[FanFicFare] Metadata Management for Fanfiction

[w4tchdoge]

Originally Posted by culytera

Since I put these all in custom columns, I could also use them as values for the Generate Cover plugin. You could even choose to show only one relationship tag instead of all of them. Here's how that layout was achieved:

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​
{#ao3_category}
{#ao3_ships:sublist(0,-1,\,)}
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​
{#ao3_rating} • {#ao3_words} • {#ao3_chapters}
{#ao3_date}

Hi there. I really like what you've done with the Generate Covers plugin, but I can't seem to replicate the way you've formatted the title page—with only some text being left justified and there being a gap between the title and the rest of it. Would you be willing to share how you've configured the plugin?

Originally Posted by culytera

I also have the (mostly) unmodified metadata for relationships, characters (where I don't exclude characters already mentioned in ships), category/fandom and rating in custom columns for reference, though they're only shown in the tag browser. (See attached for my additional tags column's settings, book details, my custom columns, and what my tag browser looks like)

I also really like how you have categories based on word count in your tag browser, what template did you use in making that column built from other columns?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by w4tchdoge

I also really like how you have categories based on word count in your tag browser, what template did you use in making that column built from other columns?

I have a similar column for pricing. Here's the template I use.

program:
	switch_if(
		$$#purchasecost == 'none', '',
		$$#purchasecost ==# '00.00', '$0.00',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '00.99', '$0.01 - $0.99',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '04.99', '$1.00 - $4.99',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '10.00', '$5.00 - $9.99',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '15.00', '$10.00 - $14.99',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '20.00', '$15.00 - $19.99',
		$$#purchasecost <=# '30.00', '$20.00 - $29.99',
		'$30.00 and up' 
	)

[culytera]

Originally Posted by w4tchdoge

Hi there. I really like what you've done with the Generate Covers plugin, but I can't seem to replicate the way you've formatted the title page—with only some text being left justified and there being a gap between the title and the rest of it. Would you be willing to share how you've configured the plugin?

It's probably because I made the cover size huge so it looks like there's a lot of gaps. I haven't used Generate Cover for a while so I may have forgotten some workarounds I did to fit the text I wanted.

- Fonts tab: Author and Custom Text are right-aligned
- Dimensions tab: adjust cover size and margins as needed
- Contents tab: note the order of the fields, the hidden Image field pushes the Author and Custom Text down.

I updated my code in personal.ini to get the first entry in category and ship so I don't have to use sublist() in Custom Text. You can ignore that part of the code if you want to see all ships and categories though that would likely ruin the format if there are too many entries.

personal.ini code to get only the first entry in ships and category:

add_to_extra_valid_entries:,main_ship,main_category
include_in_main_ship:ships
include_in_main_category:category

replace_metadata:
 main_category_LIST=>^(.*?)(\,.*)=>\1
 main_ship_LIST=>^(.*?\/.*?)(\,.*)=>\1

add_to_custom_columns_settings:
 main_ship=>#main_ship
 main_category=>#main_category

Custom Text code:
Note the horizontal line which is different from underscore _, you can put anything you want there

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​
{#main_category}
{#main_ship}
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​
{#ao3_rating} • {#ao3_words} • {#ao3_chapters}
{#ao3_date}​

Series text:

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​<br>{series}<br>❖ Book {series_index} ❖<br>⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯​

Originally Posted by w4tchdoge

I also really like how you have categories based on word count in your tag browser, what template did you use in making that column built from other columns?

I have 2 Word Count columns, one is taking directly from the fic's metadata, the other is a column built from other columns (the ao3_words column) and behaves like tags.

- Calibre's custom columns settings
- FanficFare's custom columns settings.

I then use template functions to put info into the word count group column.

getWordCountGroup:

program:
	switch_if(
		$$#ao3_words <# '5000',  'Less than 5000',
		$$#ao3_words <# '10000', 'Less than 10000',
		$$#ao3_words <# '20000', 'Less than 20000',
		$$#ao3_words <# '40000', 'Less than 40000',
		$$#ao3_words <# '80000', 'Less than 80000',
		'Over 80000' 
	)

[w4tchdoge]

Thank you so much for the help!

