Plugboard, template, and custom composite column recipes

[crissman]

I was trying to cheat Thanks Chaley and Davidfor.

I was hoping that creating a column that acted like tags, so the Kobo Touch driver would accept it. It did not accept the kindle collection column that I have which used "Column built from other columns" and noticed that the Kobo Touch requires a column based on tags.

I got excited that it actually worked sort of. I was hoping there was just something small I missed.

Any ideas on a workaround for this?

Only thing I can think of, is if there is a way to ignore the comma or combine the authors name into one column "Stephanie Landsem" and then combine that with the series name to achieve the desired "Stephanie Landsem - The Living Water" but then it would sort it by "S" rather then the "L" once on the Kobo.

[davidfor]

You don't have to use tag-like columns in the KoboTouch driver. You can use just about any type of column, including "Column built from other columns". And you can use more than one column if you separate the names with a comma.

If the column used for the Kindle isn't working, something else is going on. Can you show the configuration you had?

[crissman]

It is the same as for the Kobo collection with the except of column built from other columns.

Lookup Name: kindle_collections
Column Heading:Kindle Collections
Column Type: Column built from other columns
Template: {author_sort}{series:| - |}

The column is generated fine in calibre showing "Lansem, Stephanie - The Living Water" when using the kindle_collection recipe just changing the names from kindle to kobo, but when the books are transfered to the kobo there are no collections created just the books transferred.

I have put "kobo_collections" in the kobo touch driver and it didn't work, I also tried just using the kindle_collection, with the same results. I also tried disabling the kobo touch driver and installing the kobo touch extended and entering the same information. Nada!

Including all the restarts and all that for both the kobo and calibre. Also just a side note when I look at the device (library) via calibre the collection field is empty.

While playing around trying to get this to work, I was removing some books from the Kobo using calibre to remove files from device and I noticed that the Path is f:\Rollins, James\Sandstorm - Rollins, James.kepub.epub is this normal to have two extentions? the format is listed as epub.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by crissman

It is the same as for the Kobo collection with the except of column built from other columns.

Lookup Name: kindle_collections
Column Heading:Kindle Collections
Column Type: Column built from other columns
Template: {author_sort}{series:| - |}

The column is generated fine in calibre showing "Lansem, Stephanie - The Living Water" when using the kindle_collection recipe just changing the names from kindle to kobo, but when the books are transfered to the kobo there are no collections created just the books transferred.

I have put "kobo_collections" in the kobo touch driver and it didn't work, I also tried just using the kindle_collection, with the same results. I also tried disabling the kobo touch driver and installing the kobo touch extended and entering the same information. Nada!

Including all the restarts and all that for both the kobo and calibre. Also just a side note when I look at the device (library) via calibre the collection field is empty.

I have just tested the above column definition and it is working correctly.

The two easy possibilities are that you missed the "#" when for the column name in the driver configuration. They should be specified as "#kobo_collections" or "#kindle_collections". The other is that "Metadata management" has to be set to automatic for collection management to happen. This is on the "Sending books to device" page of the preferences.

If those are correct, then something else is happening. I would need to see a debug log to get an idea of what is happening.

[crissman]

Checked both those situations already, Metadata management is set to automatic.

I just finished a factory reset on the Kobo, and uninstalled the Kobo Touch Extended Driver as it looked like it was giving some conflicts with the double extensions. Even though I had it disabled

Restarted Calibre, created a NEW column with the same configurations but called it collections and then put #collections into the kobo touch driver

Volia it is now working

Thanks Davidfor

[nadinedee]

Hi, Under Connect Share, I am connecting to a folder. i want to put the series name into the title when I click on Send to Device.

I have created a plugin AND changed the Template to show:

{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}

When I click on send to device the default is showing.

I tested by creating a column with the same code and this works correctly.

Am I missing something? How do I make it look at what I have put and not use the default.

OR seen as though the column I created called My Series" works correctly, how do I use that instead as a template?

thanks

[eschwartz]

What do you have listed as the device type in your metadata plugboard?

