[Android] Change "Is Read" for books with missing files?

[joeblowma]

Hopefully this wish isn't asking for tons of work making it have a better chance of existing... in the 'books with missing files' area would it be sane to have a 'mark all missing as read' in the menu? Or 'mark all missing as...' that presents a quick dialog with the 3 possibilities as buttons?

The main issue I have that causes me to ask for this, is when you have a dozen or so books that you've deleted via a reader as they are read, going into each book's view and marking them as read is a bit of a pain (in my case mainly due to the dropdown being too small to manipulate quickly even on an 8 inch screen.)

An alternate idea that would serve in my case would be to dispose of the read dropdown and put 3 buttons in a line ([o yes] [x no] [x none]) the size of the current dropdown's height, with the current one highlighted or radio buttoned making it easier to finger mash quickly.

I recently properly learned search in calibre (not #read:yes) so at least I no longer have to sync twice (before and after remove deleted files to tag as read.) This last bit would be icing on the cake for me at this point Either way, thanks for CC!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by joeblowma

Hopefully this wish isn't asking for tons of work making it have a better chance of existing... in the 'books with missing files' area would it be sane to have a 'mark all missing as read' in the menu? Or 'mark all missing as...' that presents a quick dialog with the 3 possibilities as buttons?

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Moved to new thread [Android] Change "Is Read" for books with missing files? for discussion

[chaley]

Originally Posted by joeblowma

Hopefully this wish isn't asking for tons of work making it have a better chance of existing... in the 'books with missing files' area would it be sane to have a 'mark all missing as read' in the menu? Or 'mark all missing as...' that presents a quick dialog with the 3 possibilities as buttons?

The main issue I have that causes me to ask for this, is when you have a dozen or so books that you've deleted via a reader as they are read, going into each book's view and marking them as read is a bit of a pain (in my case mainly due to the dropdown being too small to manipulate quickly even on an 8 inch screen.)

An alternate idea that would serve in my case would be to dispose of the read dropdown and put 3 buttons in a line ([o yes] [x no] [x none]) the size of the current dropdown's height, with the current one highlighted or radio buttoned making it easier to finger mash quickly.

I recently properly learned search in calibre (not #read:yes) so at least I no longer have to sync twice (before and after remove deleted files to tag as read.) This last bit would be icing on the cake for me at this point Either way, thanks for CC!

You are suggesting three options to solve your problem:

1. Mark all missing as "Read" in "Find missing books"
2. Alternative to the above, Mark all missing as one of the three possibilities.
3. Improve the usability of the Read dropdown in book details.

Choices 1 and 2 are hard for 3 reasons:

• The options would require changing the protocol between CC and calibre. This is hard enough, but now that we have iOS CC the problems are made worse.
• This is a solution to a subproblem: mark the books I am currently looking at (result of a search, grouping, etc) as read (or something). It would take only 10 minutes for someone to ask for this, and it is a harder problem for me then the missing books case.
• The change also opens the door for other bulk operations such as Delete all books in the current list. Even more problematic, it opens the door to selecting books on the list and applying the operation to them. Both are hard.

For these reasons I don't want to go down this path.

On the other hand, your suggestion to make setting the Read status in book detail easier is a good one. I, like you, find choosing in the drop-down list difficult, especially on devices like my phones that have smaller fonts, or on my e-ink devices where the "tap" sensitivity and resolution isn't the best.

I am thinking that changing a tap on the "Read" status would open a small dialog with three largish buttons: Read, Not Read, Blank. The button for current value would be shaded. You tap the button for the value you want.

I would really like 4 buttons (add a Cancel) but Android dialogs are limited to 3. One way to work around that would be to offer 2 buttons for the values that differ from the current value and a third "Cancel" button. I could also add some text saying something like "The current value is Read" or some such. I am not sure if this is better than the three buttons, but I suspect that it is.

[joeblowma]

Originally Posted by chaley

[*]The options would require changing the protocol between CC and calibre. This is hard enough, but now that we have iOS CC the problems are made worse.

Not sure how, as long as CC is only modifying its own metadata info like it currently does when you mark a book as read? Though I suppose I've not actually tried to do that lately while connected to calibre (tests) OK I coulda swore that entering the missing files list forced me to disconnect before, but it doesn't seem to be sending the read mark unless I disconnect and reconnect anyway from either list - did I stumble on a bug that isn't supposed to happen by chance?

Originally Posted by chaley

[*]This is a solution to a subproblem: mark the books I am currently looking at (result of a search, grouping, etc) as read (or something). It would take only 10 minutes for someone to ask for this, and it is a harder problem for me then the missing books case.

Indeed, I code too and I know for a fact the simplest requests tend to be the ones that have you pondering rewriting the entire thing from scratch (which no, that's not gonna happen nope nope nope) some days - which is also why I tried to explain my reason in detail and propose what I knew could be a simplest solution rather than a wish

Originally Posted by chaley

[*]The change also opens the door for other bulk operations such as Delete all books in the current list. Even more problematic, it opens the door to selecting books on the list and applying the operation to them. Both are hard.

I figured since there already was a bulk "delete all" button in the missing files list, as well as access to individual book details from that list, that there was already the possibility to do a bulk operation on the 'missing files' list. I did not even consider interface consistency with the other lists likely because I rarely use them, and the missing files almost feels like transitioning to a sub-menu or sub-program where grouping/advanced features aren't a thing - my bad. Good thing you are on it and not me...

