[GUI Plugin] View Manager

[JimmXinu]

FYI, I am not kiwidude and this isn't my plugin. But I'm trying to help out by porting some of the plugins I use regularly while kiwidude is busy.

Attached is a test version that should work for both the existing 1.X calibre and the upcoming 2.X version calibre. 2.x will use PyQt5 which requires changes to virtually all plugins.

This version needs to be tested with the existing calibre.

Brave souls to test with with the beta 2.X version would also be appreciated. Links to the 2.X beta and discussion of the transition (for plugins) can be see at: Attn plugin developers: calibre moving to Qt 5.

[BetterRed]

did some simple tests on 1.200 portable and 1.33 portable, no problems. I'll do a backup, when it's done I'll test this on calibre 1.43 64 bit with my 'real' libraries, where I have different views on different libraries with custom columns etc - this will replace the existing View Manager.

Thanks for taking on some of kiwidudes plugins - much appreciated.

Added : Tested on 1.43 64 install version with my real libraries - no problems works fine

BR

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

did some simple tests on 1.200 portable and 1.33 portable, no problems. I'll do a backup, when it's done I'll test this on calibre 1.43 64 bit with my 'real' libraries, where I have different views on different libraries with custom columns etc - this will replace the existing View Manager.

Thanks for taking on some of kiwidudes plugins - much appreciated.

Added : Tested on 1.43 64 install version with my real libraries - no problems works fine

BR

Excellent, thanks!

[Inferno]

I don't know if here is the place to ask but is there an option to sort the authors or titles on the field (ie not the "author sort" or "title sort" but what is in the field?)

I don't want this all the time, but I would like the option to switch to a "normal" view vs the standard "sort" view.

When checking a list of files (books) or a directory of books it is almost always in the normalized order of first name last name. It would be much faster to check if I could switch between sort order views.

For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Inferno

I don't know if here is the place to ask but is there an option to sort the authors or titles on the field (ie not the "author sort" or "title sort" but what is in the field?)

I don't want this all the time, but I would like the option to switch to a "normal" view vs the standard "sort" view.

When checking a list of files (books) or a directory of books it is almost always in the normalized order of first name last name. It would be much faster to check if I could switch between sort order views.

For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this

@Inferno - I have Plain Title and Plain Author columns. Most of the time I don't show them, but I have a Plain View that shows them as a Plain List as and when needed See attachments

BR

[Inferno]

I tried the View Manager for the first time and had to redo my column view by hand to get it the way I always use it lol. Not used to this plugin for sure.

I have created the alphaauthor column based on authors. Now, I am not used to this but am I right in thinking this means that changes I make to the authors field automatically changes the alphaauthor column?

In terms of how a column like this works, does it add much in drive space requirement? or is it just a "reflection" of the authors column that will sort alphabetically by the actual content of the field?

It does appear to be solving my problem of it taking too long to compare a directory to calibre

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Inferno

I tried the View Manager for the first time and had to redo my column view by hand to get it the way I always use it lol. Not used to this plugin for sure.

I have created the alphaauthor column based on authors. Now, I am not used to this but am I right in thinking this means that changes I make to the authors field automatically changes the alphaauthor column?

In terms of how a column like this works, does it add much in drive space requirement? or is it just a "reflection" of the authors column that will sort alphabetically by the actual content of the field?

It does appear to be solving my problem of it taking too long to compare a directory to calibre

@Inferno - Columns built from other columns (virtual columns) are created as needed from the source column(s), hence changes is the source column(s) are immediately reflected in the virtual columns.

Test: show the Author and the Author Alpha columns in the book list, F2 on an Author cell, change it, hit enter, the new value will be reflected in the Author Alpha column.

The disk space is trivial. A few hundred bytes in the database for the virtual column and view definitions, similarly in the metadata_db_prefs_backup.json file.

BR

[Inferno]

Great. I have not looked into what is in each of the individual book opf files. I guess I need to at some point lol.

It works great. Makes it easier to find title/author swapped files.

[kakt36]

I'd like the following to be optionally determined by the view:
- What categories are shown/hidden
- Whether tag browser, cover browser, cover grid and book details are shown/hidden.

[lazorbeam]

My library view upon opening has recently changed and I can't figure out why. Anyone else experience this?

