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theducks · 03-30-2025, 01:19 PM

"we want it to look (and work) just like our old flat file did"

Calibre is a Relational Database, not a simple flat file.
I peeked with DBbrowser for SQLite.

This is brilliant (I never got past 4th normal form DB work with what I did back in the DOS days) DB structure planning.

Then Chaley added his table tricks (1 being User columns), along with the extra Template stuff. This IS NOT Flat File thinking.

My point is They should specify what they wish to ACOMPLISH, not tell you how to do it. It also helps if you can watch the daily use of the current system to see what actually is involved so you have an idea of where you can include help (lookup) features.

Trying tricks like using {identifiers} to keep track of multiple copies (of the same book) has limits.

Find duplicates will flag multiple lines if you go that route because it only looks at a few fields. That may lead to a improper cleaning

Planning is 100% important to save on High Maintenance (service calls) or frequent complete redo just to add/change a feature.

03-30-2025, 01:19 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,079 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	"we want it to look (and work) just like our old flat file did" Calibre is a Relational Database, not a simple flat file. I peeked with DBbrowser for SQLite. This is brilliant (I never got past 4th normal form DB work with what I did back in the DOS days) DB structure planning. Then Chaley added his table tricks (1 being User columns), along with the extra Template stuff. This IS NOT Flat File thinking. My point is They should specify what they wish to ACOMPLISH, not tell you how to do it. It also helps if you can watch the daily use of the current system to see what actually is involved so you have an idea of where you can include help (lookup) features. Trying tricks like using {identifiers} to keep track of multiple copies (of the same book) has limits. Find duplicates will flag multiple lines if you go that route because it only looks at a few fields. That may lead to a improper cleaning Planning is 100% important to save on High Maintenance (service calls) or frequent complete redo just to add/change a feature.