Add'l formats for existing book(s)

[jxh11215]

I sometimes get an additional format of an existing book. Is there a way to add this new book to one that already exists in my library?
Example: I have a book already in in epub format in my library, but get another one in .mobi. I haven't yet checked out either for formatting or errors, so I'd like both before I decide which version I am going to keep. How do I add the 2nd one without deleting and then adding both at the same time.

[GRiker]

Select the book, click 'Edit meta information', click the book icon with the '+' in the top right corner of the 'Edit Meta Information' dialog.

G

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by GRiker

Select the book, click 'Edit meta information', click the book icon with the '+' in the top right corner of the 'Edit Meta Information' dialog.

G

Version 0.6.45 added some code I wrote that simplifies this. Just drag the new mobi format into the main screen and you're done. Or use any of the add book options that pull down next to the Add Books icon. The new format will be automatically added to the existing ebook record.

For this to work, you need the following:

The option in Preferences|Add/Save needs to be turned on. It's the one that says "If books with similar titles and authors found .."

Second, your book has to actually have a sufficiently similar author and title to the existing book. I prefer to leave the option to "read metadata only from filename" on, then make sure the regex will correctly read the author and title from the filename.

All 3 of these (2 options and regex) are on the same page: Preferences|Add/Save.

Kovid improved my code (as usual), by adding a notification of all mergers, and handling multiple authors better. He also changed it so it no longer overwrites formats you already have. (I preferred to overwrite older copies with the newer copy of the same format, but I understand why he preferred the opposite.)

[GRiker]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Version 0.6.45 added some code I wrote that simplifies this. ...

Kovid improved my code (as usual), by adding a notification of all mergers, and handling multiple authors better. He also changed it so it no longer overwrites formats you already have. (I preferred to overwrite older copies with the newer copy of the same format, but I understand why he preferred the opposite.)

Nice revision.

So what happens if you drag a new mobi into an entry that already has a mobi? You're saying it won't overwrite the old one?

Would the sequence then be to first delete the old mobi, then drag the new one in?

G

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by GRiker

Nice revision.

So what happens if you drag a new mobi into an entry that already has a mobi? You're saying it won't overwrite the old one?

Would the sequence then be to first delete the old mobi, then drag the new one in?

G

I haven't actually had a chance to review Kovid's changes to the code, but his comment to me was that "if a book has an existing format it is not replaced. The user is notified of all merges that happened."

Before the new code, you could drag a duplicate format ebook into the metadata edit screen and it would replace an ebook of the same format, so I suspect that method will still work - or you could do it the way you suggest.

[Gwen Morse]

Does this allow you to merge books already added to the database? For example, I have three copies of "Affair" by Amanda Quick, two show up as .zip files and the third as a .lit file. Poking around, I find I have a rocketbook file, a palmdoc file, and that lit file. I'd like to merge these all into one directory. I don't care that this will drop two numbers from the database. I also don't care that those numbers won't be re-used. I'm happy to let Calibre manage my library behind the scenes.

If this option doesn't exist, is it in the works?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Gwen Morse

Does this allow you to merge books already added to the database? For example, I have three copies of "Affair" by Amanda Quick, two show up as .zip files and the third as a .lit file. Poking around, I find I have a rocketbook file, a palmdoc file, and that lit file. I'd like to merge these all into one directory. I don't care that this will drop two numbers from the database. I also don't care that those numbers won't be re-used. I'm happy to let Calibre manage my library behind the scenes.

If this option doesn't exist, is it in the works?

I began working on this option a few weeks ago. I stopped because it had some overlap with the option I wrote to automatically add new books to existing entries, and I wasn't sure if Kovid would implement that option, or if he did, how much it would be changed.

Now that he has added the previous one, I need to understand his changes. Each time he rewrites one of my efforts, I learn a lot. I currently have a "Merge" button and a right click "Merge" option implemented into the interface, and I have it collecting all except the first selected record into a list in a format that's exactly compatible with the way that I merged a new book into an existing record (after I had matched the new book by author title to the existing book). In theory, that's almost there, but I've had to go a step backward, now that Kovid has rewritten some of my code. My "Merge " code is in the 0.6.44 code, while his changes are in 0.6.45, so I need to reconcile the conflicts, fix anything necessary, then add the final steps.


