[AbyssalAriel]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Using add_to_custom_columns_settings under [archiveofourown.org] for that column will only set it for AO3 stories.

I know I need to put it under [archiveofourown.org], but I'm not sure about the syntax, because it's a Yes/No column.

Like, this works fine:

custom_columns_settings:
 ao3categories=>#ao3_category

But wouldn't using this:

custom_columns_settings:
 status=>#completecol

Just try and fail to send the literal text "Completed" or "In-Progress" to completecol? The custom column menu (that applies to all works) seems to ask me to "check" a specific value and decide yes/no based on that, so I wanted to know how to do that inside the ini file.

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

FFF has no way of knowing when you have edited a Calibre custom column vs FFF previously setting it. If you don't want FFF to ever overwrite your changes, the only way with custom_columns_settings is to use the 'n' mode option so it is only used with new books. See the comments in defaults.ini for custom_columns_settings.

If I only set it the column for AO3 stories though, it won't try to overwrite stories from other sources yeses or nos with "undefined" or some other default, right?

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

The only solution that comes to mind is to:

1. Use add_to_extra_valid_entries and include_in_* to create copies of datePublished, dateUpdated and chapterslashtotal so you aren't affecting default processing that use them, plus your new entry, let's call it mergedentry.
2. Use replace_metadata to add the label to each of those copied entries.
3. Use include_in_mergedentry to put them in one list and keep_in_order_mergedentry:true to suppress list sorting.
4. Use join_string_mergedentry:\s|\s to change the separator.

Should be possible using appropriate regexps in replace_metadata on mergedentry_LIST. There was a discussion earlier this month on something similar.

Thank you, I'll give these a try.

Question, does all this stuff get saved along with the other normal story metadata?

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

You are correct, FFF doesn't currently do that. It could (probably) be done, but at the expense of not being able to order the entries in the list.

Given the absolute mess that AO3 tagging is, I'm not very inclined to pursue this. Especially since it would only save one click--click the story link, then you have all the tags links right there.

The positive answer about the underlining means this doesn't matter much to me anymore (you're right, an extra click makes little difference, and the main goal with the links was to get the underlining TBH), but I'm curious about these two things now:

How would this stop ordering entries in the list?

And how does AO3 tagging being a mess affect it? I wasn't talking about using the "canonical" tag names for the links (that would be quite a mess), just pulling them right out of the page. Or even just using the solution you gave me for underlining to wrap the link around it.

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

No. It's been requested and considered more than once and it just doesn't fit into the plugin.

For repetitive testing, I use FFF's CLI with the --save-cache option to cache the pages once and use them over and over. However, officially, that option is undocumented & unsupported.

Aw, that's a shame. What about it doesn't fit in? Phrasing it that way sounds like it's not a technical barrier, and for design philosophy it doesn't seem any conceptually different from updating calibre's metadata using the same saved data column.