Thread: [GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities
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Old 08-10-2021, 07:50 AM   #2280
davidfor
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Posts: 24,905
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos
Quote:
Originally Posted by targosh View Post
Thanks David. You're doing a great job with this plugin anyways so I don't wanna ask for too much. If I knew how to write code/plugin I'd help. However I noticed in the Kobo database that the record for time spent reading is stored in it but not in the book metadata. Is that what you are refering to? I'm not sure why this would have issues with accuracy but I thought that storing this information in the Kobo database and not in the metadata actually helps with info for multiple devices. Anyways, hope you have time to implement it the way you think is best.
The time reading is actually stored in two places. There table called "Events" which stores all sorts of information about what happens as you use the device. For books, it stores details about when you open and close the book, how long you are reading for each time, how often you use the dictionary and even how many page turns you do. A lot of this is stored in a blob which I do not know how to decode. Some of this is synced, some isn't.

There are some easier to see columns for time spent reading and when the book was opened elsewhere in the database. This does not appear to be synced. It is effectively the time spent reading a book on the current device. If you read on multiple devices, there isn't really a way to tell what the total time taken is. (Get 10 minutes from one device, then 10 minutes from another. Then, when you plugin in a device, it now has 20 minutes. Without recording each time period and which device it came from, there is no way to know if that is a new 20 minutes, or includes one of the earlier records.)

The accuracy of the time recorded has been questioned by plenty of people in the Kobo forum. It's been a while since I bothered to work it out. But, a simple issue is that it includes time when you aren't actually looking at the device. That includes the time between putting the device down and it going to sleep. I have the sleep timer set to 15 minutes. That is frequently triggered, but, it is included in the time the device records for reading. And has been particularly bad while the Olympics was on. I'd be reading in front of the TV, look up to watch an event, and come back when I notice the ereader screen flash as it sleeps. It meant lots of extra time when I wasn't actually reading.

The other part is simply the code needed. It needs a new column, plus all the checks to make sure it is updated correctly. I cleaned this up earlier in the year, so it won't be that bad, but it still takes time. And adding it also prompts the question about what other stats, useful or otherwise, can be extracted. Adding this has been in the back of my mind, but, so far I have been able to convince myself it is not something I am interested in
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