[Merischino]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Are you talking about "send to device" in calibre, or some other means?

I have not figured out how/if "send to device" has any meaning in an iphone environment. Here's what I do to get a calibre library item onto my device:
1. Import/add the epub (in 90% of cases. 9% of cases it's a .lit file, 1% or less it's a rtf or pdf or doc file which I import, convert into epub etc. my ideal end state is a calibre library consisting entirely of epub files.)
2. Edit any metadata such that I have cover art for all works that were ever published with a cover, or such that I have added a relevant image (e.g., famous painting or illustration or photograph related to the author or work) to those items such as short stories that never had an actual cover
3. Ensure that the Author's name is identitical to other entries from that author in the library. (e.g., Jane Austen appears in all instances in the library as "Jane Austen" in that order without punctuation in both the "author" and "author sort" fields)
4. "Save to disk" assuming that this in some way associates the corrected metadata with the existing epub file
5. On the device (my iphone 3GS) I open Stanza, go to the "Get Books" page, go to where it says "Computers sharing books", click on my computer (which is sharing books if Calibre is running) click on ""Books in Calibra (on "computername") and then navigate to the book I'd like to download to my device.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Since "considerable" means different things to different people (some think my library of 2500 ebooks is insane, some think it's pathetically small), I ought to ask you right up front how many books you're talking about.

Ok. I have been working with about 52 authors representing 31 series and about 296 distinct works of fiction in order to learn and understand how Calibre works, before adding *all* my digital files into Calibre. This library represents a tiny percentage of my total library. The two largest author collections in what HAS been imported into library are 105 works for one author, and 86 works for the other. In many instances for each of these authors, what is reflected as a "book" in the calibre library is a short story or novella which, understandably, has little in the way of downloadable metadata. In other instances with just these two authors, the works are members of a series, and not just a trilogy but a series with anywhere from 3 to 5 to 15 to 24 items in that series.

I have put considerable time over the last 2 months into updating and completing each record (work, book, item, whatever you want to call it) with the complete correct and standardized author name, author sort name, series title, series number, cover art, and summary/description. No matter what I do, I cannot get "Jane Austen" to sort in all instances (or even half of the instances where Jane Austen occurs in the library) In either what could be called a "J" spot in the library, or in what could be called an "A" spot in the library. So, in a library with Herman Melville and Jane Austen and Edgar Rice Burroughs and Mary Shelley and Theodore Huxley, I get a sort that looks like this:

Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Mary Shelley
Theodore Huxley
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Jane Austen
Mary Shelley
Theodore Huxley
Jane Austen
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Herman Melville


Where there appears to be exactly no rhyme or reason for the failure of calibre to sort alphabetically on either the last or the first name, because in no case are J entries being followed only by items later in the alphabet, nor to "a" items precede other alphabetical items, and neither the J items nor the A items group together.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

There is no way it should be that hard. It shouldn't take you 2 minutes, let alone 2 months.

For starters, what format are your files in?

Epub, primarily

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

There are some format quirks (mostly with PDF, the format of the beast) which might be involved here.

I avoid pdf's like the plague when dealing with electronic formats intended for reading purposes on any device

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I deal mostly with epubs. I just import the book, do a quick check on the existing metadata, add my tags, and I'm done. I've never had a problem sorting by author; it's just a matter of clicking the "author" column header. If I'm misunderstanding you and you're referring to sorting on your device, or if this just isn't working for you, please correct me.

Nope. What you are describing is what I am wanting. I haven't even gotten to using or wanting anything library-related on my device. I just am trying to get the Calibre Library, within the Calibre software, on my Computer, to function as advertised. Your article (thank you for posting it) talks about leaving the Calibre library's source files alone. I would have no problem with that if I weren't engaged in an investigation into what the $*@#$*#$* Calibre does when it writes information into its own file structure. Because it MUST be doing something utterly @#$*#* up if it can't sort by Author Name for its life. Pardon my French. I posted about what I found there when I went to Calibre Library's source/save folders only because it was indeed just such a mess that would indicate something is seriously wrong. I do not, have not, and would not intend to both expend energy on using Calibre's gui AND go mess about in its file structure. Becasue to do so would be stupid and futile. That said, using Calibre to manage my library, these last 2 months leading up to my "peeking into the calibre file structure" has proven to be.... hate to be so harsh, stupid and futile.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

There is something seriously whacked here. I've never had a problem sorting on any category; I don't think anyone else has either. I have a bad feeling I'm misunderstanding the problem.