This is all part of my long term project to add features I need to move my library into Calibre. The one prior to the one described here (new book formats sorted into existing records) was the one that locked title/author during metadata fetch. The one before that was the one that split author names at the comma when the author had middle names or initials.

It's great that Kovid has allowed me to add these features to the main code, but in doing so, I've already added three option checkboxes, and "option creep" is a serious concern. I've promised myself I will not add any more option boxes. I'm pretty sure I can implement "Merge existing records" without another option.

As for when you may see it - as usual, it will be done when it's done. I have to study Kovid's improvements on my last code. I learn something each time he rewrites my code, and I try to minimize the effort he has to put in to make my code acceptable. Since he's gone, and I'm not yet back to writing code, just studying and reconciling code, it will probably be a while. Even after I write something that works for me, and send it in, he'll have to review, fix then issue the release.

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by Starson17

I began working on this option a few weeks ago. I stopped because it had some overlap with the option I wrote to automatically add new books to existing entries, and I wasn't sure if Kovid would implement that option, or if he did, how much it would be changed.

Now that he has added the previous one, I need to understand his changes. Each time he rewrites one of my efforts, I learn a lot. I currently have a "Merge" button and a right click "Merge" option implemented into the interface, and I have it collecting all except the first selected record into a list in a format that's exactly compatible with the way that I merged a new book into an existing record (after I had matched the new book by author title to the existing book). In theory, that's almost there, but I've had to go a step backward, now that Kovid has rewritten some of my code. My "Merge " code is in the 0.6.44 code, while his changes are in 0.6.45, so I need to reconcile the conflicts, fix anything necessary, then add the final steps.

Thank you for the update. I appreciate your authorship of this feature, and that you're expanding it. Additionally, I appreciate Calibre being written in the first place (many thanks to Kovid and anyone else who worked on it). I still have plenty of books with incorrect meta-data waiting for hand corrections. Being able to merge books would just be highly useful "some day".

Thanks so much for your hard work!

[Justy]

I love the idea of being able to merge existing books within Calibre.

The way it works currently, if I import a folder with many titles, some the same but different in formats, would they merge during import or would I have to delete 1 and manually add it to the other using one of the above methods?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Justy

I love the idea of being able to merge existing books within Calibre.

The way it works currently, if I import a folder with many titles, some the same but different in formats, would they merge during import or would I have to delete 1 and manually add it to the other using one of the above methods?

It works like this:

First, turn on the option in Preferences|Add that allows this function.

When Calibre processes the first book, Calibre determines the author name and title according to the settings you have given Calibre. I prefer to tell Calibre to get the author/title from the filename, but it can get them from metadata inside the book if you set it that way.

The next book is then processed. If it has the same author and a similar enough title to the first book or any other record, but is a different format, it gets added to the matching record. If title/author differ, a new record is created.

This continues book by book to the end.

(If the new option is off, it behaves as it used to behave.)

New code that I'm now completing will allow you to merge records. For example, the code above will never add two books into the same record if the author names differ by a single character. You'll get two different records for a book by Arthur C Clarke and one by Arthur Clarke, no matter how similar the titles are.

The merge code will let you put them into a single record by selecting them both and choosing merge. The author name kept is the one in the record you select first.

[Justy]

Thank you for the quick reply, that is exactly what I was hoping would happen. It makes me much less nervous about importing my 800+ ebooks now. I have been putting it off for quite a while due to all the hand work I would have to do. It looks like my manual updating has been significantly reduced now.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Justy

Thank you for the quick reply, that is exactly what I was hoping would happen. It makes me much less nervous about importing my 800+ ebooks now. I have been putting it off for quite a while due to all the hand work I would have to do. It looks like my manual updating has been significantly reduced now.

I'm at 14,000. Somewhere about book 2,000 I realized it would be faster to start writing code than continue with hand work