Kobo plugboard setup?

[Phssthpok]

I have just got a Kobo Libra2 to replace my ailing Kindle, which after only 2 years has arteriosclerosis of the battery. I have a plugboard for the Kindle which replaces "&" by ";" in the author_sort list, so both authors are recognosed when there are multiple authors; and another one to put a checkmark and space in front of the title for books which I have read (encoded as rating = 5), so I can tell them apart from unread books easily. I put them in a separate collection so they weren't shown in the main book list if I sorted by collection.

I tried uploading a few books to the Kobo without a plugboard, but only the first author in multi-authored books was recognised. I tried the same plugboards as the Kindle:

title = {rating:contains(5,✓ ,)||}{title}

which works fine, but I can't figure out what to do with the authors. For the Kindle I used

authors = {author_sort:re(&,; )}

The space after ";" is not really there, but without it "; )" displays here as "". This takes "W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman" and turns it into three authors: "Sellar", "W.C. ; Yeatman" and "R.J." I tried using a comma instead of a semicolon as a separator:

authors = {authors:re(&,,)}

But then I just get books authored by some guy called "PLUGBOARD TEMPLATE ERROR"

So, can anyone tell me what I need to to for multiple authors?

Also, is there a way of automagically marking books on the Kobo as read, so I can just filter out the books I've read rather than using a checkmark?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

[Phssthpok]

Oh, silly me, I needed to quote the ",":

authors = {authors:re(&,\,)}

But now I have 4 authors: "R.J.", "Sellar", "W.C." and "Yeatman".

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Also, is there a way of automagically marking books on the Kobo as read, so I can just filter out the books I've read rather than using a checkmark?

You can set them directly on the device (long-press on a book and then click on "Set as Finished") or you can do it massively by using KoboUtilities plugin while the device is connected to Calibre (KU allows you to store the reading position from Kobo TO Calibre, but also to restore the reading position from Calibre TO the device, or to set the metadata and reading status on the device)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=215339

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Oh, silly me, I needed to quote the ",":

But now I have 4 authors: "R.J.", "Sellar", "W.C." and "Yeatman".

Try and check this out, if it works for you https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...04&postcount=7

[isarl]

The linked post deliberately chooses to use “and” for the last separator, which may affect the metadata parsing on the Kobo (though I haven't tested). Nickel expects the authors to be comma-separated in order to parse them properly and display books under the correct entry in the Authors view of your library. I use the following template, but I also clean up my authors metadata and remove suffices such as “, MD” or “, PhD”. (Otherwise, you end up with an “author” in the Kobo database whose name is literally “MD” or “PhD” or what have you.)

program: raw_list('authors', ', ')

If you wish to support authors with commas in their names without experiencing the above problem then I suggest finding a character similar to a comma (I will use an @ symbol below as a placeholder, for the sake of example) and doing two substitutions, one to change out author-internal commas, and a second to replace Calibre's default separator of an ampersand with the comma expected by Nickel:

program: list_join(', ', re($authors, ',', '@'), '&')

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by isarl

The linked post deliberately chooses to use “and” for the last separator, which may affect the metadata parsing on the Kobo (though I haven't tested). Nickel expects the authors to be comma-separated in order to parse them properly and display books under the correct entry in the Authors view of your library. I use the following template, but I also clean up my authors metadata and remove suffices such as “, MD” or “, PhD”. (Otherwise, you end up with an “author” in the Kobo database whose name is literally “MD” or “PhD” or what have you.)

program: raw_list('authors', ', ')

If you wish to support authors with commas in their names without experiencing the above problem then I suggest finding a character similar to a comma (I will use an @ symbol below as a placeholder, for the sake of example) and doing two substitutions, one to change out author-internal commas, and a second to replace Calibre's default separator of an ampersand with the comma expected by Nickel:

program: list_join(', ', re($authors, ',', '@'), '&')

Thanks. All of the above has led me to use author_sort as a basis (which I have already set up to turn the likes of "Walter M. Miller, Jr" and "Gardner Dozois (ed.)" into "Miller Jr, Walter M." and "Dozois, Gardner").

So the final result is this:

{author_sort:'re(list_re($, '&', '^(.*),(.*?)$', '\2 \1'),'&',' , ')'}

(having found out the hard way that the separating commas need spaces around them -- a comma without spaces seems to be treated as part of the name, and if there is a trailing space it is removed).

