how to display the series and the numbers in Pocketbook?

[donpopo]

Hello the forum,
I bought a Pocketbook Inkpad3 e-reader which works very well with Caliber by transferring it to a folder on Dropbox.
However, when I want to customize the display in my e-reader by mentioning the series and serial number in the metadata, I have a little problem
Indeed, in the Caliber metadata connection table, I entered:
{series} {series_index: 0> 2s | [|]} {title} with Title as destination field.
However, this works quite well for some series and not for others.
It appears for the majority of the series for example:
Richard Castle (Nikki Heat - 3). It's OK.
For others, only the name of the author.
Am I missing something? All my books are well referenced with their series if there is one.
Thank you in advance,
Donpopo

[Grins]

With a Pocketbook Touch HD3 and calibre 4.22 on macOS I am using the following expression, both for the metadata plugboard and the device interface plugin:

{author_sort}/{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title} - {author_sort}

The series information is correct for all books which DO belong to a series.

But if a book DOES NOT belong to a series (just a single volume) the series information is badly corrupted as shown with the attached graphics.

So obviously my expression does not really help ...

[Grins]

Sorry, I need a second try for the graphics.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Grins

With a Pocketbook Touch HD3 and calibre 4.22 on macOS I am using the following expression, both for the metadata plugboard and the device interface plugin:

{author_sort}/{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title} - {author_sort}

That looks like the save template in the driver. I can't think of a reason to use it in a metadata plugboard. What field are you putting the result in?

The series information is correct for all books which DO belong to a series.

But if a book DOES NOT belong to a series (just a single volume) the series information is badly corrupted as shown with the attached graphics.

So obviously my expression does not really help ...

Looking at the screenshots from the device, that looks like a bug on the device. The data being displayed appears to be for a custom column called "#pub_series". It is the value of the content attribute for this column. I would guess the device is looking for an attribute whose name includes the word "series" rather than exactly "calibre:series". What they are doing works for books with the calibre series, as it is probably first in the OPF. But, for books without a calibre series, the "calibre:series" attribute will not be there, but the "#pub_series" be even if it doesn't have a value.

I would hope that renaming the "#pub_series" to something without "series" in its name, would solve this. Or removing the column completely if you do not use it. A way to test, you could edit the book after sending it to the device, look at the OP and rename or remove the attribute.

[Grins]

Thank you davidfor, I have indeed a user-defined column called "#pub_series". Going along with your idea of renaming it I changed it to "#pub_order". So far so good. I restarted calibre, did a format on the internal memory of the pocketbook and hoped for the best.
Annoyingly the problem does still exist and the error is the same. So I checked everything and found no reference to pub_series. With one exception: There is something called "content.opf" in the ebook file (under "Miscallaneous"). And this file contains

<meta name="calibre:user_metadata:#pub_series"

even though "#pub_series" has been renamed to "#pub_order".
I think the renaming did only changed the name shown in the GUI but not the original user-defined column.
Is there a chance to force a renaming or is it not possible due to restrictions within the database?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Grins

I think the renaming did only changed the name shown in the GUI but not the original user-defined column.
Is there a chance to force a renaming or is it not possible due to restrictions within the database?

Changing the lookup name definitely changes the name in calibre's database. You can see that by hovering the mouse over the column header in calibre, which will show you the current lookup name.

However, changing the lookup name does not change the content of ebooks. To do that you must either:

• resend the book with "send to device"
• or embed the new metadata with either "Embed metadata" or "Polish" then re-copy the book file to the device.

Also, be sure you changed the lookup name. Changing the column heading won't do the trick.

[Grins]

Thank you chaley. A more thoroughly investigation of "content.opf" shows that

1) the original "#pub_series" does still exist

<meta name="calibre:user_metadata:#pub_series" content="{&quot;rec_index&quot;: 27, &quot;datatype&quot;:


2) a new entry has been added

<meta name="calibre:user_metadata:#pub_order" content="{&quot;rec_index&quot;: 27, &quot;column&quot;:

I believe you are right (the lookup name has been changed; and of course I also changed the column heading ) but I also think that while the original entry has been changed to a new entry the existing original entry has NOT been deleted. And this seems to be the problem (besides the problem that the pocketbook software uses a false series information).

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Grins

I believe you are right (the lookup name has been changed; and of course I also changed the column heading ) but I also think that while the original entry has been changed to a new entry the existing original entry has NOT been deleted. And this seems to be the problem (besides the problem that the pocketbook software uses a false series information).

Interesting. I did some experiments and confirmed that custom columns that no longer exist are not removed. I can understand what is happening: calibre is updating the list of columns instead of replacing it.

You can work around this problem by using the "Modify Epub" *plugin* to remove all calibre-specific metadata, then use Embed or Polish to put it back in.

Tomorrow I will look at fixing calibre. Kovid might have had a reason for this and I need to check with him before running amok.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Grins

Thank you chaley. A more thoroughly investigation of "content.opf" shows that

1) the original "#pub_series" does still exist

<meta name="calibre:user_metadata:#pub_series" content="{&quot;rec_index&quot;: 27, &quot;datatype&quot;:


2) a new entry has been added

<meta name="calibre:user_metadata:#pub_order" content="{&quot;rec_index&quot;: 27, &quot;column&quot;:

I believe you are right (the lookup name has been changed; and of course I also changed the column heading ) but I also think that while the original entry has been changed to a new entry the existing original entry has NOT been deleted. And this seems to be the problem (besides the problem that the pocketbook software uses a false series information).

Have you tried manually removing this entry from a book? I think you have proved my theory, but, until the fix that @chaley's is looking at is released, unless you add a new book to the library, that is probably the only way to test this.

[Grins]

Thank you davidfor and chaley for you help and support!

@ davidfor: I did not manually remove the entry, instead I followed chaley's suggestion. But I believe it would have worked, see below.

@ chaley: I followed you idea and 1) used the plugin "Modify epub" to remove the calibre metadata (boxes ticked: "remove all metadata jacket"+ "remove non dc: metadata elements") and 2) used "Polish books" to replace the metadata. As a result each book came up with new metadata and NO reference to the problematic entry "pub_series".

I just finished sending the books to the Pocketbook Touch HD 3 and they were all fine: books belonging to a series showed the series and book belonging to no series showed no series.

(just as information, I forgot to mention it before: the PB firmware version is U632.6.0.926 which is the latest).

Again, thank you very much!

[davidfor]

My suggestion was a way to test on one book before committing to the whole thing. But, I think the results were already conclusive.

And I hope Pocketbook have a good place to report the bug. If you point them to this thread, half their work has already been done.

[Grins]

I reported the problem (with a reference to this discussion) this morning to the support.

Another device (Kobo Clara HD) did not have this problem, so I believe (as you do) this being a bug in the PD firmware.

[chaley]

A fix is now in calibre source and will be in the next release.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Grins

I reported the problem (with a reference to this discussion) this morning to the support.

Another device (Kobo Clara HD) did not have this problem, so I believe (as you do) this being a bug in the PD firmware.

Are you sure it's a PB bug and not a Calibre issue? In any case, the fix will be in for Calibre in the next version.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Are you sure it's a PB bug and not a Calibre issue? In any case, the fix will be in for Calibre in the next version.

Jon: Did you read the thread? There is a bug in the device that happened to show a bug in calibre. But, the calibre bug is not triggering the bug on the device.