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kiwidude · 06-22-2012, 03:58 PM

Changes in this release:

Now requires calibre 0.8.57
Store configuration in the calibre library database rather than a json file, to allow reuse from different computers (not simultaneously!)
Add a support option to the configuration dialog allowing viewing the plugin data stored in the database
Add an option to allow automatic removal of binary duplicates (does not delete books records, only the newest copies of that format).

I've got a number of plugin updates that will be released today based around calibre 0.8.57, taking advantage of a new feature to store plugin settings inside the calibre library. The benefit of this is for users that store their library in a shared network location and use calibre from multiple machines (though never at the same time - that limitation hasn't changed!). Your plugin configuration settings which are specific to each library (such as custom column names, book exemptions, reading lists etc) will be automatically kept in sync when calibre is next opened on each machine.

Specifically for this plugin it means any duplicate exemptions you configure for books and authors do not have to be repeated on each machine you open the library on.

The other addition to this plugin is a feature that has been requested a number of times over the last x months. When you do a Binary Compare using this plugin, it is not possible to see in the calibre gui which of the formats actually are duplicates of each other in the situation where each of the books in the group have multiple formats associated. So if Book A has EPUB, MOBI, PDF and book 2 has EPUB and MOBI, you couldn't tell if it was the EPUB, MOBI or both that were found as binary identical in that group (without opening each folder and comparing file sizes manually).

You now have a checkbox on the plugin dialog which allows the plugin to automatically remove the duplicate format(s) for you. Note this does not delete the book records in your database - just all but one of the duplicate formats and physical files. It chooses the book record that is the oldest in your library within that group to keep the format for.

So with this option enabled and the example above, if the EPUB was a binary duplicate and book 1 was the first copy created in your library, then the results will leave you with book 1 having the EPUB, MOBI and PDF formats, and book 2 having just the MOBI. If the MOBI was also a binary duplicate of book 1, then it would be left with no formats.

You can then resolve the duplicate groups in the usual manner - either merging the records, or deleting the books with no formats.

Some of you may ask why not completely delete the book if it has no formats? The answer is because you might have other metadata on that book record which you want to keep. There is no guarantee that the "oldest" version of a book duplicate is the one that should be kept - for instance you might have added a "Read" tag/custom column and it happened to be set on the newer record. Or perhaps you downloaded metadata and a nice cover for the newer record, not realising your older one existed. The approach I have taken ensures no important data is lost if you enable this option, and leaves the decisions about whether to merge/which direction or delete entirely up to you.

06-22-2012, 03:58 PM	#235
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,733 Karma: 2197770 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	v1.3.0 Released Changes in this release: Now requires calibre 0.8.57 Store configuration in the calibre library database rather than a json file, to allow reuse from different computers (not simultaneously!) Add a support option to the configuration dialog allowing viewing the plugin data stored in the database Add an option to allow automatic removal of binary duplicates (does not delete books records, only the newest copies of that format). I've got a number of plugin updates that will be released today based around calibre 0.8.57, taking advantage of a new feature to store plugin settings inside the calibre library. The benefit of this is for users that store their library in a shared network location and use calibre from multiple machines (though never at the same time - that limitation hasn't changed!). Your plugin configuration settings which are specific to each library (such as custom column names, book exemptions, reading lists etc) will be automatically kept in sync when calibre is next opened on each machine. Specifically for this plugin it means any duplicate exemptions you configure for books and authors do not have to be repeated on each machine you open the library on. The other addition to this plugin is a feature that has been requested a number of times over the last x months. When you do a Binary Compare using this plugin, it is not possible to see in the calibre gui which of the formats actually are duplicates of each other in the situation where each of the books in the group have multiple formats associated. So if Book A has EPUB, MOBI, PDF and book 2 has EPUB and MOBI, you couldn't tell if it was the EPUB, MOBI or both that were found as binary identical in that group (without opening each folder and comparing file sizes manually). You now have a checkbox on the plugin dialog which allows the plugin to automatically remove the duplicate format(s) for you. Note this does not delete the book records in your database - just all but one of the duplicate formats and physical files. It chooses the book record that is the oldest in your library within that group to keep the format for. So with this option enabled and the example above, if the EPUB was a binary duplicate and book 1 was the first copy created in your library, then the results will leave you with book 1 having the EPUB, MOBI and PDF formats, and book 2 having just the MOBI. If the MOBI was also a binary duplicate of book 1, then it would be left with no formats. You can then resolve the duplicate groups in the usual manner - either merging the records, or deleting the books with no formats. Some of you may ask why not completely delete the book if it has no formats? The answer is because you might have other metadata on that book record which you want to keep. There is no guarantee that the "oldest" version of a book duplicate is the one that should be kept - for instance you might have added a "Read" tag/custom column and it happened to be set on the newer record. Or perhaps you downloaded metadata and a nice cover for the newer record, not realising your older one existed. The approach I have taken ensures no important data is lost if you enable this option, and leaves the decisions about whether to merge/which direction or delete entirely up to you.