The word count grouping works like a charm and the advice on scaling up the cover and font size helped immensely.

I tried out the main_category and main_ship method you're using but had problems where it didn't reliably get the correct main ship where sublist did so I switched back to using that.
I also ran into a bit of an issue with the cover bugging out since some of the works in my library don't have a relationship tag but i fixed that with the following if anyone's curious:

{#ao3_ships:'ifempty(sublist($,0,2,","),"No Relationship Tags")'}

[culytera]

Originally Posted by w4tchdoge

Thank you so much for the help!

The word count grouping works like a charm and the advice on scaling up the cover and font size helped immensely.

I tried out the main_category and main_ship method you're using but had problems where it didn't reliably get the correct main ship where sublist did so I switched back to using that.

Ah right, I forgot to mention I'm using FanFicFare's latest test version, not sure if that affects it. Plus it assumes that the author listed the first ship as the main one which isn't always the case. Glad you figured out another solution!

[chicleeblair]

Dunno if this makes more sense here or on the main thread, but if you use the [override] section, what do you use it for?

[Ghostcat]

Originally Posted by chicleeblair

Dunno if this makes more sense here or on the main thread, but if you use the [override] section, what do you use it for?

I've seen this in the wiki. Hang on a sec...

https://github.com/JimmXinu/FanFicFa...File#overrides

Basically, this is here you put anything that you don't want the individual section to override.

[Amalthia]

Hi, does anyone else in this thread download the story completion status from AO3?

I'm currently downloading that information and placing it in it's own custom column "Status." I then I use the "Look and Feel" setting "Column Coloring" to change the columns color so I can visually see if the story is in-progress or not.

The only problem I'm currently experiencing is that for Anthologies the "status" information is included in the fandom tags metadata. So when I download a series with FanFicFare I'm seeing "Completed" or "In-Progress" along with the fandom.

It's not doing this for non-series. I was curious to know if anyone else is experiencing this behavior or not.

Thanks,
Amalthia

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Hi, does anyone else in this thread download the story completion status from AO3?

I'm currently downloading that information and placing it in it's own custom column "Status." I then I use the "Look and Feel" setting "Column Coloring" to change the columns color so I can visually see if the story is in-progress or not.

The only problem I'm currently experiencing is that for Anthologies the "status" information is included in the fandom tags metadata. So when I download a series with FanFicFare I'm seeing "Completed" or "In-Progress" along with the fandom.

It's not doing this for non-series. I was curious to know if anyone else is experiencing this behavior or not.

Thanks,
Amalthia

Yes. I think it's intended behaviour.

I use Action Chains to do some metadata processing that FanFicFare itself can't handle and use this single-field edit on 'tags' to remove it:

program:

	if 
		$#fanficstatus=='Anthology' 
	then
		list_difference($tags, "In-Progress, Completed", ',')
	else
		$tags
	fi

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Yes. I think it's intended behaviour.

I use Action Chains to do some metadata processing that FanFicFare itself can't handle and use this single-field edit on 'tags' to remove it:

program:

	if 
		$#fanficstatus=='Anthology' 
	then
		list_difference($tags, "In-Progress, Completed", ',')
	else
		$tags
	fi

Thanks so much for sharing your code and the information about "Action Chains" I didn't know that plugin existed!

My next test is to see if I can run a script to identify fics that haven't been updated in over a certain period of time and mark them as Abandoned.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Thanks so much for sharing your code and the information about "Action Chains" I didn't know that plugin existed!

My next test is to see if I can run a script to identify fics that haven't been updated in over a certain period of time and mark them as Abandoned.