Yes, something here is seriously whacked. That's why I came here to post.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

There's a "series" field for that purpose. It can auto-number all books in a series, or you can choose not to do this, in case (for example) you have a non-contiguous part of a series.

In my case, I find that adding series information works only for that one instance where I am in Calibre entering that information. Once I quit Calibre and come back to it another time another day, that information is all whacked and either missing or corrupt.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

That one you're going to have to ask the iPhone people about; my Sony PRS-505 handles it as collections -- in fact, I've had to turn off making collections from series as it caused the number of collections to get way out of hand.

I think once this is working reliably in Calibre, either Stanza or GoodReader or Both could handle reflecting the information in the calibre database. It's not really different for an iphone vs. another device.... the software out there has the power to handle collections assuming the data in the db is correct.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

That's easy: Just convert the book to itself. That is, if it's in epub format (for example), convert epub to epub. That will update the book's internal metadata. Understand, however, that some book formats provide for more, or different, metadata than others. You're not going to have much luck trying to add metadata to a text file, for instance. (edit: once you've done this, if you want the udpated file to use for other purposes, use "save to disk" to export the book(s) you need to wherever you need them)

Ok. This is why I think there is something seriously wrong with my installation of Calibre. I have done that. I put all 52 authors (in my sub-collection of 296 works) into Calibre using either an original epub format or an original lit format for about 90% of them. A few of the more rare works came in a .doc or a .rtf format and had to be converted, but I did that so that when adding metadata to my files I did so in all instances by adding metadata to existing epub files. When I was done, I ensures that all files were epub, then I converted first to epub, then to lit. (because GoodReader doesn't do epub, and because Stanza may do lit but prefers epub). I had no interest in maintaining other formats so did not re-convert into .rtf or .doc files.

When that didn't work, I spend days laboring on metadata collection again, and then instead of converting to epub, the second time around I chose "Save to Disk" and maneuvered the save location to be the hard drives Calibre db location. Now, "Save to Disk" provides a number of different (to me, esoteric) options such as "save to disk"-no further description, "save to disk in a single folder" and 3 more. I have not discovered where the documentation is that explains when/why you would choose one over another, and it's quite likely that the huge duplication of files in the calibre db when I got there is because my "save to disk" choices were not the good ones. But, if you are dealing with a 300 item database which represents only a tiny fraction of your total digital library, having upwards of 32 records for each and every book in your library is not something to just wave away. It could represent a huuge and costly waste of storage real estate.

I would like to use Calibre the way it was meant to be used. And, I'd like to do that for a considerably large library ie a library of a size you would find in a building marked with the stone sign "library" on the front of it.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The calibre library needs to have a big blinking neon sign on it saying "NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE!!!!" Never mind what it does with its folders; just pretend they're not there at all.

Heard and understood.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Stop trying to use calibre to manage files; that's not what it's for. Use it to manage books. If calibre wants to have quadruplicate files, let it. Don't try to mess with their metadata. You'll break something.

I am uninterested in using calibre to manage files. What I am interested in doing, is ensuring that all my digital files are in the same 1 or 2 formats, giving them over to Calibre to manage, and then freeing up my active/running computer HD space by deleting the source files used and leaving it so that the source files are stored elsewhere offline. If anything is desired to be read online either on the computer or on a device, it is done using Calibre Library in concert with whatever device software works well with Calibre. Once Calibre is working as it should, there should be no reason why anyone should touch the structure Calibre uses to perform its magic.

I just can't seem to get to a place where Calibre reliably and understandably performs even the assumedly simple function of sorting by author alphabetically.

Michele
PS Please forgive me if my tone is that of a frustrated wretch. I don't mean to sound like that... but I'm kind of a frustrated wretch......