I'm using View Manager to sort books by most recently modified. That is still working; the books sort by that order. However, upon opening Calibre, my library view opens halfway down the list of books rather than at the top of the page with the first book title. It's moving to a highlighted book, but I don't know why this book is selected. It suddenly started happening and I don't recall it coinciding with any updates.

If I disable View Manager, my library auto sorts itself by some random column but it does open to the first book title.

Anyone know if their is some updated setting I need to adjust? It's not the hugest deal but I'd prefer it to function as intended as it did previously since it's such a useful plug-in. Thanks!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by lazorbeam

It's moving to a highlighted book, but I don't know why this book is selected.

Highlighted in what sense - something other than it being the 'current' book?

I use View Manager - pretty much as you describe and I've not had any surprises - yet

Also what version of calibre and plugin do you use?

Added :

Originally Posted by lazorbeam

If I disable View Manager, my library auto sorts itself by some random column but it does open to the first book title.

You can control that with Preferences->Tweaks->sort_columns_at_startup

But that's unlikely to be the problem

Did you try uninstalling the PI and reinstalling - you'd have to set up your views again

BR

[lazorbeam]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Highlighted in what sense - something other than it being the 'current' book?

I use View Manager - pretty much as you describe and I've not had any surprises - yet

Also what version of calibre and plugin do you use?

BR

I believe it's the "current" book. It's highlighted in blue and is displayed in the right-side book details panel.

I am using Calibre 2.7 and plugin version 1.31.

ACTUALLY - was just checking now for more info and I think it's related to Virtual Libraries? I have my Calibre set to open to a VLibrary. I just removed this setting and Calibre opened to the top book. Added the VLibrary back and my problem was recreated.

It seems the VLibrary setting is affecting this but I recall running both of these just fine together before this glitch started without me making changes. Thoughts? Thanks for responding.

Just saw your edit - yeah, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the plugin a few times trying to figure it out. It remembers my settings though.

I have set a tweak for that. It was trial and error and I don't think it's right which is why i use the VManager.
# Specify columns to sort the booklist by on startup

sort_columns_at_startup = ['date_modified', 1]

[BetterRed]

FWIW - I also have a starting VL - Oh, I asked what you meant by 'highlighted' because I thought it might have something to do with Marked books and Excluded duplicates - but I didn't want to ask a leading question.

First thing is backup your library.

The View settings are in the library database, you can see them in the metadata_db_prefs_backup.json file in the library - look for "library_view books view state" - you'll need a 'real' editor, which basically means not Notepad (well at least its better than edlin )

You could try deleting that block from that json file and rebuilding the database via the Library Maintenance->Restore database. Before doing that though I would clean up any anomalies by running a calibredb — check-library - I prefer the command line version because I can get a CSV to work from.

Or you could try this : create an empty library and Copy a subset of your books into it with same custom columns. Then create the same VL's and Views in the new library and check it out. If you don't get the same problem then, delete the all books from that new library, and then Move all your books to the new library. Why - well, any books that remain in the old library need looking into, they are stranded books that need rescuing

BR

[lazorbeam]

JSON DID IT.

I was writing about how I appreciated the instructions but was sad to say that I failed and then I had a lightning bolt on the json stuff and I DID IT.

If you're curious (and because I already typed this), I went with option two first since it seemed more basic. I created a new library with copied structure so the virtual libs and view manager details carried over. I then copied over a number of books with various last mod dates including the erroneous highlighted book. Happily, in the new library these books sorted from the top - however, looking closer, they all had the same last mod date, 11/6 (today), from copying them over. So not a fix for this specific problem.

SOLUTION: I ended up just deleting the entire "library_view books view state" section you indicated in the json file and replacing the original file and that did it. I checked it multiple times after closing out in different VLs with different sorts going on and it sorted per view manager each time. Interesting however is that, for just a moment, I see that book it was reverting to in the book details pane before view manager overrides it. Weird.

But it's fixed and I learned some things about creating new libraries and json, so thank you very much for your assistance.

[JimmXinu]

There's been a calibre change (in 2.10) that requires changes to some of the plugins to correctly support keyboard shortcuts. Specifically, plugins that change their menus dynamically.

I've been in touch with kiwidude, he doesn't have time right now to work on correcting these issues. But he has given the go-ahead for us (the PI dev community) to update them.

Attached is a version of this plugin I've updated. I've done some testing with it on calibre 2.10, 2.9 and 1.48 and it seems good. I'd like to hear if anybody has problems with it.

Confirmation that it fixes the shortcut issue for you would also be appreciated.