MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Column related according to the State column

BetterRed · 12-08-2018, 01:03 AM

You will need two Date custom columns, #start/Start and #end/End - but you probably know that. Off hand I can't think of a way to automate updating those columns with current date on change of #state/State, other than writing your own plugin.

FWIW: this is what I'd probably do:

I would position Start, State and End as three adjacent columns in the book list.

When I added a book I would set State to Unread.
When I started a Book I'd press F2 on Start, press '=' to get today's date, Tab into State, select Started, and press Enter.
When I finished a book I'd press F2 on State, selected Finished, Tab into End, press '=' to get today's date and press Enter

Note: I do all metadata editing in the book list and I avoid using the mouse, so the above fits into my usage of calibre. If you prefer using the Metadata Edit windows and clicking things with the mouse the above may not suit.

Added: Maybe you don't need a State column, you could use Rules based on the two dates to set a column icon (or colour) - roughly

If Start and End are not set, then set icon to transparent.png,
If Start is set and End is not set, then set icon to open-book.png,
If Start is set and End is set, then set icon to closed-book.png,
If Start is not set and End is set, then set icon to question-mark.png.

I prefer icons to colours, as it's easier to figure out what they mean. You'll have to download icons - Browse Icon Packs

But you won't get anything in tag browser if you use column icons/colours for the different States. You could create a Saved Search for each combination of Start and End set and not set, they will appear in the Tag Browser.

Or maybe you could make State a column based on other columns and set it in an Advanced template that interrogates the start and end dates. See User-defined template functions

BR

12-08-2018, 01:03 AM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,769 Karma: 30237628 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	You will need two Date custom columns, #start/Start and #end/End - but you probably know that. Off hand I can't think of a way to automate updating those columns with current date on change of #state/State, other than writing your own plugin. FWIW: this is what I'd probably do: I would position Start, State and End as three adjacent columns in the book list. When I added a book I would set State to Unread. When I started a Book I'd press F2 on Start, press '=' to get today's date, Tab into State, select Started, and press Enter. When I finished a book I'd press F2 on State, selected Finished, Tab into End, press '=' to get today's date and press Enter Note: I do all metadata editing in the book list and I avoid using the mouse, so the above fits into my usage of calibre. If you prefer using the Metadata Edit windows and clicking things with the mouse the above may not suit. Added: Maybe you don't need a State column, you could use Rules based on the two dates to set a column icon (or colour) - roughly If Start and End are not set, then set icon to transparent.png, If Start is set and End is not set, then set icon to open-book.png, If Start is set and End is set, then set icon to closed-book.png, If Start is not set and End is set, then set icon to question-mark.png. I prefer icons to colours, as it's easier to figure out what they mean. You'll have to download icons - Browse Icon Packs But you won't get anything in tag browser if you use column icons/colours for the different States. You could create a Saved Search for each combination of Start and End set and not set, they will appear in the Tag Browser. Or maybe you could make State a column based on other columns and set it in an Advanced template that interrogates the start and end dates. See User-defined template functions BR Last edited by BetterRed; 12-08-2018 at 05:01 AM.