Questions about Tags and sorting

[BookJunkieLI]

My first question is how exactly does Calibre sort the Tags? By that I mean, when in the book list and you click the head of the Tags column what method does it use to sort them because it's not really apparent to me. This is how it sorts the first 24 books in my Library when it's set to ascending sort:

{blank/no tag}
Catalog
Cover
1Sigil, Cover, Gen CSIMiami
Cover, Gen BTVS/HP Crossover
Cover, Slash WC-SPN Crossover
Cover, Gen Harry Potter AU, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen HP/SG1 Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen NCIS Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen HP/NCIS Crossover, Gen NCIS Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter

If it was sorting alphanumerically 1Sigil should be the first tag to be sorted by after the books with no tags. Gen Harry Potter should come before Gen Harry Potter AU and Slash WC-SPN Crossover should by at the bottom of the list.

Second question, is there a way to adjust how it sorts by tag? So that it does sort by proper alphanumeric? using the above tags it should look like the following:

{blank/no tag}
1Sigil, Cover, Gen CSIMiami
Catalog
Cover
Cover, Gen BTVS/HP Crossover
Cover, Gen Harry Potter
Cover, Gen Harry Potter AU, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen HP/SG1 Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen HP/NCIS Crossover, Gen NCIS Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Gen Harry Potter Crossover, Gen NCIS Crossover, Has Chapters
Cover, Slash WC-SPN Crossover

Third, if it won't sort alphanumerically is there a way to 'hide' tags so that they're not included in the sort?

Thanks,

Beth

[chaley]

The tags are stored in what can be considered a random order, and are sorted in that order. Thus, the resulting order of sorting on tags is equally random. However, it is repeatable.

My belief is that the tags are sorted in the order they were added to calibre, not to the books. This isn't much help, though.

If you want known sorting behavior, then you must use single-value columns. The custom text type column is good for this.

[CWatkinsNash]

I was curious about this too. I have noticed that it sorts the tags within the field, but I can't figure it out beyond that.

Off topic but related - I did not know those particular crossovers existed and I will be seeking them out immediately.

Edited to add - I didn't see the post above me before posting. Makes sense.

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Off topic but related - I did not know those particular crossovers existed and I will be seeking them out immediately.

They're on Fanfiction.net - Coffee Shop Special, Return To England(WIP), and Thicker Than BloodRewrite are the HP/NCIS crossovers and The Fifth Member is the HP/SG1 crossover. Haven't read all of them yet but Coffee Shop Special was cute, and Return To England started out promising but I don't think it's been added to in awhile. I went on an epub downloading binge when I found FLAG - F.anfiction L.ightweight A.utomated G.rabber. LOL

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

They're on Fanfiction.net - Coffee Shop Special, Return To England(WIP), and Thicker Than BloodRewrite are the HP/NCIS crossovers and The Fifth Member is the HP/SG1 crossover. Haven't read all of them yet but Coffee Shop Special was cute, and Return To England started out promising but I don't think it's been added to in awhile. I went on an epub downloading binge when I found FLAG - F.anfiction L.ightweight A.utomated G.rabber. LOL

Thanks! I just grabbed most of the ones you listed. I was using FLAG but just started using FanFictionDownloader. It supports more formats which is helpful for me since I have a Kindle. Saves me a conversion step. It also works with a couple of other sites but I pretty much stick to FF.net.

There's so much stuff on FF that I've only just now started browsing the crossovers.

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by chaley

If you want known sorting behavior, then you must use single-value columns. The custom text type column is good for this.

Thanks for the info on sorting, Chaley. I'll have to play with it a bit to see if I can get to do exactly what I want. I've already set columns to tell me if it needs a cover, and whether or not I still need to add chapters so those are no longer cluttering up the tag field. Now I just have to figure out how I want to do a tag-like column. I assume none of these custom columns will appear on my reader?