Set to 365 days:

program:
now = format_date(today(),'iso');
updated = $$#fanficupdated;
status = $#fanficstatus;

	if
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& days_between(now, updated) ># 365
	then 
		'Abandoned'

	else 
		status
	fi

My personal version marks dormant fics as such after approximately 4 months and changes to 'abandoned' if there's a logged error. (Transient errors like 'site down for maintenance' or cache errors will also toggle it, so resolve those before running the chain.)

program:
now = format_date(today(),'iso');
updated = $$#fanficupdated;
status = $#fanficstatus;

	if 
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& $#fanficerror
	then 
		'Abandoned'

	elif
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& days_between(now, updated) ># 120
	then 
		'Dormant'

	else 
		status
	fi

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Set to 365 days:

program:
now = format_date(today(),'iso');
updated = $$#fanficupdated;
status = $#fanficstatus;

	if
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& days_between(now, updated) ># 365
	then 
		'Abandoned'

	else 
		status
	fi

My personal version marks dormant fics as such after approximately 4 months and changes to 'abandoned' if there's a logged error. (Transient errors like 'site down for maintenance' or cache errors will also toggle it, so resolve those before running the chain.)

program:
now = format_date(today(),'iso');
updated = $$#fanficupdated;
status = $#fanficstatus;

	if 
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& $#fanficerror
	then 
		'Abandoned'

	elif
		status=='In-Progress'
		&& days_between(now, updated) ># 120
	then 
		'Dormant'

	else 
		status
	fi

I found the area where you can select actions from a drop down menu, but I'm not sure where to enter program code? Would you be willing to share a screenshot?

Thanks,
Amalthia

[ownedbycats]

Action Chains > Add/Modify Chains:



It will be empty, so press the + button to add a new row. Double-click the Title row, type in a title, and then click the gear button that appears.



Click the + button, select Single-Field Edit, and then press the gear button:



Select the column you want modified from the dropdown list, then press the Template radio-button and click Add Template. This opens the template editor.



You may need to change the template to use your own custom columns. Pay attention to the Value with the book titles for any errors.

Then press 'Ok' multiple times until everything is closed. Then use the Action Chains menu to run the chain on a book and watch what happens.

I make my templates to be as non-destructive as possible, so it shouldn't change anything that doesn't need to be changed.

[ownedbycats]

Another Action Chains post-processing to fix a FanFicFare limitation:

If you use a Ratings column, there's a issue where FanFicFare will concatenate all the ratings on an anthology, producing something like Mature, General Audiences, Mature, Not Rated. Here's my method for fixing this.

1. Edit defaults.ini to standardize your ratings.

[defaults]

replace_metadata: 
## Ratings
 rating=>^(K|K\+)$=>General Audiences
 rating=>^Teen And Up Audiences$=>Teen and Up Audiences
 rating=>^T$=>Teen and Up Audiences
 rating=>^Mature$=>Mature Audiences
 rating=>^M$=>Mature Audiences

2. In Calibre, go to Preferences > Advanced > Template Functions > Stored Templates tab. Type first_in_list to the template name and paste in this code:

python:
def evaluate(book, context):
	args = context.arguments
	if args is None or len(args) != 3:
		raise ValueError('first_in_list requires 3 arguments')
	sep = args[1]
	lst = tuple(l.strip() for l in args[0].split(',') if l.strip())
	test_lst = tuple(l.strip() for l in args[2].split(',') if l.strip())
	if not test_lst:
		return ''
	for v in test_lst:
		if v in lst:
			return v
	return ''

Then press the 'Create' button and apply results.

3. Create an Action Chain with a Single-Field Edit affecting your ratings column. Use this template:

program: 
	first_in_list($#fanficrating, ',', 'Explicit, Mature Audiences, Teen and Up Audiences, General Audiences, Not Rated')

This template will take the aforementioned Mature, General Audiences, Mature, Not Rated and then extract 'Mature' because it's firstmost available item in the provided list. If you'd rather have it in a different order, just change the order of the items in the template.

Thanks to chaley for the python code.

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Action Chains > Add/Modify Chains:

You may need to change the template to use your own custom columns. Pay attention to the Value with the book titles for any errors.

Then press 'Ok' multiple times until everything is closed. Then use the Action Chains menu to run the chain on a book and watch what happens.

I make my templates to be as non-destructive as possible, so it shouldn't change anything that doesn't need to be changed.

Thank you so much for sharing the screenshots! They really helped guide me as I set up an Action Chain to move items from In-Progress to abandoned.