Save to device outputs

[maddz]

This is a bit complicated, but what I want to end up with is the following directory structure on my Android device (an Icarus):

Author sort / Series / Series - Series Index - Subseries - Subseries index - Title Sort

So for any one author, the top-level folder is named Author Lastname, Author Firstname. Inside is a folder for any series with the output above. Non-series titles should be listed by Title Sort under the top-level folder obviously with the series information suppressed.

Example: Mercedes Lackey has written and co-authored several series, one of which is considered a composite series (Elves on the Road comprises the Doubles Edge, Diana Tregarde and SERRAted Edge subseries), plus I have some stand-alone titles. (It's slightly awkward because the SERRAted Edge series includes titles not written by her.)

What I'd like to see in the output is the following:

(top level folder) Lackey, Mercedes
(series folder 1) Elves on the Road
(title) Elves on the Road 1 - Doubled Edge 1 - This Sceptr'd Isle etc
(title) Elves on the Road 8 - SERRAted Edge 1 - Born to Run etc
(series folder 2) Obsidian Trilogy
(title) Obsidian Trilogy 1 - Outstretched Shadow, The
(title) Standalone title 1
(title) Standalone title 2

I'm not familiar enough with the send to device options and plugboards to be able to create this from scratch; does anyone have a recipe or can point me at a step-by-step guide to setting the preferences to achieve this output?

The other question I have is to do with updating the metadata on works already on the device; occasionally a stand-alone work will get a sequel some years later. Short of deleting the title from the device and resending it, is there a way to get the metadata to change? As this would involve changing a stand-alone to a series, is it possible to do this automatically?

[maddz]

I've sort of got it to work using the configuration

{author_sort}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:| - } {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:| - } {title_sort} - {authors}

But, it's not sending titles with subseries, just titles with only series.

Really, what I want to do is if there is a subseries, concatenate the series, the series index, a hyphen, the subseries, the subseries index, and a hyphen, and concatenate that with the title sort, a comma, and the author(s).

Otherwise, it's the standard series, series index, hyphen, title sort, hyphen, and author(s) output. However, the programming language is doing my head in; I can't work out if you can suppress the prefix / suffix with custom columns which is what the subseries / subseries index are.

I also want to work in the 'My Shelves' custom column, probably as a folder. I'm tempted to use this:

{#My_Shelves}/{author_sort}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:| - } {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:| - } {title_sort} - {authors}

Which I think should replicate the collections functionality I had on my Kobo by creating a folder for each genre, then the various author folders.

Incidentally, is it possible to output into each author's folder for multi-author books? So for books written by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon, the title appears in both author's folders rather than a combined Lackey, Mercedes & Guon Ellen folder?

[ilovejedd]

I thought you needed two | when using prefix and/or subfix.

{#My_Shelves}/{author_sort}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:||-} {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:||-} {title_sort} - {authors}

I don't think you can create multiple copies of the books but if you have a "primary" author, you can have it output to just one of the authors with sublist (ideally the first listed).

{#My_Shelves}/{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:||-} {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:||-} {title_sort} - {authors}

Note, I haven't used series custom columns so I'm not particularly sure if they're referenced the same way as the default series column in templates.

[maddz]

Looks like I'll have to create a custom column for Genre, it doesn't like the #My Shelves column from my Kobo days, I seem to recall seeing somewhere you can't use tag-based custom columns for some operations. I also need to create a Short Story/Anthology flag too (if I'm commuting, I can't concentrate on a novel especially if I'm on a bus).

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by maddz

Looks like I'll have to create a custom column for Genre, it doesn't like the #My Shelves column from my Kobo days, I seem to recall seeing somewhere you can't use tag-based custom columns for some operations. I also need to create a Short Story/Anthology flag too (if I'm commuting, I can't concentrate on a novel especially if I'm on a bus).

I use a number of tag-like custom columns for Save to Disk/Send to Device with no problems. Granted, I primarily use a PW3 at the moment and haven't yet put a recently purchased Glo HD through its paces. I just don't see any reason why tag-like custom columns would be an issue, though.

[maddz]

OK, I got this send to device template to work:

{#collection}/{author_sort}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:||-} {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:||-} {title_sort} - {authors} {#shortstories:contains(Yes,Short,Long)}

However, there's a problem with multi-author series whereby you may have titles by the lead author, the lead author + someone else, or someone else - you have to go looking in multiple author directories for the complete series. To get round this problem, I have created a custom column called Lead Author {#lead}. But I'm running into problems with replacing {author_sort} with {#lead} if there is a value in the lead column. I've tried using {#lead}:test({#lead},{author_sort}) and {#lead}:ifempty({author_sort}) but neither seem to work as intended - does this functionality work in send to device templates or is it only for column templates?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by maddz

OK, I got this send to device template to work:

{#collection}/{author_sort}/{Series}/{Series} {Series_index:||-} {#Subseries} {#Subseries_index:||-} {title_sort} - {authors} {#shortstories:contains(Yes,Short,Long)}

However, there's a problem with multi-author series whereby you may have titles by the lead author, the lead author + someone else, or someone else - you have to go looking in multiple author directories for the complete series. To get round this problem, I have created a custom column called Lead Author {#lead}. But I'm running into problems with replacing {author_sort} with {#lead} if there is a value in the lead column. I've tried using {#lead}:test({#lead},{author_sort}) and {#lead}:ifempty({author_sort}) but neither seem to work as intended - does this functionality work in send to device templates or is it only for column templates?

You cannot use subtemplates in Single Function Mode. To do what you want you must use the field() function in Template Program Mode or General Program Mode. See the documentation for details. And in any event, you shouldn't have the trailing } after #lead.

[maddz]

We kind of sorted it by creating a composite column for lead author and using that in the send to device template instead of trying to do it all in the template. I've finished side-loading everything now (we're just off for a long weekend) so I'll see what it looks like later today (not that I can fix anything until next week now). The test data I was using it on seemed to do what I want, so fingers crossed.