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Thanks! I just grabbed most of the ones you listed. I was using FLAG but just started using FanFictionDownloader. It supports more formats which is helpful for me since I have a Kindle. Saves me a conversion step. It also works with a couple of other sites but I pretty much stick to FF.net.

There's so much stuff on FF that I've only just now started browsing the crossovers.

Hmm, I'll have to check out FanfictionDownloader. I primarily use my Nook and pretty much everything else I have take epubs so I just use that format.

I alternately hate and love FF because of the excessive amount that's on there and the widely varying degrees of quality. I've found that looking at a favorite author's Favorite list will generally lead me to decent quality stuff that I'll find interesting. That and looking for high word count fics. Mostly that works. Sometimes you get a really wordy author who desperately needs grammar lessons or writing lessons in general.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

I alternately hate and love FF because of the excessive amount that's on there and the widely varying degrees of quality.

I'm the same way with Fanfiction.net. Some real gems, but you have to look for them, and stick with authors that do it for you. Also, I like sorting by size, and only for completed stories.

Although I'm not sure some authors know what a 'complete' story is. "I'm done with it even though it has no plot and I've written them into a corner I can't get them out of, so this is 'complete' because I'm going to abandon it now" isn't my idea of 'complete.

I've been using Graffer. Saves stuff in HTML in one file, and just seems a bit easier than the other programs I've used.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

Hmm, I'll have to check out FanfictionDownloader. I primarily use my Nook and pretty much everything else I have take epubs so I just use that format.

I alternately hate and love FF because of the excessive amount that's on there and the widely varying degrees of quality. I've found that looking at a favorite author's Favorite list will generally lead me to decent quality stuff that I'll find interesting. That and looking for high word count fics. Mostly that works. Sometimes you get a really wordy author who desperately needs grammar lessons or writing lessons in general.

Yeah, I've learned to look for the complete stories with high word counts broken into several chapters. Not too many people will post chapter after chapter if they are getting awful reviews.

I've found a few favorite authors, but they are rarely the most prolific ones so I usually get through their stuff pretty quick. But I love the fact that FF exists, and when I find something amazing it makes sorting through the lower-quality stuff worth it.

[unboggling]

New question on categories: Is there a way to delete (and then re-add if necessary) any of the highest level categories from the tag browser? This would be useful, for example, if user doesn't ever use ratings or news and doesn't want to see those icons taking up space in the tag browser.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by unboggling

New question on categories: Is there a way to delete (and then re-add if necessary) any of the highest level categories from the tag browser? This would be useful, for example, if user doesn't ever use ratings or news and doesn't want to see those icons taking up space in the tag browser.

Do you mean like the right-click "Hide" option that exists on there? I just used that to hide "News". Then you get a menu option "Show all categories" if you want to display it again.

[unboggling]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Do you mean like the right-click "Hide" option that exists on there? I just used that to hide "News". Then you get a menu option "Show all categories" if you want to display it again.

Cool.

[unboggling]

Thx, kiwi

[chaley]

Originally Posted by chaley

The tags are stored in what can be considered a random order, and are sorted in that order. Thus, the resulting order of sorting on tags is equally random. However, it is repeatable.

I submitted a change that sorts the tags in case-insensitive alpha order when they are read from the database. Assuming the change is accepted, tags columns will sort as they visually appear. Note that this is a string sort, meaning that numbers will sort by their characters. Example: the tags 1, 2, 10 will sort 1, 10, 2.

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Yeah, I've learned to look for the complete stories with high word counts broken into several chapters. Not too many people will post chapter after chapter if they are getting awful reviews.

I've found a few favorite authors, but they are rarely the most prolific ones so I usually get through their stuff pretty quick. But I love the fact that FF exists, and when I find something amazing it makes sorting through the lower-quality stuff worth it.

Most of the time that works. Occasionally you get someone who seriously needs an editor but they get all sorts of reviews from people telling them how awesome their work is and they're they best writer evar so they keep churning out crap. Yay.

With authors that you like check out *their* Favorites list in their profile. That will usually lead you to some other decent works you might not have found otherwise.