"any device" or "FOLDER_DEVICE" should both work -- the first is a more generic solution.

[nadinedee]

I used FOLDER_DEVICE with the format of any

It works in the save to disk function.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nadinedee

Hi, Under Connect Share, I am connecting to a folder. i want to put the series name into the title when I click on Send to Device.

It sounds like you want the series in the file name. Plugboards have no effect on file names. Change the template used to create file names in the Folder Device driver. Connect to the folder, click on the down arrow next to the Device icon, and choose Configure this device.

[nadinedee]

Too easy!! I knew I was missing something.

Thank you :-)

[eschwartz]

Aha!
It helps to mention as many details.

"title" is a metadata element that can also be used for shaping filenames.
Important distinction.

[jbaumann]

Hi,

I would like to put PDF documents into a folder named PDF and all other books into a folder Books (not very inventive, but ok...).

How do I get the actual format of the book that is copied to the reader? I tried, in a first step, to use {formats}, but that obviously contained all formats of the book in the library and not only the format that is sent to the reader.

My current filename template is:

{formats}/{author_sort} - {series}{series_index:0>2s| | - }{title}

Thanks a lot for any pointers.

Cheers, Joe

[chaley]

Originally Posted by jbaumann

Hi,

I would like to put PDF documents into a folder named PDF and all other books into a folder Books (not very inventive, but ok...).

How do I get the actual format of the book that is copied to the reader? I tried, in a first step, to use {formats}, but that obviously contained all formats of the book in the library and not only the format that is sent to the reader.

My current filename template is:

{formats}/{author_sort} - {series}{series_index:0>2s| | - }{title}

Thanks a lot for any pointers.

Cheers, Joe

You can't get there using templates. The template system knows about information in the book, not why the template is being evaluated. For example it does not know what format is being written, or even if a format is being written.

You can do it if the calibre device driver for your device supports specifying a destination per extension (format). The two drivers I know of with that support are the MTP and wireless device drivers.

[jbaumann]

Moderator Notice
Discussions on this moved to the [GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities thread

Hi,

since I'm using the KoboTouch driver there is no differentiation regarding the extension. What I did is the following:

{formats:'contains($, "PDF", "PDF", "Books")'}/{author_sort} - {series}{series_index:0>2s| | - }{title}

Since I have PDF files only as a fallback if I have no EPUB (and for those scientific articles), I can safely assume that if the list of book formats contains PDF then there is no other usable format. So I simply decide on that where to place the respective book...

Btw., I have the impression that with this change the KoboUtilities plug-in doesn't work correctly, but I have to follow up on that.

Cheers and thanks, Joe

[ellacharmed]

Hi.
Can I check with you guys if any recent Calibre updates have made the script (chaley's) in post#552 to no longer work, or am I missing something in my workflow?

It used to work, but today the "complexseries" custom field didn't get populated after step#4 below. And the books I added today are part of a series.

This is what I normally do when I add new books:

1. add books to Calibre
2. edit metadata fields
3. quit calibre and run chaley's script
4. file named "script.txt" and I run from terminal with following commands
   

   cd /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS 
   ./calibre-debug -e script.txt;

   I did make the changes to the 2 lines (to my calibre library path and the actual column name for the complex field)
5. restart calibre and hook up my Kobo Aura, and then send the newly added books to device

The change that happen today was I was prompted about a calibre update and I ran that and it seems to have remove the script from the MacOS path, so I just copied over the copy from my Docs. But the script didn't appear to have worked as the column didn't get populated. Is there an error log from Terminal I can check to see what actually happen when the script was triggered (there's no error message)

So, what did I miss or did wrongly?
I pretty much copy+pasted all the suggestions on this thread to make it work before, and edited it to how I wanted.

If someone could shed some light on how I can troubleshoot further? It'd be a great help...

ps: the last time it worked, according to my last added book was on Jun 29th.