Template: Show only first value in a taglike

[ownedbycats]

I have this template in KoboTouchExtended's subtitle field:

program:
	if field('#serieslike') then
		 template('{#serieslike} #{#serieslike_index:0>2s}')
	else
		if field('#taglike') then
			template('{#taglike} | {#enum}')
		fi
	fi

(For context, #serieslike is for reading lists, #taglike is fanfic category, and #enum is fanfic status.)

This works as expected. However, I noticed books with multiple values in #taglike tend to cause the subtitle length to overflow on my Kobo. So I'd like it to just display the first value. How do I do that?

[chaley]

Use

{#taglike:sublist(0,1,\,)}

Note that 'first item' might be a rather loose concept. I don't remember if the list is sorted.

[ownedbycats]

I noticed that in Edit Metadata and the book details they appear in alphabetical order, though that might be FanFicFare's doing. Thank you!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I noticed that in Edit Metadata and the book details they appear in alphabetical order, though that might be FanFicFare's doing. Thank you!

Multiple value fields except authors are sorted when they are displayed.

If it turns out the values are not sorted and if it matters then this TPM template takes care of it

{#taglike:'sublist(list_sort($, 0, ','), 0,1,',')'}

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by chaley

Multiple value fields except authors are sorted when they are displayed.

If it turns out the values are not sorted and if it matters then this TPM template takes care of it

{#taglike:'sublist(list_sort($, 0, ','), 0,1,',')'}

Calibre doesn't sort them except at display time. Editing the metadata can cause a sort. And some plugins, such as FFF sort tags and possibly other tag-like fields.

I'm not a fan of this, and have removed the sorting of tags from all the places in calibre that sorts them that I could find. If I ever get around to rewriting the tag editor to allow ordering, I might see about adding it as a tweak.

[ownedbycats]

program:
	if field('#readorder') then
		 template('Reading List: {#readorder} #{#readorder_index:0>2s}')
	else
		if field('#fanficcat') then
			template('{#fanficcat:'sublist(list_sort($, 0, ','), 0,1,',')'} | {#fanficstatus}')
		fi
	fi

Gives me a "Missing closing parenthesis near 'sublist'" error. I tried adding one in a few places where I thought they might belong but it didn't go away. did I make a mistake of placing it?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

program:
	if field('#readorder') then
		 template('Reading List: {#readorder} #{#readorder_index:0>2s}')
	else
		if field('#fanficcat') then
			template('{#fanficcat:'sublist(list_sort($, 0, ','), 0,1,',')'} | {#fanficstatus}')
		fi
	fi

Gives me a "Missing closing parenthesis near 'sublist'" error. I tried adding one in a few places where I thought they might belong but it didn't go away. did I make a mistake of placing it?

Mixing TPM and GPM can lead to very strange errors because of quote matching. In your case the single quote after template( matches the quote after the colon, messing up the expression. To fix it you must use a combination of single and double quotes and ensure that the quotes balance correctly. In your case change the first and the last single quote to double quotes, giving you

template("{#fanficcat:'sublist(list_sort($, 0, ','), 0,1,',')'} | {#fanficstatus}")

I recommend that you don't intermix the two language forms. Instead of using "template" with TPM, construct the result yourself. For example (and using columns I have),

strcat(sublist(list_sort(field('#genre'), 0, ','), 0,1,','), ' | ', field('author'))

Not only is this safer, it is significantly faster. If your template uses prefixes and suffixes then use the finish_formatting() function.