Single Click Field Editing

[danwdoo]

I frequently find myself clicking on an eBook to select it in Calibre, and then unintentionally edit the field I had clicked on. Sometimes I don't notice it at first, and so I hit a key before realizing it and change the field's contents by accident. Is there a way to disable this feature? It also seems that a double-click to edit method would be much safer. Anyone else have this happen to them, or do I just have a bad mouse trigger habbit?

[chaley]

Look at the tweak doubleclick_on_library_view

# Behavior of doubleclick on the books list. Choices: open_viewer, do_nothing,
# edit_cell, edit_metadata. Selecting edit_metadata has the side effect of
# disabling editing a field using a single click.
# Default: open_viewer.
# Example: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'do_nothing'
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by danwdoo

It also seems that a double-click to edit method would be much safer. Anyone else have this happen to them, or do I just have a bad mouse trigger habbit?

chaley has given you the answer, set the tweak value to 'edit_cell', which is how Calibre 'used' to behave before it was changed a while ago. You are not alone, I hate the behaviour as it is now for the same reasons and set it to this value.

The issue as I debated with Kovid when the change was made is that the behaviour is not the same as other Windows applications, in that they require focus to be on the window before the single click takes effect. Try it in Windows explorer - to rename a file with a single click you have to first put focus in that pane and then single click on the filename. If you click on a format hyperlink in book details on the RHS and then back on the row of the book - dang, you start an edit. Also I am so used to clicking on another field in the same row to exit an edit without losing the selection - in Calibre this starts another edit. And because of so many single key integrated shortcuts like "E" it is way too easy to overwrite text as you accidentally try to open the edit dialog with it set this way imho.

The response from Kovid (who may understandably have been completely fed up with my nagging on the ticket at that point anyway!) was that it required changes to Qt to have behaviour otherwise. So I conceded defeat happily enough when he agreed to tweak support for the legacy edit_cell behaviour. Although how new users like it I have no idea - you are the first I have seen mention it on the forums so we must be in the minority

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

chaley has given you the answer, set the tweak value to 'edit_cell', which is how Calibre 'used' to behave before it was changed a while ago. You are not alone, I hate the behaviour as it is now for the same reasons and set it to this value.

The issue as I debated with Kovid when the change was made is that the behaviour is not the same as other Windows applications, in that they require focus to be on the window before the single click takes effect. Try it in Windows explorer - to rename a file with a single click you have to first put focus in that pane and then single click on the filename. If you click on a format hyperlink in book details on the RHS and then back on the row of the book - dang, you start an edit. Also I am so used to clicking on another field in the same row to exit an edit without losing the selection - in Calibre this starts another edit. And because of so many single key integrated shortcuts like "E" it is way too easy to overwrite text as you accidentally try to open the edit dialog with it set this way imho.

The response from Kovid (who may understandably have been completely fed up with my nagging on the ticket at that point anyway!) was that it required changes to Qt to have behaviour otherwise. So I conceded defeat happily enough when he agreed to tweak support for the legacy edit_cell behaviour. Although how new users like it I have no idea - you are the first I have seen mention it on the forums so we must be in the minority

I love it

my tweak is set to none.
F2 press, gets me into a single-field edit which is

[danwdoo]

Ah, the tweak worked perfectly. I had a bad habit of somehow clicking to select a book, hitting the 'e' key and then overwriting the author or title with an 'e' without realizing it. I'm very thankful a tweak was created to help this. My metadata thanks you!

Danny

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Although how new users like it I have no idea - you are the first I have seen mention it on the forums so we must be in the minority

I imagine new users quickly get in the habit of clicking on the number to select the row rather then any field in the row. Although I confess to using the tweak as you describe it.

[sfuller]

This was driving me crazy. I have an I7-950 with 6G of ram, but Calibre is still slow enough that the mouse pointer lags sometimes. And I actually like double-clicking for editing metadata.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I also dislike the new behavior but have been dealing with it because I have yet to make sense of directions on how to use the tweaks. I wish I had a dollar for every time I accidentally opened a book.

[Diana495]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I also dislike the new behavior but have been dealing with it because I have yet to make sense of directions on how to use the tweaks. I wish I had a dollar for every time I accidentally opened a book.

To change the behavior of double clicks go to Preferences -> Tweaks -> Control behavior of double clicks on the books list (first on my list). Once you click on the tweak you want to change, the top box has instructions on what the tweak does. And the bottom box is what you edit to use a tweak.

The Choices for this tweak are listed in the top box and are: open_viewer, do_nothing, edit_cell, edit_metadata. Pick the one you want and copy/paste to the bottom box. (The editable portion is in light yellowish-green or blue).

I prefer double clicking to edit metadata so mine is set up like this: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'

Hope that helps.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Diana495

To change the behavior of double clicks go to Preferences -> Tweaks -> Control behavior of double clicks on the books list (first on my list). Once you click on the tweak you want to change, the top box has instructions on what the tweak does. And the bottom box is what you edit to use a tweak.

