Series Management Help

[hroberts89436]

Ok Here is what I am working on and hopefully someone can give me a simple way to make these changes.

I have over 8,000 books in Calibre. Most of them are parts of series. For instance. I have all of the Star Wars books. So trying to make changes to the Series layout so that they are in order. I have labeled them as such:
Star Wars 2.1: Darth Plagueis [1-??] (however many there are)
Star Wars 2.2: Legacy of the Jedi [1-??]
...

My Issue has come when I get to Star Wars 1.10: The Phantom Menace. This wants to list below 2.1 and before 2.2, so I figured I needed to go back in and add a 0 to the front of 2.1 and 2.2 to make it 2.01, and 2.02 so they list in order. This seems to work. However there are sometimes 15 or more books per series. Is there a way to edit the DB directly or somewhere else where I can make one change to the Series and all items with that series name changes to show the correction. And I have also noticed that I now need to add a 0 infront of 2.01 and 2.02 to make it 02.01, and 02.02 in order for the series to be in proper order.

Some of my other programs have each series listed within a separate DB where you can edit it there and make 1 change that affects the entire series, and not sure if that capability is within Calibre.

[eschwartz]

I use the series column to list such books in the overall series [Star Wars] order, then use a custom column called #subseries to put in the [Legacy of the Force]/[Fate of the Jedi]/etc. ordering. Then I sort by Series and they are all in order, but I can use individual series ordering and reference in the title via a plugboard.

[theducks]

or Hierarchical

Starwars.Fate of the Jedi
The series is only numbered on the last layer (Fate..)

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by theducks

or Hierarchical

Starwars.Fate of the Jedi
The series is only numbered on the last layer (Fate..)

How does that let you choose which order each series goes into?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

How does that let you choose which order each series goes into?

It only belongs to Fates order
but does also allow a (double +) search in the Tag browser on Starwars, which shows all Starwars books

[hroberts89436]

theducks: In order to actually read the series in order their are multiple layers of series orders Please see this link to see what I mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books

The same goes with the series Riftwar. They are designed to be read in a specific order from The riftwar saga 1-3, then The Empire Trilogy 1-3, and so forth. Large book series can have multiple series within them.

Eschwartz: How do you do this? In my thinking it seems like it would still place Fate of the Jedi before Legacy of the Jedi seeing as how F comes before L, when Legacy is number 2.2 in the series and Fate is 6.4 in the series.

Thanks for the replies.

Harold

[eschwartz]

Using my title plugboard, I end up with "Book Title (#subseries, Book #) (Star Wars, Book #)". In the library GUI the Series column keeps them all in order according to "series:Star Wars" which is where in the overall canon order the book goes. Although I admit I haven't actually gotten around to sorting the order out yet.

Similarly,

title:        Magician's End
Series:       Riftwar [27]
#subseries:   ChaosWar Saga [3]

For listing in order, go with main series/universe order. Then list #subseries (custom column, type "Text column for keeping series-like information") afterward, where it won't interfere with the sort order.

[hroberts89436]

What I would like to see is separate Linked Data Bases within Calibre. Where Series is one DB, Author is another, Publisher is another. That way I can edit the series in the Series DB, and the change populates to all of the books within that series. Take for instance the Rogue Angel series. Their are currently 43 books within the series. If I want to make a change to them. I have to make the change to 43 different books. Instead of making the change once.

Another reason behind this is. Lets say I have all of the rogue Angel books except number 15. I can't edit in bulk, and have calibre re number them for me because it would make #16 #15, #17 #16, and so forth down the line. If the name were in a separate linked DB, I could edit just the name and it would populate without affecting the series number.

[eschwartz]

Just add in the series number yourself. There is also this tweak:

ID: series_index_auto_increment

The algorithm used to assign a book added to an existing series a series number.
New series numbers assigned using this tweak are always integer values, except
if a constant non-integer is specified.
Possible values are:
next - First available integer larger than the largest existing number
first_free - First available integer larger than 0
next_free - First available integer larger than the smallest existing number
last_free - First available integer smaller than the largest existing number
Return largest existing + 1 if no free number is found
const - Assign the number 1 always
no_change - Do not change the series index
a number - Assign that number always. The number is not in quotes. Note that
0.0 can be used here.
Examples:
series_index_auto_increment = 'next'
series_index_auto_increment = 'next_free'
series_index_auto_increment = 16.5

Set the use_series_auto_increment_tweak_when_importing tweak to True to
use the above values when importing/adding books. If this tweak is set to
False (the default) then the series number will be set to 1 if it is not
explicitly set during the import. If set to True, then the
series index will be set according to the series_index_auto_increment setting.
Note that the use_series_auto_increment_tweak_when_importing tweak is used
only when a value is not provided during import. If the importing regular
expression produces a value for series_index, or if you are reading metadata
from books and the import plugin produces a value, than that value will
be used irrespective of the setting of the tweak.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by theducks

It only belongs to Fates order
but does also allow a (double +) search in the Tag browser on Starwars, which shows all Starwars books

That is not the goal.

[hroberts89436]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Just add in the series number yourself. There is also this tweak:

How do I use this code. Or where do I enter the Subseries information? Is there away to add another field to the DB/ Input Screen?

[unboggling]

For the Title "Krondor- The Assassins", this is in my only Series column:

Riftwar 05; Riftwar Legacy $ [2]

That construction is:
(broadest-series-name)(space)(most-specific-subseries#);(space)
(most-specific-subseries-name)(space)(varied-author-series-symbol)(space)
([series_index])

I use semicolon rather than period to indicate hierarchy because semicolon looks better and I don't need to see hierarchic breakdown in Tag Browser. The "$" indicates varied-author-series, a clue to sort by title within series rather than sort by title within series within author.

Edit: But that doesn't address the OP's question about automatically renumbering a chosen level of multi-level hierarchical series. Calibre can handle automatic renumbering of only one level per each series-like column, the level that the index applies to, one series-like column at a time.

[eschwartz]

Preferences ==> Advanced ==> Tweaks. On the left, choose the option "Auto increment series index", see screenshot below (note that tweaks you have edited are bolded and appear on top).

Subseries is a custom column, created in Preferences ==> Interface ==> Add your own columns. (see screenshot 2) Name it whatever you want.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

How do I edit the Series database? I prefer my Series as only the first letters capitalized: Star Wars. However, when Adding books, sometimes the series name is all caps - STAR WARS - which means if I add another book in that series it's all caps, too. Then I have to edit the metadata individually - which is OK, but I'd rather it defaulted to my preferred style.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

How do I edit the Series database? I prefer my Series as only the first letters capitalized: Star Wars. However, when Adding books, sometimes the series name is all caps - STAR WARS - which means if I add another book in that series it's all caps, too. Then I have to edit the metadata individually - which is OK, but I'd rather it defaulted to my preferred style.

Authors, Title and Series have a right click option to change case: <Title case> might meet your needs

The same case tool is also in the Metadata editor

AND
If in bulk mode: Only Title has a fix case tick box