Incrementing a column for selected books

tranquilo2 · 08-22-2020, 10:53 AM

I need help, please, with an expression to use in the "Search for" and "Replace with" section of batch Search and Replace, to simply number a custom column starting with 1 and incrementing the value by 1 for each book in the selection.

Thank You.

chaley · 08-22-2020, 11:35 AM

Moderator Notice
Moved post to its own thread

davidfor · 08-23-2020, 02:27 AM

If you are talking about a series, the Manage Series plugin can do this. That can work on the built-in series, or a custom series column.

Otherwise, it probably needs a plugin. It probably wouldn't be that hard to adapt the Manage Series plugin to do this.

And for curiosity, why do you want to do this? What are you trying to achieve? Maybe we can suggest an alternative way of doing it.

tranquilo2 · 08-23-2020, 10:45 AM

Thank you for the response. No, it's not about series. I'm just trying to produce different lists (later published as epub) of books of the type "Top 100 books about this", "Top 100 books about that", etc. In order to do this I need a custom column in the library that I can fill with a number 1 to nnnn quickly, but sorted as displayed in the library. I can achieve this with the plugin Import List, but it is painful slow, so I thought there was a simple way with some function of the type "n+1".

If you look at the library you see a read-only fixed column on the left with a 1 to nnn number. I need to export *that* number somehow.

theducks · 08-23-2020, 10:55 AM

Just because it IS called a Series Custom Column, does not stop you from using it as a 'weighted List" Column. You can title it anything you like

TheList [1]
...
TheList[99]
So use the Manage Series PI to (re)order your list (Drag) from what it contained

tranquilo2 · 08-23-2020, 12:12 PM

Thank you. Just tried the Manage Series PI and it works, but I have 6000+ book records and reordering them takes just as long, if not longer, as the Import List, with less flexibility.

Thank you all for your help.

davidfor · 08-24-2020, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tranquilo2

If you look at the library you see a read-only fixed column on the left with a 1 to nnn number. I need to export *that* number somehow.

Do you mean the first column? That is just a line number in the list and changes as you sort the books. There is an id that is unique to each book in the library. That can be extracted with command line tools and used for updating the metadata from the command line.

Another possibility is the Reading List plugin. It can group sets of books together. The order in the lists are the order the books are added, but, it can be changed. The Import List plugin has an option to put the books into a Reading List. The Reading List plugin does allow a book to be in multiple lists. Using series or anything else would probably mean multiple custom columns for multiple lists.

But, whatever you do is going to take time. The problem is you need to find the books, get them in the appropriate order, and then add whatever metadata is needed to keep that list and order. Because of that, I think the Import List is probably the simplest way.

tranquilo2 · 08-24-2020, 11:48 AM

Thank you davidfor, yes, I agree, as I mentioned before I already use the Import List, and it works, but it is very slow; since the order changes every few days the time it takes to update the metadata becomes an issue. I was just trying to find a faster alternative but I can live with Import List.

08-22-2020, 10:53 AM	#1
tranquilo2 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: none	Incrementing a column for selected books I need help, please, with an expression to use in the "Search for" and "Replace with" section of batch Search and Replace, to simply number a custom column starting with 1 and incrementing the value by 1 for each book in the selection. Thank You.

08-23-2020, 10:45 AM	#4
tranquilo2 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: none	Thank you for the response. No, it's not about series. I'm just trying to produce different lists (later published as epub) of books of the type "Top 100 books about this", "Top 100 books about that", etc. In order to do this I need a custom column in the library that I can fill with a number 1 to nnnn quickly, but sorted as displayed in the library. I can achieve this with the plugin Import List, but it is painful slow, so I thought there was a simple way with some function of the type "n+1". If you look at the library you see a read-only fixed column on the left with a 1 to nnn number. I need to export that number somehow. Last edited by tranquilo2; 08-23-2020 at 10:48 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How to copy a custom column's content of selected book	scmaybee	Calibre	6	08-16-2019 03:58 AM
Move selected data from series column to a new custom column	fvdham	Library Management	3	06-02-2017 03:49 PM
Selected a couple of Authors/Series but Calibre not showing the books selected	lizzyong	Library Management	3	04-16-2015 07:47 PM
Is there a way to have an incrementing playcount	JohnMeloche	Library Management	4	10-13-2014 10:45 AM
Version not incrementing	rbruceporter	Calibre	11	11-27-2010 04:39 PM

08-22-2020, 11:35 AM	#2
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,443 Karma: 8012886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Moderator Notice Moved post to its own thread

08-23-2020, 02:27 AM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	If you are talking about a series, the Manage Series plugin can do this. That can work on the built-in series, or a custom series column. Otherwise, it probably needs a plugin. It probably wouldn't be that hard to adapt the Manage Series plugin to do this. And for curiosity, why do you want to do this? What are you trying to achieve? Maybe we can suggest an alternative way of doing it.

08-23-2020, 10:55 AM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Just because it IS called a Series Custom Column, does not stop you from using it as a 'weighted List" Column. You can title it anything you like TheList [1] ... TheList[99] So use the Manage Series PI to (re)order your list (Drag) from what it contained

08-23-2020, 12:12 PM	#6
tranquilo2 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: none	Thank you. Just tried the Manage Series PI and it works, but I have 6000+ book records and reordering them takes just as long, if not longer, as the Import List, with less flexibility. Thank you all for your help.

08-24-2020, 11:48 AM	#8
tranquilo2 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: none	Thank you davidfor, yes, I agree, as I mentioned before I already use the Import List, and it works, but it is very slow; since the order changes every few days the time it takes to update the metadata becomes an issue. I was just trying to find a faster alternative but I can live with Import List.

Advert

Advert