Quote:
Originally Posted by Gwen Morse
Does this allow you to merge books already added to the database? For example, I have three copies of "Affair" by Amanda Quick, two show up as .zip files and the third as a .lit file. Poking around, I find I have a rocketbook file, a palmdoc file, and that lit file. I'd like to merge these all into one directory. I don't care that this will drop two numbers from the database. I also don't care that those numbers won't be re-used. I'm happy to let Calibre manage my library behind the scenes.
If this option doesn't exist, is it in the works?
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I began working on this option a few weeks ago. I stopped because it had some overlap with the option I wrote to automatically add new books to existing entries, and I wasn't sure if Kovid would implement that option, or if he did, how much it would be changed.
Now that he has added the previous one, I need to understand his changes. Each time he rewrites one of my efforts, I learn a lot. I currently have a "Merge" button and a right click "Merge" option implemented into the interface, and I have it collecting all except the first selected record into a list in a format that's exactly compatible with the way that I merged a new book into an existing record (after I had matched the new book by author title to the existing book). In theory, that's almost there, but I've had to go a step backward, now that Kovid has rewritten some of my code. My "Merge " code is in the 0.6.44 code, while his changes are in 0.6.45, so I need to reconcile the conflicts, fix anything necessary, then add the final steps.
This is all part of my long term project to add features I need to move my library into Calibre. The one prior to the one described here (new book formats sorted into existing records) was the one that locked title/author during metadata fetch. The one before that was the one that split author names at the comma when the author had middle names or initials.
It's great that Kovid has allowed me to add these features to the main code, but in doing so, I've already added three option checkboxes, and "option creep" is a serious concern. I've promised myself I will not add any more option boxes. I'm pretty sure I can implement "Merge existing records" without another option.
As for when you may see it - as usual, it will be done when it's done. I have to study Kovid's improvements on my last code. I learn something each time he rewrites my code, and I try to minimize the effort he has to put in to make my code acceptable. Since he's gone, and I'm not yet back to writing code, just studying and reconciling code, it will probably be a while. Even after I write something that works for me, and send it in, he'll have to review, fix then issue the release.