Thanks so much for this thorough reply, Jim!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
This is mostly good, but there are some additional nuances.
How timestamp, pubdate and last_modified appear can be customized in Calibre Preferences > Tweaks > "Control how dates are displayed". I suspect that the default appearances are based on locale, but I could be wrong.
All three are internally stored with time as well as date. So tweaking the appearance may reveal previous stored, but hidden timestamp precision.
|
This is very good to know. I confess that after getting back to using calibre after not using it in years, I haven't thoroughly explored all the features and have forgotten about some of them (and some are new since I last used calibre a lot). I hadn't even looked at Tweaks this time around.
Though I went to see about adding day of week to the publication date format and the "Apply" button in tweaks stayed greyed out even after I edited it. Tried editing other Tweaks and had the same issue. Maybe it's a known bug in calibre 6.8.0? Or something is awry on my system that I can't apply/change any Tweaks. Weird.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
That is how Calibre treats timestamp. FFF by default updates timestamp when ever a downloaded book is updated. This can be changed by checking FFF's Config > Standard Columns > Date New Only.
|
Got it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
pubdate can be tweaked to show more precision, no added custom column needed. The column does record time as well as date. Not all FFF supported sites have pubdate with time, but for those that do, it is set in pubdate.
|
Okay, so there's really no reason to add an additional custom column for publication date as it looks like you can even add time to the pubdate format in Tweaks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
I would note that last_modified can change unexpectedly sometimes.
For example, if you have FFF downloaded books with the same author name but from different sites, downloading one may change the author URL for that author name. When that happens, all books with the same author name (even from different sites), will get the new author URL and last_modified reset. Or if a tag is changed in the tag browser, all books with that tag will have last_modified reset.
This is something that surprises Calibre users in general fairly regularly.
|
Oh, this is an excellent point and something I haven't really covered elsewhere in the guide (so far). And I can see how people would easily miss it.
If you change any sort of tag that is used for multiple works (including author names), those works are considered changed/updated. It makes sense! But I can see how folks might miss that. And, as you pointed out, the same holds if FanFicFare does it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
I would emphasize the difference between standard and custom columns more, including the fact custom lookup names all start with # and that the user must create them.
|
I have that covered pretty well elsewhere in the guide, but appreciate you mentioning it (in case I hadn't had that covered). I should probably make it standard within the guide to use the # in front of custom column names when referring to them by column lookup name.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
Again, tweaks for Calibre pubdate. And some sites have time, too.
Updated in FFF also has time on some sites. Easiest way to know which sites is to search in defaults.ini for _format. Created/Packaged always has time.
|
Noted. I'll add the time info to the relevant paragraphs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmXinu
I wouldn't describe this has a 'special column', but as a FFF custom column setting. And it's labeled 'Last Checked Column' under FFF Config > Custom Columns. I assume 'FFF Updated' is your name for the column.
|
I refer to the three FanFicFare columns listed under "Special column" in the "Custom Columns" tab of FFF Config as "special columns" throughout the guide. They're custom columns meant for use with special FanFicFare specific data, I guess? This is all in a section about custom columns. See attached for column names etc.
For consistency I probably should have named "Saved Metadata" with "FFF" at the start of it too, but I figure there's no confusing that custom column for any others I might create whereas there could conceivably be for Updated. Probably not with Errors.