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Lys

You can set them directly on the device (long-press on a book and then click on "Set as Finished") or you can do it massively by using KoboUtilities plugin while the device is connected to Calibre (KU allows you to store the reading position from Kobo TO Calibre, but also to restore the reading position from Calibre TO the device, or to set the metadata and reading status on the device)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=215339

Thanks. I've installed the KU plugin, but the % read column must be a plain number. I tried setting up a custom column whose value is set to 0 or 100 according to the rating value, but KU won't let me use it. (Probably 0 is not a good idea anyway for books I've started...)

And I have no idea how to set up Calibre to set the value of a custom column to 100 for all selected books (which I can do via the metadata dialog for the rating), or how to set the column whenever the rating changes.

Still, I'll keep playing with it and see if I can think of anything else.

[Lys]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Thanks. I've installed the KU plugin, but the % read column must be a plain number. I tried setting up a custom column whose value is set to 0 or 100 according to the rating value, but KU won't let me use it. (Probably 0 is not a good idea anyway for books I've started...)

And I have no idea how to set up Calibre to set the value of a custom column to 100 for all selected books (which I can do via the metadata dialog for the rating), or how to set the column whenever the rating changes.

Still, I'll keep playing with it and see if I can think of anything else.

The % is stored from the device on connection, so that's the reason KU wants an integer number and not a composite column.

The supposed workflow with KU is (Kobo to Calibre):

• Connect the device
• KU stores the reading position and % (plus date) on three columns

If you need to restore something TO the device you have two options

• Set the reading %
• Set the Reading Status

To restore the reading % you need the % column to be filled with the needed % (this will also automatically update the reading status)

If you don't want to set the reading %, but you just want to set books as "Finished", you just need to select the books, select the "update metadata on device" option, and then flag the set reading status as needed (see image).

If you want to also mass update % to 100, you can select your books and then click on "Edit metadata" and input 100 for your list (as long as your % column is an integer and not a composite column).

Hope this is helpful

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Thanks. All of the above has led me to use author_sort as a basis (which I have already set up to turn the likes of "Walter M. Miller, Jr" and "Gardner Dozois (ed.)" into "Miller Jr, Walter M." and "Dozois, Gardner").

So the final result is this:

(having found out the hard way that the separating commas need spaces around them -- a comma without spaces seems to be treated as part of the name, and if there is a trailing space it is removed).

This is quite surprising to me. You're using author_sort which means you are specifically starting out with Lastname, Firstname. Then you swap around the comma? Aren't you just manually putting them back into Firstname Lastname? If I understand list_re properly, this will also DROP any authors who do not have a comma in their names (which can happen even in author_sort mode – consider mononym authors such as “Æsop” for instance).

Did you try out the second suggestion from my comment above, using list_join() and re()? If so then what was insufficient about it? (Also, as you can see from my original example, only the trailing space is needed. The commas do not require a space in front.)

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by isarl

This is quite surprising to me. You're using author_sort which means you are specifically starting out with Lastname, Firstname. Then you swap around the comma? Aren't you just manually putting them back into Firstname Lastname? If I understand list_re properly, this will also DROP any authors who do not have a comma in their names (which can happen even in author_sort mode – consider mononym authors such as “Æsop” for instance).

Did you try out the second suggestion from my comment above, using list_join() and re()? If so then what was insufficient about it? (Also, as you can see from my original example, only the trailing space is needed. The commas do not require a space in front.)

No, I'm using author_sort because it's a sanitised version of authors, consisting of "last, first" (with some special values for people with suffixes like Jr on their published names). So I wanted to avoid using the raw names in favour of the sanitised ones. I would then have to replace "," with another delimiter, replace "&" with ",", then put the commas back in. So I did it this way instead for "simpkicity".

When I tried with a trailing space only it didn't seem to work. Maybe I fubared it when I copy/pasted to the plugboard. I'll try it again.

Anyway, what I'm doing with list_re is splitting the list of multiple authors on "&" (NOT on the commas!), reversing "last, first" to "first last" in each case, and then replacing the "&" separators with (space-surrounded) commas. So for example:

Walter M. Miller Jr. & Jack C. Haldeman II (ed.)

has as its author_sort string the following:

Miller Jr., Walter M. & Haldeman II, Jack C.

(And come to think of it, I could leave the "(ed.)" bit in the author_sort version without affecting the sort order...)

"Miller Jr., Walter M." is then rearranged back to "Walter M. Miller Jr.", "Haldeman II, Jack C." is rearranged back to "Jack C. Haldeman II (ed.)", and the final result is

Walter M. Miller Jr. , Jack C. Haldeman II

which givesnthe desired result.

And for single author books, list_re() returns a list of one item, which is then rearranged.

