Setting meta data with ebook_meta.

[krischik]

Hi,

I set some meta data - --index --series to be precise -on a bunch of books in my library. Which works fine.

Only calibre seem to read the meta data only from it internal database so it won't notice the changes.

"Read meta data" only tries to read the meta data from some external source. No help as well.

Looks like a missing feature to me.

Martin

[krischik]

Even worse, if you export the file the meta data is rewritten to the content of the database.

So a simple export / re-import won't fix the problem as well.

[kovidgoyal]

That's the way its designed to work. calibre is not going ot rescan all the books in the library each time it runs looking for updated metadata. If you want to change the metadata in the database use the calibredb command.

[krischik]

Now I am confused. Since I use a script to set the meta date the logical next workaround would be: export, re-set meta data, re-import.

But this does not work. ebook-meta can not change the meta data of the exported files:

>ebook-meta --index=2355 Perry\ Rhodan\ Nr.\ 2355\ -\ Pabel\ Moewig\ Verlag.epub
Original-Metadaten::
	Title               : Perry Rhodan Nr. 2355
	Author(s)           : Pabel Moewig Verlag [Verlag, Pabel Moewig]
	Publisher           : KEP
	Book Producer       : calibre (0.6.33) [http://calibre-ebook.com]
	Tags                : Perry Rhodan, Science-Fiction
	Series              : PRZ34-TERRANOVA #56
	Language            : UND
	Rating              : 8
	Timestamp           : 2009-05-31 16:40:14
	Published           : 2009-05-31 16:40:14

Ge?nderte Metadaten::
	Title               : Perry Rhodan Nr. 2355
	Author(s)           : Pabel Moewig Verlag [Verlag, Pabel Moewig]
	Publisher           : KEP
	Book Producer       : calibre (0.6.33) [http://calibre-ebook.com]
	Tags                : Perry Rhodan, Science-Fiction
	Series              : PRZ34-TERRANOVA #56
	Language            : UND
	Rating              : 8
	Timestamp           : 2009-05-31 16:40:14
	Published           : 2009-05-31 16:40:14

[krischik]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That's the way its designed to work. calibre is not going ot rescan all the books in the library each time it runs looking for updated metadata. If you want to change the metadata in the database use the calibredb command.

I fully understand that you won't rescan all the time. Performance would be horrible, users upset. But a "Reread" menu item or button would be nice.

Anyway I have a look at calibredb to see if it helps.

Thanks

Martin

[kovidgoyal]

You can do it individually in the edit meta information dialog, but not globally.

[krischik]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You can do it individually in the edit meta information dialog, but not globally.

Now that you mention it I found the function. I guess a

ebook-meta --to-opf
calibredb set_metadata

will do the trick. Just need a little regex magic to extract the ID from the pathname.

Thanks for your help

Martin