"Recent" sort on Kobo Libra 2

chaley · 05-24-2022, 05:50 AM

What value is used when sorting by "Recent"? I have that option for my personal collections as well as the built-in collections. Is it a per-collection value or a per-book value? It appears to be per-collection but I can't prove that.

If it is per-collection then is there some way I can choose/set the value for each entry in the collection? That would let me order collections in arbitrary ways. For example, I have a custom series column named "reading order". I would like to make collections from the name ordered by its series index.

If it is per-book then when is it set, and to what?

davidfor · 05-24-2022, 11:04 AM

In the database on the device, the table "content" has columns for "DateLastRead" and "___SyncTime". These are set for each book. The former is NULL if the book has not been opened and is updated when you open and close a book. The latter is the timestamp when the book was imported on the device.

The "Date added" sort uses "___SyncTime" for the sort. The Recent sort uses both. At one time it was effectively "IFNULL(DateLastRead, ___SyncTime)". But, now it is "MAX(___SyncTime, DateLastRead)". Or it was the last time I checked.

Fiddling with the "DateLastRead" is not that useful as it changes as books are opened and hence the Recent sort changes. But, "___SyncTime" can be changed. My Kobo Utilities can update this to any date that is in the calibre library. I usually set it to the date column in calibre if I do a factory reset. That effectively maintains the date I originally added the book to the device. I have tried the published date, but, it isn't that meaningful to me for sorting.

For collections, there is a separate date added column for each book. At one time, the "Date added" sort in a collection used this. And the plugin has a function to set this so that book could be sorted by series or something else. That was before series sorting was added. But, from memory, the Date added sort in a collection now uses the ___SyncTime for its sorting. The function is still in the plugin. It simply set the timestamp and then incremented by a second for each book. I haven't tried it for a long time and haven't checked what happens when sorting the collections.

Which sort is is used is remembered. An entry is added to the config file for the collection when you change the sort.

chaley · 05-24-2022, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Fiddling with the "DateLastRead" is not that useful as it changes as books are opened and hence the Recent sort changes. But, "___SyncTime" can be changed. My Kobo Utilities can update this to any date that is in the calibre library. I usually set it to the date column in calibre if I do a factory reset. That effectively maintains the date I originally added the book to the device. I have tried the published date, but, it isn't that meaningful to me for sorting.

This is done in the Update Metadata panel, changing Date Added? Setting it this way does work, but as you said it isn't useful for changing collection order because it is a per-book field.

Quote:

For collections, there is a separate date added column for each book. At one time, the "Date added" sort in a collection used this. And the plugin has a function to set this so that book could be sorted by series or something else. That was before series sorting was added. But, from memory, the Date added sort in a collection now uses the ___SyncTime for its sorting. The function is still in the plugin. It simply set the timestamp and then incremented by a second for each book. I haven't tried it for a long time and haven't checked what happens when sorting the collections.

This is done using "Order Series" panel? This seems not to change how a collection is sorted by Date Added or Recent. Date Added uses the date I set using Update Metadata.

FWIW: I got this exception when changing Date Added in the Update Metadata panel to a date that is undefined for some books.

Spoiler:

davidfor · 05-24-2022, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

This is done in the Update Metadata panel, changing Date Added? Setting it this way does work, but as you said it isn't useful for changing collection order because it is a per-book field.
This is done using "Order Series" panel? This seems not to change how a collection is sorted by Date Added or Recent. Date Added uses the date I set using Update Metadata.

Yes to both of those places. Digging through my memory, when Shelves/Collections were first added, the Date added sort in a collection worked on the timestamp when the book was added to the collection. At some point it stopped working altogether, or at least gave a seemingly random but consistent sort. The collection was always sorted the same way, but, I could never find the rules used. When that was "fixed", it was done by using the book date added value. Which meant the sort order for a set of books was consistent across all lists but meant there was no way to build another order.

Quote:

FWIW: I got this exception when changing Date Added in the Update Metadata panel to a date that is undefined for some books.

Spoiler:

What date are you using? I'm guessing a custom date column as I think that's the most likely to be not set. And I can see something in the handling of custom date columns that might not be sensible.

chaley · 05-25-2022, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

What date are you using? I'm guessing a custom date column as I think that's the most likely to be not set. And I can see something in the handling of custom date columns that might not be sensible.

Yes, it is a custom date column. I used my Date Read column for testing.

davidfor · 05-26-2022, 09:03 AM

I have just released the an update of Kobo Utilities to fix this.

05-24-2022, 05:50 AM	#1
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,742 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	"Recent" sort on Kobo Libra 2 What value is used when sorting by "Recent"? I have that option for my personal collections as well as the built-in collections. Is it a per-collection value or a per-book value? It appears to be per-collection but I can't prove that. If it is per-collection then is there some way I can choose/set the value for each entry in the collection? That would let me order collections in arbitrary ways. For example, I have a custom series column named "reading order". I would like to make collections from the name ordered by its series index. If it is per-book then when is it set, and to what?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
New "VNC" viewer for recent Kobo devices and firmware	NiMa	Kobo Developer's Corner	23	02-12-2024 06:51 PM
Kindle paperwhite 6.8" or kobo libra 2 7"	Irishsea	Which one should I buy?	21	01-11-2022 12:14 PM
Deducing "Author sort" and "Title sort" through CLI	wladdy	Library Management	8	08-04-2020 05:20 AM
Forma How do u deal with authors who are "Jr"? (Kobo ignores Calibre's "Author Sort" field)	droopy	Kobo Reader	0	09-06-2019 05:51 PM
Touch Kobo Touch "my collections" sort order	j-beda	Kobo Reader	22	07-19-2015 11:22 PM

05-24-2022, 11:04 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	In the database on the device, the table "content" has columns for "DateLastRead" and "___SyncTime". These are set for each book. The former is NULL if the book has not been opened and is updated when you open and close a book. The latter is the timestamp when the book was imported on the device. The "Date added" sort uses "___SyncTime" for the sort. The Recent sort uses both. At one time it was effectively "IFNULL(DateLastRead, ___SyncTime)". But, now it is "MAX(___SyncTime, DateLastRead)". Or it was the last time I checked. Fiddling with the "DateLastRead" is not that useful as it changes as books are opened and hence the Recent sort changes. But, "___SyncTime" can be changed. My Kobo Utilities can update this to any date that is in the calibre library. I usually set it to the date column in calibre if I do a factory reset. That effectively maintains the date I originally added the book to the device. I have tried the published date, but, it isn't that meaningful to me for sorting. For collections, there is a separate date added column for each book. At one time, the "Date added" sort in a collection used this. And the plugin has a function to set this so that book could be sorted by series or something else. That was before series sorting was added. But, from memory, the Date added sort in a collection now uses the ___SyncTime for its sorting. The function is still in the plugin. It simply set the timestamp and then incremented by a second for each book. I haven't tried it for a long time and haven't checked what happens when sorting the collections. Which sort is is used is remembered. An entry is added to the config file for the collection when you change the sort.

05-26-2022, 09:03 AM	#6
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	I have just released the an update of Kobo Utilities to fix this.