But you're right, it doesn't seem to work for single-name authors. No comma, no match in the RE. Hmm...

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Lys

If you don't want to set the reading %, but you just want to set books as "Finished", you just need to select the books, select the "update metadata on device" option, and then flag the set reading status as needed (see image).

Aha! (A picture is worth a thousand words.) Setting to "Finished" is indeed what I want.

Hope this is helpful

Very much so. Many thanks!

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

No, I'm using author_sort because it's a sanitised version of authors, consisting of "last, first" (with some special values for people with suffixes like Jr on their published names). So I wanted to avoid using the raw names in favour of the sanitised ones. I would then have to replace "," with another delimiter, replace "&" with ",", then put the commas back in. So I did it this way instead for "simpkicity".

When I tried with a trailing space only it didn't seem to work. Maybe I fubared it when I copy/pasted to the plugboard. I'll try it again.

Anyway, what I'm doing with list_re is splitting the list of multiple authors on "&" (NOT on the commas!), reversing "last, first" to "first last" in each case, and then replacing the "&" separators with (space-surrounded) commas. So for example:

has as its author_sort string the following:

(And come to think of it, I could leave the "(ed.)" bit in the author_sort version without affecting the sort order...)

"Miller Jr., Walter M." is then rearranged back to "Walter M. Miller Jr.", "Haldeman II, Jack C." is rearranged back to "Jack C. Haldeman II (ed.)", and the final result is

which givesnthe desired result.

And for single author books, list_re() returns a list of one item, which is then rearranged.

But you're right, it doesn't seem to work for single-name authors. No comma, no match in the RE. Hmm...

Yes, I understand what you're trying to do. What I don't understand is why you didn't try my suggestion above which is much simpler than all the hoops you are trying to jump through and which, as I mentioned and which you have now observed for yourself, does not meet your goals anyway (it omits some authors). Allow me to repeat myself, which I don't enjoy doing: did you try my suggestion, and if so, how did it fail to meet your needs? If you're seeking simplicity, my earlier suggestion seems simpler to me and also more robust than what you have come up with here.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

But you're right, it doesn't seem to work for single-name authors. No comma, no match in the RE. Hmm...

Cheap-and-nasty fix: make the comma-plus-name optional:

{author_sort:'re(list_re($, '&', '^([^,]*)(,(.*))?$', '\3 \1'),'&',', ')'}

The only issue is that it's now taking everything up to the first comma as the last name, whereas before it was everything up to the last comma -- but there's only ever one (by design, when I tweak the author_sort values for "special" names), so it doesn't matter.

Leading and trailing spaces seem to be trimmed, so no further effort is needed.

Oh, and you're right about the trailing-space-only thing -- I must have fumbled it before.

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Cheap-and-nasty fix: make the comma-plus-name optional:
The only issue is that it's now taking everything up to the first comma as the last name, whereas before it was everything up to the last comma -- but there's only ever one (by design, when I tweak the author_sort values for "special" names), so it doesn't matter.

Leading and trailing spaces seem to be trimmed, so no further effort is needed.

Oh, and you're right about the trailing-space-only thing -- I must have fumbled it before.

You're still messing about with a regex that's way more complicated than you need. I have no interest in helping you debug a regex that I don't see as necessary, so unless you have more feedback about how my suggestion was insufficient for your needs, I will be bowing out from further help here.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by isarl

Yes, I understand what you're trying to do. What I don't understand is why you didn't try my suggestion above which is much simpler than all the hoops you are trying to jump through and which, as I mentioned and which you have now observed for yourself, does not meet your goals anyway (it omits some authors). Allow me to repeat myself, which I don't enjoy doing: did you try my suggestion, and if so, how did it fail to meet your needs? If you're seeking simplicity, my earlier suggestion seems simpler to me and also more robust than what you have come up with here.

Yes, I tried it, and the problem is this: if I have a book by authors "Walter M. Miller, Jr. & Jack C. Haldeman II & Gardner Dozois (ed.)", I end up with "Walter M. Miller@ Jr., Jack C. Haldeman II, Gardner Dozois (ed.)".

In the authors list on the Kobo the author names are sorted on the (ed.) and the Jr and the II, rather than on Dozois, Haldeman and Miller. This is the big problem. Jr, II, and (ed.) are not surnames, and I don't want to remember that Walter M. Miller is Jr when I'm searching for books by him. I have over 5000 books, so I want to be able to find things easily. It was having the first authors on my list filed under (ed.) that started me looking at this while plugboard issue.

But thanks for pointing me in the right direction.