I could wish this was the library interface for the reader I use (fbreader) so I would benefit from CC's better metadata handling (if only calibre would just tell me when it's not able to modify the internal metadata on sends) and make use of all it's features without switching between two apps - but that is in my mind definitely an unreasonable wish

CC saved my butt when the usb port died on my previous tablet, and I've been using it ever since (which now that I look has been >3 years ) - because it's a great app as-is. Change nothing and I'd still be happy with the ability to track what I've read and do it all wirelessly - fix up my annoyance at having to mash the dropdown multiple times for each book and you'll have a second helping of my thanks

[chaley]

Originally Posted by joeblowma

Not sure how, as long as CC is only modifying its own metadata info like it currently does when you mark a book as read? Though I suppose I've not actually tried to do that lately while connected to calibre (tests) OK I coulda swore that entering the missing files list forced me to disconnect before, but it doesn't seem to be sending the read mark unless I disconnect and reconnect anyway from either list - did I stumble on a bug that isn't supposed to happen by chance?

I mixed two things. The word "mark" is overloaded in CC. There is the notion of marking a book read in book details, and there is the notion of setting a calibre mark on a book when the read information changes (CC Settings / Marking books read / Mark updates in calibre). You are right that a bulk operation to do the first type of mark does not require a protocol change. The second one does.

As for the behavior: what you see is what is expected. CC and calibre exchange the read information when the connection is first made. Further changes on either side are not exchanged until CC disconnects and reconnects, or (I think) if you choose in the calibre device menu "Send updated metadata to the device". The reason I say "I think" is that I am not sure of CC metadata will also be sent back to calibre and I am too lazy to look at the code.

CC saved my butt when the usb port died on my previous tablet, and I've been using it ever since (which now that I look has been >3 years ) - because it's a great app as-is. Change nothing and I'd still be happy with the ability to track what I've read and do it all wirelessly - fix up my annoyance at having to mash the dropdown multiple times for each book and you'll have a second helping of my thanks

I will probably do something with that dropdown. I will wait a bit to see if anyone has comments on the two choices. I lean toward the second -- two buttons to change the value and a "Cancel" button.

[milady133]

Originally Posted by chaley

On the other hand, your suggestion to make setting the Read status in book detail easier is a good one. I, like you, find choosing in the drop-down list difficult, especially on devices like my phones that have smaller fonts, or on my e-ink devices where the "tap" sensitivity and resolution isn't the best.

I am thinking that changing a tap on the "Read" status would open a small dialog with three largish buttons: Read, Not Read, Blank. The button for current value would be shaded. You tap the button for the value you want.

I'm voting for the three largish buttons, even with my big Samsung Note 3 I sometimes find it difficult to set the value

[chaley]

Here is what I have:

When you enter book details you see something like this:


If you tap on the small button next to Read: you see a variant of this dialog. In this case because the current value is None (empty) the dialog lets you set it to Yes or No.


If the value is Yes" then you see this dialog.


Recall that I can put only three buttons across the bottom, which is why the button labels change. I think that changing the labels so I can have a cancel button is better than having "Yes", "No", and "None" buttons where "Cancel" is tapping the current value.

[Terisa de morgan]

I agree with labels changing, it's better that the last option you're mentioning.

[milady133]

I don't like much labels changing, but given that a None value is needed, I think it's the best solution.

[Dopedangel]

I am not sure if this is possible. But I think the yes or no should be the last (right most) option if changing from yes or no. The center button should be none. When changing from none the option should be 1st yes 2nd should be no

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

I am not sure if this is possible. But I think the yes or no should be the last (right most) option if changing from yes or no. The center button should be none. When changing from none the option should be 1st yes 2nd should be no

Out of curiosity, why that other? It's there some logic behind it, or are you trying to apply some standard?

[Dopedangel]

I only use yes and no option so would always be flipping it from no to yes or yes to know. So the buttons would be in a standard place.
Btw another option would be to have
Cancel None Yes No but the forth button is unclickable although I am not sure you can do that in android.
From a UI perspective buttons should not be moving around.

[DavidTC]

If you can change the button labels how you want, how about having 'None', 'Yes', and 'No' always in a specific order, and just putting (Current) after the label on whichever button is the current one?

That said, I'm not sure why you don't just put clickable labels on the book info page that do the action itself. Like

Read: Yes 2015-12-24 (Mark as Unread or Clear value)

Maybe with a confirmation dialog that people can choose to not see.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DavidTC

If you can change the button labels how you want, how about having 'None', 'Yes', and 'No' always in a specific order, and just putting (Current) after the label on whichever button is the current one?

That said, I'm not sure why you don't just put clickable labels on the book info page that do the action itself. Like

Read: Yes 2015-12-24 (Mark as Unread or Clear value)

Maybe with a confirmation dialog that people can choose to not see.

I am not a fan of active links -- links that immediately change things. If one opens a confirmation dialog then that dialog ought to do the work. Another problem: line width. There isn't enough room to put all those buttons.

As for changing labels: android permits 3 standard buttons at the bottom of a dialog. If I want more then I must make my own buttons, which will stylistically be different from the standard buttons. That said, I suspect I will do that anyway just to avoid the fights. I will add three buttons above the line, one for each value in a fixed order, and leave only the Cancel button below the line.

[chaley]

Here is what I have now. This one avoids having buttons that change labels and positions.

When you go into book details you see something like this:

"Set date read" is broken onto two lines because the emulator I am using is a very small screen.

When you tap "Change" you see this:


I will release this to beta in a day or so.