author sort appears in ALL CAPS

[cybmole]

don't understand this. I added one book to library today, epub,
author Reza Kahlili.

author sort insists on setting this in all caps, as KAHLILI, REZA
i.e. if I delete author sort & click the button to generate it from author, it is generated in CAPS

if I manually type the author sort correctly, as Kahili, Reza then calibre flags it in red indicating a mis-match ?

doesn't happen with other books. I looked at several existing ones & always the author sort case matches author case.

I have shut down, & restarted calibre - but no change for this specific book bug.

NB the book did origianally have the author name in caps, I changed it to sentence case via edit metadata but maybe it is still lurking somewhere in ALL CAPS ?

how do I track down & fix this annoyance ?

[kovidgoyal]

Manage authors and change the author sort value for that author to use the proper case.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Manage authors and change the author sort value for that author to use the proper case.

ok that explains how to fix the glitch & works OK, but does not explain what caused it to begin with ?

[kovidgoyal]

I'd guess a book that specified author sort in its metadata with all caps.

[chaley]

This is a side effect of permitting case changes on authors in the edit-metadata dialogs. In only case is changed, the author's sort string is not being updated. Automatically updating it has its complexities...

I will change the code to check if a newly-generated author's sort string equals the old one using a case-insensitive compare. If so, then the author's sort will be updated. If not, then it will be left as it is for the user to fix.

[cybmole]

ok I think the way it is right now is not right:

- it's illogical for a matching pair of manually typed author & author sort entries to be red flagged, because a value stored elsewhere has a different case. So the red / green test needs looking at.

and if there's a button defined as "generate author sort from author field" then it should do exactly that, not stubbornly quote some previously held value.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

- it's illogical for a matching pair of manually typed author & author sort entries to be red flagged, because a value stored elsewhere has a different case. So the red / green test needs looking at.

Disagree. Authors and books have different sort values. You can choose to set the book's value different from what is generated from the author's, and this *should* be red flagged to tell you that you have done that.

and if there's a button defined as "generate author sort from author field" then it should do exactly that, not stubbornly quote some previously held value.

Again, disagree. The button should generate an author sort consistent with the values stored with the author, if that author already exists.

[cybmole]

well lets mot make mountains out of molehills here - it's a small issue, but until it cropped up I had no idea that a manage authors -with it's own table of author sort values even existed!

i thought that author sort data was created always and only from author data., and that a fetch metatdata from server operation would reset everything.

as for"The button should generate an author sort consistent with the values stored with the author, if that author already exists." - what does the user guide say - I am pretty sure it does not say that!

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by chaley

Disagree. Authors and books have different sort values. You can choose to set the book's value different from what is generated from the author's, and this *should* be red flagged to tell you that you have done that.Again, disagree. The button should generate an author sort consistent with the values stored with the author, if that author already exists.

the key phrase here is surely generated from author's.

a generate button should generate something, & logic suggests that

John Smith generates Smith,John not SMITH,JOHN.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

the key phrase here is surely generated from author's.

a generate button should generate something, & logic suggests that

John Smith generates Smith,John not SMITH,JOHN.

I have already agreed several posts up that changing the case of an author should also change the case of the sort value stored with that author. That change is done.

The button does generate something. It generates a sort value for the book from the values stored with the authors, consistent with what is found in the relevant FAQ section, and in the user guide's sentence "You can click the button next to author sort to automatically to have |app| automatically fill it from the author name."

However, recognizing the ambiguity in the above sentence, I have changed it to be "You can click the button next to author sort to have |app| automatically fill it in using the sort values stored with each author. Use the ``Manage authors`` dialog to see and change the authors' sort values. This dialog can be opened by clicking and holding the button next to author sort."

[Gary_M_Mugford]

Originally Posted by chaley

I have already agreed several posts up that changing the case of an author should also change the case of the sort value stored with that author. That change is done.
However, recognizing the ambiguity in the above sentence, I have changed it to be "You can click the button next to author sort to have |app| automatically fill it in using the sort values stored with each author. Use the ``Manage authors`` dialog to see and change the authors' sort values. This dialog can be opened by clicking and holding the button next to author sort."

Charles,

Since you are working in the area ... [G]

I've asked before and been told it's one more setting and one more too many. But surely, in all the real estate that is the preferences system now, can't there be a setting for Import Case for Titles/Authors [x] default [ ] Title Case and I'd list the rest, but the only one I care about is Title Case. I know the menu is there to right click and choose from. And I assume it will still be needed for after-the-fact changing of your mind or when the algorithm guesses wrong. But it sure does seem to be a step that can, and should be, automated.

And, since I'm taking up the bandwidth anyways, I had a spate of text articles I downloaded from a bridge site. For whatever reason, the authors were listed in LN, FN order, while I use the FN LN format for storage in Calibre. I had to go in an reverse the order, changing Kantar, Eddie to Eddie Kantar, Mollo, Victor to Victor Mollo, etc. The problem was that the txt files had no meta data. Now, it seems to me there's probably a setting to handle metadata-less txt files getting the name in the order that I want. But I can't find it. IF, on the other hand, such a setting doesn't exist, might there be space for yet another setting in the voluminous folds of Preferences? Like If comma found in author, reverse and delete comma [X]

Just asking. And remember, I've not plagued you with a request for what must seem like hours, but has been actually days at this point [G].

Thanks in advance, GM

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Gary_M_Mugford

I've asked before and been told it's one more setting and one more too many. But surely, in all the real estate that is the preferences system now, can't there be a setting for Import Case for Titles/Authors [x] default [ ] Title Case and I'd list the rest, but the only one I care about is Title Case.

Sorry, but adding/importing books isn't my area. That said, it is easy to bulk convert authors to title case using bulk metadata edit search/replace. Set the 'search for' to "(.*)" (without the quotes), the 'replace with' to "\1", and change the "Apply function after replace" to Title Case.

And, since I'm taking up the bandwidth anyways, I had a spate of text articles I downloaded from a bridge site. For whatever reason, the authors were listed in LN, FN order, while I use the FN LN format for storage in Calibre. I had to go in an reverse the order, changing Kantar, Eddie to Eddie Kantar, Mollo, Victor to Victor Mollo, etc. [...] Like If comma found in author, reverse and delete comma [X]

There is the swap author firstname and lastname in preferences -> adding books. Of course, using this preference implies that you can separately add those files with the name 'backwards' and those with the name 'forwards'.

Again, you can use search/replace to do this in a post-pass. Select all books with an author containing a comma (authors:,), select the ones you want to change (all of them?), then use search/replace to swap the names. The 'Search for' string is "(.*), (.*)", and the replace string is "\2 \1".