these modifications - they exactly fit the way I use calibre and GR, and they make the process so much more efficient for me.

[kiwidude]

Yes, if the date read colum has no value it will default it to today, if it already has a value it will leave it as is. So the only time you will need to change the date is if either you didn't read it "today", or if you re-read a book and want to update the date.

Glad to hear it is doing what you need - certainly it has made GR usage pretty painless for me too, compared to the original way this plugin worked in particular.

[Noughty]

First, I love the new plug in version. The multi shelf actions the new layout.

Wanted to ask about the view shelf, is it possible to turn it off? If not how to leave the window which opens then you hover on it? The problem is I have a lot of shelves (I'm an organization freak) and a small screen so it basically takes up the whole screen so I cannot press anywhere to make the window disappear . It often opens while I am going to the other actions I actually want if I'm not fast enough . Had the same problem with other actions as well but in this new version they don't pop out like that and block the screen. Only this one left.
[Update:Apparently pressing "Esc" works . Well better find out later than never.]

And some stupid or not suggestions:
It would be also great to edit sync/add action by just double clicking the field for it.

I had to redo all my shelves mappings and sync actions since I designed a hierarchical structure for tags - adding 20 times word "Genre." or "Book.Type." gets boring fast. So it would be very neat for those using hierarchical tags to select multiple shelves and add that word before the already written value "Adventure" for example. Wonder if that's very complicated or even possible.

Any idea if it would be possible to link tags? I mean in both goodreads sync and metatada download. It would be very useful (well I already did it the hard way) since if you want to change one tag which also represents the shelf you need to edit 3 fields (mappings, tag mappings in goodreads source and shelf sync. The biggest problem is the first two since you can't see them side by side and might make a mistake like plural, with a "-" or not). If you need to do 100 of them it's a pain. No pain no gain as they say

Thanks again for your work.

[kiwidude]

The View Shelf menu can be reduced in size by going to Customize plugin and unticking the Active column for all the shelves you do not want to appear on it. You can still add books to non active shelves, you just need to toggle the filter on the add to shelf screen.

Putting in a context menu action for prefixing tags for hierarchical purposes is probably a bit too much of a niche action I think. Lets see if other people ask for it. Personally I think the subset of people who have so many goodreads shelves that the paste action becomes too much is pretty small. Then you also need to cater for what if there are multiple tags mapped to that shelf - does the prefix go on all of them etc.

Not entirely sure what you mean by linking tags, but if you mean synchronising the mappings for the Goodreads metadata plugin vs the mappings in the Calibre Tags column on the Goodreads Sync plugin, then that would definitely be a no. The "shelves" that the Goodreads metadata plugin pull back are Goodreads defined shelves that are generic genres. Now while some users might have their own identically named shelves subset, many will not (like me) so it makes no sense to try to combine them, even if they weren't in completely different plugins. I can understand how in your case if you are trying to use identical personal shelf names you can see some duplication, but again I see that as an exception rather than the norm. Also the way I envisage this plugin is that users will exclusively use a choice of "Add to Shelf", "Sync" or "Upload/Download shelves as tags", whereas since you appear to be using combinations of at least the latter two you are again creating more work for yourself than other users may face. You are welcome to use the plugin any way you choose of course that makes sense to you, it is just not a use case that I see as a common one.

But then I *only* use the Add to Shelf function, which means I don't need any shelf/tag mappings beyond those setup for my Goodreads metadata plugin, and I only have a small number of shelves which are not based on genres, so my usage is entirely different to yours

[Noughty]

If I untick active column the sync for that shelf worn work too?

With linking tags I meant that if tag is linked with others if it is changes it changes in other places too. But it was just a thought.

As of how I use it. I download goodreads genres using goodreads source plug in. When I upload these tags to goodreads. After that it's two ways. If it's just one or a few books it is easier to just download shelves as shelves in my case since I have a separate column. I use sync to update my shelves if there are some changes. This seems to work best when you have a lot of shelves. At the moment I am thinking I have way too many and could cut some/group some. But still reluctant to actually do it.

My primary, more important is calibre library than goodreads. But if possible I like to have them both neat. So if I have a book with tag adventure and it's not on the shelf I want to add it. Even got a list difference column to see which books are missing from which shelves. Works like a charm.

[kiwidude]

The Sync from shelves feature will work with both active and non-active shelves - again it is just a filter that is applied on top.

[Noughty]

Ok, when it will work fine. Problem solved

[nynaevelan]

Kiwidude:

Is there a way with the plugin to mark whether the book is owned or not??