[GUI Plugin] FanFicFare

[ownedbycats]

I do have a bit of custom stuff in my personal.ini to add "Oneshot" to my status column. I wonder if that could somehow be tripping up the anthology status code, but I'm not sure how. My anthologies do tend to consist of series of oneshots though.

custom_columns_settings: 
 oneshot=>#fanficstatus

replace_metadata: 
## Sets one-chapter fics to oneshot
 oneshot=>Completed=>Oneshot&&numChapters=>^1$

# 'add_to_' concats on to existing param, thus the leading comma
add_to_extra_valid_entries:,oneshot,

# oneshot is a copy of status because status itself isn't a list.
include_in_oneshot:status

[MarjaE]

A couple problems I've encountered.

1. I use 2 tag columns, tags and #notes. Although I've set fanficfare *not* to wipe tags when it writes metadata, it still wipes #notes. Is there a way to get fanficfare to keep existing tags in any tags column?

2. I tried to switch from downloading as epubs to downloading as mobis. The resulting mobis crash my preferred reader app on my computer. I haven't tested them on my Kindle. I don't know how these differ from other mobis. Downloading as epub and then converting to mobi still works.

P.S. I've updated, and downloaded the books again, but they still cause crashes.

P.P.S. I paste Categories to #notes, but I want to add the new metadata, not erase my own.

[JimmXinu]

Multi-reply

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I do have a bit of custom stuff in my personal.ini to add "Oneshot" to my status column. I wonder if that could somehow be tripping up the anthology status code, but I'm not sure how. My anthologies do tend to consist of series of oneshots though.

If one of the books in an anthology gets your Oneshot status, the anthology will inherit it.

Originally Posted by MarjaE

A couple problems I've encountered.

1. I use 2 tag columns, tags and #notes. Although I've set fanficfare *not* to wipe tags when it writes metadata, it still wipes #notes. Is there a way to get fanficfare to keep existing tags in any tags column?

If you use the GUI settings in FFF config under the Custom Columns tab to set #notes, you can also check the 'New only' checkbox. FFF will only write #notes on new downloads.

Or, you can use custom_columns_settings in personal.ini to set it and change the mode to 'a' to add to existing values. (Must be enabled at the bottom of the Custom Columns tab first.)

From (plugin-)defaults.ini:

Spoiler:

## (Plugin Only) - You can also populate calibre custom columns with
## the site specific metadata using custom_columns_settings (but only
## if 'Allow custom_columns_settings from personal.ini' is checked in
## the plugin GUI config.)  There are three parts, the entry name,
## then the label of the calibre custom column, then (optionally) a
## 'mode'.  'r' to Replace any existing values, 'a' to Add to existing
## value (use with tag-like columns), and 'n' for setting on New books
## only.  (Default is 'r'.)

## Literal strings can be set into custom columns using double quotes.
## Each metadata=>column mapping must be on a separate line and each
## needs to have one space at the start of each line.

## 'r_anthaver' and 'n_anthaver' can be used to indicate the same as
## 'r' and 'n' for normal downloads, but to average the metadata for
## the differents story in an anthology before setting in integer and
## float type custom columns.  This can be useful for a averrating
## column, for example.  Default is to sum the values of all stories,
## and numChapters and numWords are always summed.

#custom_columns_settings:
# cliches=>#acolumn
# themes=>#bcolumn,a
# timeline=>#ccolumn,n
# "FanFiction"=>#collection
# averrating=>#averrating,r_anthaver

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

2. I tried to switch from downloading as epubs to downloading as mobis. The resulting mobis crash my preferred reader app on my computer. I haven't tested them on my Kindle. I don't know how these differ from other mobis. Downloading as epub and then converting to mobi still works.

FFF's mobi output is ancient and honestly quite bad. It predates me joining the project and it is only still included for the benefit of CLI users who complained when I tried to remove it. I, myself, use Kindles and convert from EPUB on every download.

FAQ: Why doesn't the MOBI output show chapters markers on the progress bar in Kindle or include images?

FanFicFare's MOBI output is less than ideal--it doesn't include chapter markers, nor can it include images. These are complex problems because MOBI is much more difficult to work with than epub.

Given the fact that Kindle has moved on to a newer format (AZW3), it's unlikely FanFicFare's MOBI support is ever going to improve. Unless, of course, somebody who wants it gets involved as a developer and improves it.

Right now, our best suggestion is to download as EPUB and then convert to MOBI.

The Calibre plugin has an option to automatically convert new downloads or updates using Calibre's extremely good Convert feature.

[JimmXinu]

FYI, before anyone complains about it:

I'm seeing update emails from ffnet for chapters that aren't visible on the web site.

