Link/reference book in database

[Hampshire Nanny]

So -- I have a number of "books" in my Calibre database which contain multiple books. An example is HarryT's omnibus of Father Brown stories which contains five books: The Innocence of Father Brown, The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Secret of Father Brown, and The Scandal of Father Brown. For each book in an omnibus, I create an empty book entry in Calibre so I can record information about the specific book -- including whether or not I have read the book. I also add text in the book description identifying the name of the omnibus where the book's text can be found. BUT, what I'd really like to do is provide a LINK to that omnibus. Two uses: first, inside the Calibre UI, I would like to be able to click on the link and jump directly to the omnibus rather than having to find it in the UI. Second, when using the content server and browsing the catalog, the link would allow me to locate the item to be downloaded.

Is this a facility which already exists? If not, is it a good idea for an enhancement?

[BetterRed]

@Hampshire Nanny - AFAIK - There is no 'official' way to link books in a calibre library. There are roundabout ways but . . .

You could make use of Quickview.

If the omnibus and empty books had a common value in a custom column e.g. 'Omnibus/#omnibus', then if you highlight an Omnibus cell and press Q you would have sub-list of books in that Omnibus.

Added : Try it with a something like publisher - highlight a publisher cell and press 'Q'.

BR

[Joanna]

I use a custom column for that. It's called '#link' and is a tag-like text column shown in book details. There, I add the same tag for books to be linked with each other (and those books only). In this case I would probably use something like 'Father Brown' as the tag. When you click on the tag, you get the search for all books with this tag.

It's not perfect (you won't go directly to the omnibus) but it is pretty usable. (And it's kinda like the solution suggested by @BetterRed , although I don't use Quickview for that.)

My Calibre dream would be, though, to be able to provide direct links to the books, accessible from the inside and the outside of Calibre.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Joanna

I use a custom column for that. It's called '#link' and is a tag-like text column shown in book details. There, I add the same tag for books to be linked with each other (and those books only). In this case I would probably use something like 'Father Brown' as the tag. When you click on the tag, you get the search for all books with this tag.

It's not perfect (you won't go directly to the omnibus) but it is pretty usable. (And it's kinda like the solution suggested by @BetterRed , although I don't use Quickview for that.)

My Calibre dream would be, though, to be able to provide direct links to the books, accessible from the inside and the outside of Calibre.

@Joanna - curious - have you tried using 'Q' in a #link cell? I prefer it because it doesn't overwrite the current Book List, which itself maybe a search - I have a feeling Quickview is under utilised. My #link is #related, I hide it in the tag browser

We share the same dream - particularly the '... and outside...'

BR

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

We share the same dream - particularly the '... and outside...'

@Joanna - I do have a kludge for the '... and outside...' links.

When the server is used the url's for Authors and Books are of the form:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/browse/matches/authors/187
http://127.0.0.1:8080/browse/book/7934

The numbers (187 and 7394) are the row numbers in the metadata.db Author and Book tables. I periodically export the two tables as csv files from SQLite Browser. From the csv's I most often create shortcuts to access the Authors and Books via calibre server from EverNote and OneNote (just drop the LNK file into the note) using Chrome.

%ChromeBrowser% http://127.0.0.1:8080/browse/matches/authors/187
%ChromeBrowser% http://127.0.0.1:8080/browse/book/7934

I use Chrome explicitly because its not my default browser and it has no extensions which might cause headaches - but mainly its because I don't want my library 'stuff' jumbled up with regular browsing.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new server will be as easy to 'work' with as the the current one - if not I'll have to find another keyhole

BR

[kovidgoyal]

@BR In the new server you can get direct links to not just books, but individual pages/locations inside books. Link to a loaction inside the book and the server will open up the book at that location in your browser.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@BR In the new server you can get direct links to not just books, but individual pages/locations inside books.

Sounds good - where will I get the links from, the server or the library manager - or both?

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Link to a loaction inside the book and the server will open up the book at that location in your browser.

