Adding new ids links in right-side box and Book Details window

[Scifibookguy]

I searched on "Identifiers" and didn't find an answer for this, so if I missed the answer I apologize in advance.

What I would like to do is add some new identifier links to the right-side box (and by association the Book Details window) in the Calibre window. Right now, it will shows links for Amazon.com, ISBN, and Google. How can I add links for new Identifiers like 'baen' or 'isfdb'. Examples:

ISFDB is the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. All publications are assigned a number that is used in the URL like this: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?277373. That url will pull up the book 1632 by Eric Flint. I would like to be able to add 'isfdb:277373' into the Ids fields and have a link for the ISFDB site show in Identifiers on the right-side box (and Book Details window).

For the Baen webscription site, the links look like this: http://www.webscription.net/p-379-1632.aspx. So the identifier in the Ids field would look like 'baen:p-379-1632'.

Is this something I can do myself, or is this something that needs to be hardcoded. I tried looking everywhere I could think of, but couldn't find any information about this.

If a template could be set up for the links, that would be best, because then people could add in links for any web sites they wanted.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

[kovidgoyal]

If there is a metadata download plugin for your sites, it should do the trick for you. If not, there's no way to do it short of adding code to calibre.

[Scifibookguy]

I'm not sure if I'm not understanding you, or you're not understanding me I don't want to download any data. I simply want to create a link that shows up in the Ids: line of the Book Details. For example, putting 'amazon:B00338QEUG' in the Ids field will create the link Amazon.com that shows in the Ids in Book Details. The link can be clicked on to open it up in a browser.

Per your reference to Metadata download plugins, I looked in Preferences -> Plugins for 'Metadata download plugins' but the only ones that started with Metadata were 'Metadata reader', 'Metadata source', and 'Metadata writer' and none of the plugins had 'download' in the title.

Can you tell me which plugins create the Google, Amazon.com or Worldcat.org links like in this example?:

If I can look at one for an example, I should be able to create my own. Unless they are hardcoded?

Also, are there any other Ids that currently work to create links? I couldn't find a list.

Thanks.

[transmitthis]

Just create a new column, call it ISFDB.
Set it to show in Book Details, and move it up under Ids:
Then add the links to the column

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Scifibookguy

I'm not sure if I'm not understanding you, or you're not understanding me I don't want to download any data. I simply want to create a link that shows up in the Ids: line of the Book Details

Metadata plugins are supposed to support converting identifiers they know about into links for display on book details panels. You don't need to use the plugin to download metadata, but you must use the identifier name that the plugin supports.

There is no guarantee that the plugins do support link creation, but the author of the plugin might want to know if that plugin is missing something. The built-in amazon, douban, and google plugins do, and I am quite sure the kiwidude's plugins do as well.

If you want to create new identifier IDs and have them be made into links, then you need to either change calibre's source or provide a metadata plugin that knows how to convert that ID type into a link.

[Scifibookguy]

Originally Posted by transmitthis

Just create a new column, call it ISFDB.
Set it to show in Book Details, and move it up under Ids:
Then add the links to the column

Thanks I used part of that suggestion.

I created a new column that uses the template: {identifiers:select(isfdb)|http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?|}

This lets me use 'isfdb' in the Ids field, so it's easy to use in the tag browser.

However, the problem is that the resulting text, e.g. isfdb:280792 which produces

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?280792

is simply text, and not a link. It can't be clicked on to open the browser to that site. I have to select the text, copy, and paste into the address bar of a browser to have it open.

I looked but couldn't find a function to convert text into a URL. I found a to_HTML() function, but that didn't appear to do what I need.

Is it possible to have a to_URL() function be added into Calibre, please? I have to think the code for creating the current links for Google, Amazon.com etc. could be used? Or is it already there to access and I didn't find it?

Thanks.

[Scifibookguy]

Oh! I just checked out the changelog for 0.8.8 and saw this...

When creating a composite custom column, allow the use of HTML to create links and other markup that display in the Book details panel

Gonna update and see if that lets me do what I want

[Scifibookguy]

WOO HOO! Thanks for adding the HTML markup change into version 0.8.8! You rock, Kovid!

Here's the template I used for ISFDB:

{identifiers:select(isfdb)|<a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?|">ISFDB</a>}

[kovidgoyal]

You're welcome But, you should thank chaley, that was his idea.

[Scifibookguy]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're welcome But, you should thank chaley, that was his idea.

Oh great, now I feel obligated to donate to Charles!



Seriously, though, thanks to Charles also I'll get some money to both Charles and Kovid when I get my next disability check.

Now for another request...

There's really no reason to show the URL in the main window, so I have the new columns squished down to a minimum width just to know if something in is the field or not. It makes knowing which books still need the ISFDB or Baen link easier to see on the main window. But if the "Show Checkmark" checkbox option could be changed to work with a field being empty or not (or a "Show Checkmark If Not Empty" option is added, or perhaps a "Show Checkmark if HTML code is used" option), for whether to show an X or a checkmark, it would look a lot nicer in the display

Right now, I have to add a second column for each id and check for empty Yes or No, to get a checkmark or X displayed.

It's not an imperative request, just something that would be nice Maybe some time when you're bored you could make the change...

Thanks!

*EDIT* Actually, I found that either a green checkmark, or nothing (rather than the red X) looks best, so I went with this for the second column:

{#isfdb:test(yes, )}

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Scifibookguy

Seriously, though, thanks to Charles also

You are welcome.

This thread and an earlier one about general link-type fields were an impetus for me to add the feature.