Quote:
Originally Posted by BetterRed
@chaley - unsurprisingly I handle Pen-names via my Authors library.
I link the author's different pen names in my Books library to a common record in the Authors library (usually their real name) - e.g. J.K. Rowling and Peter Galbraith to Joanne Rowling.
And now that I've replaced the 'show-book' links I had in the Author Link field with 'book-details' links I only switch to the Authors library if I need to add an author, add info for an author (e.g. a link to an op-ed column), otherwise the Author book-details popup (including a search to concatenated pen-names) has all I need.
BR
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I was 99% sure this is what you do but I didn't want to speak for you. I also think you do the same thing for publisher imprints and possibly series.
You mention a "search to concatenated pen-names" in your authors entry. I assume this is text for a search for all the items (pen names) that you manually maintain, ignoring any multiple-library differences. I wondered if there was a way to eliminate this manual maintenance, and if this "way" could work for any column, not just authors.
To that end I modified the action chain script from a few posts up to work on a column/cell basis. When run, the script determines the column of the current selected cell (authors, publisher, series, custom columns, ???), finds all the values in that column with the same link as the items in the current cell, then generates a search for those values. It should generate the same search as you maintain in your authors entry but without the manual maintenance.
To use it, import the action into action chains and give the new action a keyboard shortcut. When you want to do the search, select the desired cell (mouse, keyboard) then activate the shortcut. It will generate and execute the search. If there is a problem then it puts the error text in the search bar.
NB: this action chain doesn't require using multiple libraries. The only requirement is that if items are related then their item link fields contain the same value. Probably the most useful values are calibre links to show a book or open a book details window, but it could be an external link. For example, it will work with @jecilop's scheme if the pen names link fields contain a link the the "_Pen" book for the real name.