Will there be a mechanism, as I have now, to open the links in a browser other than the default - I really wouldn't want to lose that capability.

When I was opening the links directly in the default browser it drove me nuts, for a while I used a VM which was too cumbersome, and then I 'discovered' I could drop shortcuts into Evernote.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

The server does not change anything in the main GUI -- that all remains the same.

[Joanna]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Joanna - curious - have you tried using 'Q' in a #link cell? I prefer it because it doesn't overwrite the current Book List, which itself maybe a search - I have a feeling Quickview is under utilised. My #link is #related, I hide it in the tag browser

I've tried, having read your post . I knew about Quickview but never used it... gotta remember about it now . But I don't think it will work for me in the case of links, as I don't usually have this column on display (I don't use links heavily, so it would be an empty column most of the time).

We share the same dream - particularly the '... and outside...'

Fingers crossed!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Joanna

... don't think it will work for me in the case of links, as I don't usually have this column on display (I don't use links heavily, so it would be an empty column most of the time).

Likewise - my Related column is normally off the right edge of the book list - I hit End key and back arrow twice to get to it - being keyboard centric and mouse averse helps

QV might have wider 'usage' if there was a Quickview Tool (plug in perhaps ?) that presents a list of columns that are Quickview-able (i.e. not numbers, dates or composites - I think) and their current book values. Most people prefer mouse clicking on iconic things rather than pressing keys or using right click context menu's.

BR

[Joanna]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Likewise - my Related column is normally off the right edge of the book list - I hit End key and back arrow twice to get to it - being keyboard centric and mouse averse helps

Oh, so I'm one of those people who have really few columns on display. It took me three years or so to discover (or maybe re-discover, as I suppose I did know about it at some point at the beginning ) the possibility to edit columns in the table view (as I would routinely use the Edit Metadata dialog). Now I do use table view for some editing work but I still keep many columns hidden most of the time (while using the View Manager to define views used in specific situations/for specific tasks).

QV might have wider 'usage' if there was a Quickview Tool (plug in perhaps ?) that presents a list of columns that are Quickview-able (i.e. not numbers, dates or composites - I think) and their current book values. Most people prefer mouse clicking on iconic things rather than pressing keys or using right click context menu's.

I switched from being relatively keyboard-centric to mouse-centric some years ago, and I navigate in Calibre with mouse mostly. I wish Quickview was available from the context menu, without the need to press any key (or is it available some other way than by pressing 'Q'? I've got no idea.)

The other thing is that Quickview doesn't seem very configurable. I rarely care about series, so I'd prefer to have another column/columns shown in the Quickview window.

Same goes to the 'Similar books' option available from the context menu. It allows to search for books with the same author/series/publisher/tags but it's of limited use to me as it doesn't include my custom columns 'genre' and 'topic', which are certainly use much more often than those in my searches. It would be nice to have some configuration possibilities here (or are they hidden somewhere, and I just haven't found them?).

If I want to find similar books, I use the book details panel in most cases, just clicking on a given category. Now that I'm thinking about it, it would be nice to have Quickview options added there (for example to the right-click menu of those categories that offer Quickview).

It's fascinating to see how different people use same (or different) features of the same piece of software, depending on what needs and preferences they have

[BetterRed]

Right click on a column header gives a QV option for that column for current book value. So, try right click on your Topic column header and select Quickview column Topic. That might also satisfy your wish for more Similar Books options.

Yes it would be nice to have selectable columns in Quickview - a la View Manager (I never care about series) Maybe if more people used it. . . Some time back chaley did do a couple of changes for me, e.g. the Lock QV contents checkbox and perhaps the Search button.

BR






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[eschwartz]

@Kovid,

Would it be possible to use some sort of url scheme to link to a calibre record id, the same way clickable labels in the Book Details panel works? i.e. the series labels and suchlike, which generate searches.

[kovidgoyal]

Just add a unique tag to the target book and the referring book, then simply clicking on that tag in the book details panel will show you only those two books in the book list.