Some questions on Cloud mode

[nqk]

Dear Chaley,

Happy new year to you.

I have some questions, I need to write them down before I forget, though I know you are maybe not in for this right now.

1) I have setup the Book Details. But it is effective to only offline mode. When it is connected to Cloud, the default Book Details page applies. Can I have the my custom setting?

2) Can I hide certain columns from index? I have setup several custom columns, but they are not supposed to show.

3) Is Thumbnail layout for Cloud mode possible?

4) I want to update the books, so the only way in Cloud mode is to go to On Device category and hit Download All. But I don't see the running circle. The aren't re-downloaded or updated then, are they? It doesn't download even by tapping on Download button on "Download or show metadata" box. In fact, It works only in the Book Details page.



Thanks.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nqk

Dear Chaley,

Happy new year to you.

Thanks. I hope the same for you.

I have some questions, I need to write them down before I forget, though I know you are maybe not in for this right now.

1) I have setup the Book Details. But it is effective to only offline mode. When it is connected to Cloud, the default Book Details page applies. Can I have the my custom setting?

There are some complexities. First: the setting cannot be per-library/per-provider, so you cannot choose different columns based on which library you are connected to. Second: the settings would be shared with CC base (what you called "offline"), so changes made in cloud book details would affect CC's "normal" book details.

The two together say that you cannot choose different column views when connected and disconnected. If this is OK with the community at large then I will look into implementing it.

2) Can I hide certain columns from index? I have setup several custom columns, but they are not supposed to show.

Perhaps.

Assuming that the work to do it isn't outrageous then (at least) two questions arise:

1. What is the scope of a setting?. It is per CC install? Per cloud provider? Per cloud library?
2. If per provider or per cloud library, are the setting tied to the person who authenticated? In other words, if you authenticate to Dropbox as different people, are the settings preserved across authentications?

3) Is Thumbnail layout for Cloud mode possible?

No. This would require a complete reimplementation of CC Cloud.

4) I want to update the books, so the only way in Cloud mode is to go to On Device category and hit Download All. But I don't see the running circle. The aren't re-downloaded or updated then, are they? It doesn't download even by tapping on Download button on "Download or show metadata" box. In fact, It works only in the Book Details page.

What do you mean by "update the books"? Do you mean the book metadata or the book files?

If you mean book files, then do you really want to download all the books? This I could do, but it seems a bit like overkill. If instead you want to download changed books then that isn't going to happen.

I have been considering adding a function to update metadata from the cloud calibre db. The plus side is that it would be reasonably quick because CC has the db in hand. I suspect that it would run at around 4 books/second, the amount of time it takes to update CC's db. The minus side is that CC doesn't know which books need updating, so it would update them all. This resets the wireless device cache, meaning that the next wireless device connect will download all metadata. It also clears the values from all composite columns. Finally, it doesn't and won't have an option to update book files. All of these restrictions make me very nervous.

Do note that the capability to update metadata and books already exists when connecting as a wireless device. CC automatically updates all metadata including composite columns and can, if you ask, check and update all book files. For this reason I hesitate (!) to add update metadata to the cloud.

[nqk]

1) 3) I think you alone can know the pros and cons of the implementation.

4) I remember you discussing about "changed books" elsewhere, which I don't say otherwise. This case I mean redownloading the files. I'd rather download all books there in the search at one tap than one by one manually. Wireless connection can't be used, because the computer is off.

2) I have only one Library, synced to several clouds, just in case the connection prefers one to another. Then for me, the setup can be per library as the column names are specific.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nqk

1) I have setup the Book Details. But it is effective to only offline mode. When it is connected to Cloud, the default Book Details page applies. Can I have the my custom setting?

Originally Posted by chaley

There are some complexities. First: the setting cannot be per-library/per-provider, so you cannot choose different columns based on which library you are connected to. Second: the settings would be shared with CC base (what you called "offline"), so changes made in cloud book details would affect CC's "normal" book details.

The two together say that you cannot choose different column views when connected and disconnected. If this is OK with the community at large then I will look into implementing it.

During my experiments I found that I can separate the displayed column settings in CC-base from those in CC-cloud. All the cloud libraries+providers share one set of displayed columns, while CC-base (unconnected) has its own set.

Unless someone convinces me that this isn't OK, I will put it into the next beta in a day or two.

[Tanjamuse]

I'm going to jump on this thread as well.

I've been wondering is there a setting where I can filter the cloud libraries? And, if no, could it be added?

For example:

Only show those books that aren't marked in the "Read" Y/N column.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

I'm going to jump on this thread as well.

I've been wondering is there a setting where I can filter the cloud libraries? And, if no, could it be added?

For example:

Only show those books that aren't marked in the "Read" Y/N column.

That is what the top-level display does -- allow you to select books with given values in some field. And if this isn't enough you can use the search function.

[Tanjamuse]

Thanks Chaley.