Issue with Calibre 0.7.1 & Kindle 2.5.2

[Steven_m64]

It is possible, just requires a annoying method to force it to update on the kindle.

[kwharrigan]

AFAIK, Already done via editing the collections.json and restarting the device. Annoying, but effective in bulk and better than using the jog dial approach.

Originally Posted by guiyoforward

hi, anyone know if there's been progress on this - i.e. Calibre-PC side creation of collecitons? thanks!

[eboyhan]

Presumably with the KDK (if it ever gets released) you could write a kindle app that would update the collections.json file from info maintained on Calibre, and then programmatically cause a restart -- still clumsy, but almost practical. You could also have an app to deliver the collections.json file info to Calibre for storage and display -- I don't know yet whether kindle app invocation could be instituted from the pc-side of the usb connection or not.

[collection]

I use the Kindle mainly for research which involves a lot of pdfs. As the non-existing file management of the Kindle is frustrating I looked into creating a small script that replicates my directory structure as collections. As this thread was a good starting point it is only fair to share the result. You can find the python script here, feel free to use it however you want.

[0x0x]

Is the script (KindleForResearch.py) gone? I would like to have a look.

[collection]

Originally Posted by 0x0x

Is the script (KindleForResearch.py) gone? I would like to have a look.

I am sorry, this is the link. http://bit.ly/9dQZbe

[stacyk]

Here's a script based on the pdf one above - that uses the metadata.calibre file to generate collections based on the authors & series.
http://gist.github.com/586965

[stacyk]

I turned the previous python script into a webpage
for any less technical readers.

http://calibrekindlecollections.appspot.com

Warning: This does not work for azw files (books from Amazon), because they don't use the same Id scheme as mobi or pdf files. They can be in your library, but they won't show up in the generated collection.

Let me know if you want any changes or have problems..

[joabsa]

Modified stacyk's python script to include tags for collection creation. Uploaded it to github at
joabsa/calibrekindlecollections

Hope you find it useful

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by joabsa

Modified stacyk's python script to include tags for collection creation. Uploaded it to github at
joabsa/calibrekindlecollections

Hope you find it useful

How is this supposed to be used?

[joabsa]

1.Make sure you have python 2.6 installed on your system.
2.Copy CalibreKindleCollections.py to the kindle folder
3. Open a terminal window (OSX,l linux. cmd.exe for Windows)
4. change the directory for the terminal window to the kindle folder
5. type the following and press enter
python2.6 CalibreKindleCollections.py
6. eject Kindle
7. restart/reboot Kindle

[mornington]

I've just generalised and extended the previous script a bit more to take proper care of Kindle collections.

The attached version does the following by default:

1) Creates collections from all of your authors who have at least 4 books

2) Creates collections from all tags which start with a dash (-) character

3) Cleans out any files from collections where the file is not on the kindle (or has been changed or moved from where it was when it was added to the kindle)

4) Deletes any empty collections from the kindle

All of the above activities can be switched off using command-line switches, which can also be used to *enable* creating collections based on your series (I switched this off by default as personally I prefer not to do this en masse).

There's also a command-line switch to decide whether to update your existing collections or to recreate them from scratch based solely on the data in calibre (warning: The latter will remove all pre-existing collections and create new ones based *just* on what's in calibre).

There are a few config options at the head of the python file, to define minimum thresholds for each collection type and standard prefixes for collection names of each type. Those can be edited to define your own personal preferences.


The simplest way to use the script under Windows is to download and install Python v2.6, copy the script to the root folder of your Kindle and then just double-click the script file. If you want to add command-line switches, open a command-line prompt first.

Before running this script (or the earlier ones on this thread for that matter) make sure that your kindle contains the up to date metadata from your calible. The simplest way to do this is to set "Metadata Management" in Calibre to "Automatic management" (in Preferences -> Sending books to devices) and then exit calibre completely and then start it up again (or, alternatively, disconnect your kindle and then re-connect it). That will force calibre to send its current metadata to the kindle.

[mornington]

Oh, the python code in my revised script probably isn't the most efficient/elegant possible, since this is the first time I've ever attempted to write anything in Python.

[mornington]

Ack, forgot to mention: The same caveats apply to this script as to the other versions.

Specifically: After running the script, you *must* restart your kindle in order to see the changes to your collections.

[mornington]

Oh. One other thing:

If you have any books which are in Calibre and on your Kindle but which are not assigned to a specific collection then the revised script automatically gathers them up into a single collection named "- Miscellany".

This is basically just to help tidy up the home page of the Kindle when viewing in "Collections" mode.

As an aid to viewing in "sort by title" mode, all collections created by the script start, by default, with a dash then a space at the front of the collection name. This lists them neatly at the head of the "sorted by titles" listing. The precise prefix to use (which can be blank, if you don't want a prefix at all) can be set with the prefixTYPE variables at the start of the script.

I think that's everything now.