The Choices for this tweak are listed in the top box and are: open_viewer, do_nothing, edit_cell, edit_metadata. Pick the one you want and copy/paste to the bottom box. (The editable portion is in light yellowish-green or blue).

I prefer double clicking to edit metadata so mine is set up like this: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'

Hope that helps.

No it didn't. I have to have really simple, step by step directions (pictures help).

How the heck do you select what you want? How do you edit it (and why)? Where in the box do I paste what. It may be obvious to you but it made no sense to me. And I'm afraid to do anything I don't fully understand for fear I'll foul something up (been there, done that).

I appreciate you trying to help but you have to keep in mind not all of us are programmers nor do we want to be (or have the time to learn).

[colinsky]

Thanks for that! I had the opposite problem--every time I tried to click to edit data I inadvertently opened a viewer window!

[danwdoo]

The tweak options are really much simpler now than what I dealt with when I made this change. I think you'll have no problems doing this and trust me it's worth the little effort it takes. Maybe these instructions will help make it easier:

1) Click on the preferences icon in the toolbar. It's the one that looks like a set of little gears. A new window will open with all the vaious preference categories.

2) Click on tweaks icon at the bottom of the page. It looks like an open drawer. The tweaks screen will then open.

3) In the left hand pane are all the varirous options. The top one is called "Control behavior of double clicks...". Depending on your screen size, it may affect how much of the title is visible before the three dots appear. Single click on the entry with the left mouse button. In the top pane of the screen, the following text will then appear:

Behavior of doubleclick on the books list. Choices: open_viewer, do_nothing,
edit_cell, edit_metadata. Selecting edit_metadata has the side effect of
disabling editing a field using a single click.
Default: open_viewer.
Example: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'do_nothing'

In the bottom pane will appear the following:

# Control behavior of double clicks on the book list

doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'

4) The only part you need to look at is the bottom pane. The last line should say:

doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'

All you have to do is change open_viewer to edit_cell so that the line now looks like:

doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'

5) Click the apply button to accept the change and then close the window as well as the preferences window.

I think if you give it a try, you'll find it's really very straightforward. You may need to restart Calibre before this takes effect but I'm not sure on that.

[Diana495]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

No it didn't. I have to have really simple, step by step directions (pictures help).

How the heck do you select what you want? How do you edit it (and why)? Where in the box do I paste what. It may be obvious to you but it made no sense to me. And I'm afraid to do anything I don't fully understand for fear I'll foul something up (been there, done that).

I appreciate you trying to help but you have to keep in mind not all of us are programmers nor do we want to be (or have the time to learn).

Heh. I'm sooo not a programmer either. I've just managed to cobble some info together through trial and error.

Sorry for not being clearer. Here are a couple of screen caps, they're kinda rough cause I don't have access to my usual software. Click on them to enlarge. (I'm also on a Mac so it might look slightly different if you're on a different OS.)

To edit tweaks go to Preferences, then scroll down to the Advanced section, and click on Tweaks to open it. It should look like this:



The red arrow is pointing to the list of tweaks available. To select a tweak just click on it. Once it's clicked it'll become highlighted and there should be info displayed in the boxes on the right. (In this case click on Control behavior of double clicks on the books list).

The Green Arrow points to the top box, the Help box. It explains what the tweak does and how to modify it.

For this tweak it states: Behavior of doubleclick on the books list. Choices: open_viewer, do_nothing, edit_cell, edit_metadata. Selecting edit_metadata has the side effect of disabling editing a field using a single click.

The choices are fairly self explanatory. open_viewer opens the viewer if a book is double clicked (this is the default), do_nothing does nothing, edit_cell lets you edit a cell after a double click (I think this was the default before the change), and edit_metadata opens the Edit Meta Information window.

The bottom box with the blue arrow is the "Edit Tweak" box. This is where you change values to edit a tweak. The blue underline is where you edit. Editable values are usually yellowish green or blue. You don't do anything to the green text after the #, it just explains the tweak.


In my case the editable value is: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'. The edit_cell portion (you probably have open_viewer in yours). Pick the option you want, copy it over the the edit_cell/whatever the current choice is there (or type it). Make sure that the apostrophes 'edit_XXX' are in place before and after edit_XXX.

The choices you can have are:
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'do_nothing'
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_metadata'
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'

Once your done. Click on apply. Calibre will tell you that you need to restart it, so close the Preference window and restart calibre, and your tweak should be in place.

Hope that's clearer, if not tell me what needs to be explained better, and I'll try it again.

[theducks]

Any line that starts with a hashmark (#) is a comment and is ignored

eg;
#The choices you can have are:
#doubleclick_on_library_view = 'do_nothing'
doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_metadata'
#doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell'
#doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'

the only line above that is not 'commented-out', is the one with?:

Spoiler:

'edit_metadata'

BTW the part that you need to change in a tweak is always after the '=' sign

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by danwdoo

You may need to restart Calibre before this takes effect but I'm not sure on that.

Yes, you do- everytime you change a tweak, Calibre needs to be restarted in order for the change to take effect. It should tell you so, too.