... if there is another book in the library with the same value in column Y

[Joanna]

I have a custom Yes/No column to indicate whether a book is an original or a translation, and another custom column to enter the original title.

I enter the original title for all the translated books (well, that's work in progress). I also enter the original title for the original book (so basically the same title) if I have the same book in translation(s).

Based on these values, I have an icon displayed, indicating whether there are translations of a given original book in my library (the icon is displayed based on two rules: original = yes, original title: true).

I wonder whether there is some automatic (or manual) way to indicate all the books that exist in multiple language versions in the library, i.e. all the books for which the original title: true and there is at least one book in the library which has the same original title. Is it possible to use 'if there are at least x items with the same value in column Y' as a condition for an icon/emblem?

Or, alternatively (as this seems like a long shot anyway), is there any possibility to search for only those books that have multiple language versions (i.e. only for those books that have an original title entered and this value is not unique in the database)?

This would be an equivalent to looking for series or authors with more than one book in the library. Considering there is a separate plugin for author book count (which probably can't be used out-of-the-box with another column), I suppose that's not possible?

One workaround I came up with would be going through the Tag browser and checking manually which original titles have more than [1] item, and then adding them to one user category for easier access.

Is it possible to use a condition for an icon/emblem and/or to create a custom column, based on a given user category? (An equivalent to the search '@Category:true' - all books that would come up in such a search get an icon or get 'yes' in a composite column).

// EDIT: A partial answer to the last part: I could create a custom column showing the user categories a book belongs too, and use that for icon rules etc. It works fine but I'm a bit afraid of slow performance, as the template is described as resource intensive and I already have multiple composite columns in my library...

I hope I won't bore you to death with my questions

[theducks]

Find Duplicates PI
Play with the options (I would guess you would NOT tick Include Languages metadata when comparing titles

[Joanna]

Originally Posted by theducks

Find Duplicates PI
Play with the options (I would guess you would NOT tick Include Languages metadata when comparing titles

Thanks for your tip. It seems what I'm looking for is just the possibility to find duplicate values. Unfortunately, it looks like the plugin won't help, as it is based on title/author, binary compare or identifiers. It has found books that had the same title in two language versions but from what I see, it does not perform searches in other columns.

[theducks]

Once the dups are found, add a tag (bulk mode metadata edit ) to selected books (eyeball detect which gets tag) ( show all groups at once)


BTW The Publisher column might give a hint as I doubt the same publisher does both

[Joanna]

The problem is the plugin won't find them (or is there some setting I haven't discovered?).

What those books have in common is:
- the author(s)
- the custom column with the original title (currently a series-like column)
- usually the same genre tags (in a custom genre column)

They (usually) differ in the titles, languages, publishers, dates of publication, identifiers.

[BetterRed]

@Joanna - have you looked at Preferences->Searching->Grouped Search Terms.

Also there is this optional plugin ==>> MultiColumnSearch

Added : not saying either or both will definitely do what you want, but they may give you some ideas, I've used group searches but not MultiColumnSearch.

BR

[DaltonST]

Originally Posted by Joanna

What those books have in common is:
- the author(s)
- the custom column with the original title (currently a series-like column)
- usually the same genre tags (in a custom genre column)

They (usually) differ in the titles, languages, publishers, dates of publication, identifiers.

@Joanna:

My plugin MultiColumnSearch was specifically designed to handle "Inter-Book" search queries such as you described.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=261712


The 2 attached images are specifically for "Inter-Book Searches". The example shown is almost identical to your description: Author and Original Title.

Good luck.

DaltonST

[Joanna]

@BetterRed

I don't think group searches will help but that's a great tip anyway. I've nevere used this feature and for sure it will come in handy one day.
(That's I love about Calibre - there is always something incredible to discover, and then I just wonder how it's possible I haven't seen it before )

@DaltonST

Thank you so much for your great plugin and your explanations! I installed the plugin some time ago but never figured out how it worked (kinda steep learning curve ). Yesterday I came up with the idea of trying it for my search (not a bad one, apparently ), and once again I failed miserably . And now it works, yay

Two questions:

- is it possible to perform an inter-book search in one column only? E.g. compare only #original_title (without comparing authors at the same time) or only authors (which would basically render a list of all books that have a non-unique original title/author).

- is it possible to perform an inter-book search, comparing two different columns to each other? E.g. compare #original_title to title.
(For the latter, I suppose I could use a workaround, creating a custom column that would feature the title if no original title has been entered, and searching in this column - but a direct search would be much more convenient)

[DaltonST]

@Joanna:

Answers to your two asked-questions, plus one that you did not ask but need to know the answer to if you want to use MCS.

------------------------------------------

- is it possible to perform an inter-book search in one column only? E.g. compare only #original_title (without comparing authors at the same time) or only authors (which would basically render a list of all books that have a non-unique original title/author).

Of course. Attached is the result. The filename is its purpose.


------------------------------------------

- is it possible to perform an inter-book search, comparing two different columns to each other? E.g. compare #original_title to title.
(For the latter, I suppose I could use a workaround, creating a custom column that would feature the title if no original title has been entered, and searching in this column - but a direct search would be much more convenient)

Of course. Attached is the result. The filename is its purpose.


------------------------------------------

Unasked but Need-to-Know:

- is it possible to perform an INTRA-book search, comparing two different columns to each other? E.g. compare #original_title to title.

Of course. Attached is the result. "Intra-book" means that you compare different columns of the same book only, paying no attention to any other books in your library. The Intra-Book Search version of your 2nd question would be the third attachment below. The filename is its purpose.


------------------------------------------

The only way to learn to use MCS is to actually use it in a trial-and-error mode with help from the ToolTips and the examples attached to the Original Post.

Start with Intra-Book Searches, since they are (by far) the more intuitive as compared to Inter-Book Searches.



DaltonST

[Joanna]

@DaltonST
Thank you so much for your explanations! It's great that MCS offers both types of search I was looking for. Now I have to figure out how all of that works . Thanks again for this great plugin.

Of course. Attached is the result. "Intra-book" means that you compare different columns of the same book only, paying no attention to any other books in your library.

Yeah, this one I know and understand

The only way to learn to use MCS is to actually use it in a trial-and-error mode with help from the ToolTips and the examples attached to the Original Post.

That's what I'm going to do