This is a problem with the ffnet web site and completely outside FFF's control.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon, but there's no way to tell. ffnet is not known for sharing information--their last tweet/announcement was Apr 1, 2019.

[MarjaE]

I've tried editing personal.ini to add

Category=>tags,a

And saving, and then testing. Each test fails, and I go back to personal.ini, and see that the edit has been reversed. Maybe I have to create yet another custom column? Because adding to #notes was a frustrating kludge anyway.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

FYI, before anyone complains about it:

I'm seeing update emails from ffnet for chapters that aren't visible on the web site.

This is a problem with the ffnet web site and completely outside FFF's control.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon, but there's no way to tell. ffnet is not known for sharing information--their last tweet/announcement was Apr 1, 2019.

I wonder if it's somehow related to the sudden upsurge of RSS notifications of fics with an update date months old (in one case, over a year)?

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by MarjaE

I've tried editing personal.ini to add

Category=>tags,a

And saving, and then testing. Each test fails, and I go back to personal.ini, and see that the edit has been reversed. Maybe I have to create yet another custom column? Because adding to #notes was a frustrating kludge anyway.

1. The metadata entry name is case sensitive--category, not Category
2. You can't use custom_columns_settings to assign to Calibre's tags--it's not a custom column. Calibre's tags are populated with the metadata entries listed in FFF's include_subject_tags setting for historical reasons.
3. If your personal.ini changes aren't being saved, make sure you are clicking 'OK' to close both the personal.ini edit dialog and the FFF config dialog.

[MarjaE]

Right now, the best I've been able to do has one site writing subject tags to tags, and another writing categories to #notes. So I don't want them to overwrite my ~~existing~~ formerly existing metadata, and I do want them to add to the same column. Either column would be fine, as long as it doesn't overwrite and it does add to the same column.

Is there a way to do this?

P.S. As a stop-gap, I've tried

custom_columns_settings:
# cliches=>#acolumn
# themes=>#bcolumn,a
# timeline=>#ccolumn,n
# "FanFiction"=>#collection
# averrating=>#averrating,r_anthaver
category=>#notes,a

But I still have to check "New Only" or it overwrites other notes. "New Only" is a bit of a confusing name, since it seems to suggest either (a) overwriting existing notes, keeping only the new ones, or (b) only adding notres to new books.

[JimmXinu]

@MarjaE -

I'm not going to comment on different sites behaving differently without sites & stories URLs to demonstrate with.

You should use the GUI to assign to #notes, or custom_columns_settings, but not both. I suspect you are seeing the GUI version clear & then set #notes before the custom_columns_settings line gets a turn.

The 'New Only' tooltip makes it clear that it's "Write to %s(%s) only for new books, not updates to existing books."

[ownedbycats]

Could it be possible to add "yes/no to all" for the "this story is already in an anthology..." prompt?

Corner case: I downloaded a series as an anthology. Then I decided the author's other fanfics looked interesting and used the URL scraper to grab them. I didn't know the popup existed so I could change the update mode for existing fics to "skip" (though I'm unsure if that would've helped anyways).

[MarjaE]

Okay, I'm getting the hang of this.

To add to tags, use include_subject_tagscategory name)

To add to a custom column, use custom_columns_settings:
and
(space)(category name)=>#(column),a

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Could it be possible to add "yes/no to all" for the "this story is already in an anthology..." prompt?

Corner case: I downloaded a series as an anthology. Then I decided the author's other fanfics looked interesting and used the URL scraper to grab them. I didn't know the popup existed so I could change the update mode for existing fics to "skip" (though I'm unsure if that would've helped anyways).

The Calibre question_dialog() method used, if invoked with the 'show this dialog again' option remembers when you uncheck that... forever.

And Calibre's gui2.dialogs.message_box.MessageBox class that question_dialog() only implements Yes/No buttons. But it does use QDialogButtonBox, which (theoretically) has QDialogButtonBox.Yes/NoToAll

I'll look into it. Because I've bumped into that too, and PyQt doesn't feel quite as much like black magic as it once did to me.

Originally Posted by MarjaE

Okay, I'm getting the hang of this.

To add to tags, use include_subject_tagscategory name)

To add to a custom column, use custom_columns_settings:
and
(space)(category name)=>#(column),a

Correct.

Assuming "(category name)" == "metadata entry" (eg, status, genre, category, characters, ships, etc, etc).

The [code] wrapper is very useful for showing whitespace and not triggering smileys etc.

I try to use the phrase "metadata entry" consistently. 'category' is already one of the entries, and metadata as an adjective only to avoid any discussion of data vs datum.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

FYI, before anyone complains about it:

I'm seeing update emails from ffnet for chapters that aren't visible on the web site.

This is a problem with the ffnet web site and completely outside FFF's control.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon, but there's no way to tell. ffnet is not known for sharing information--their last tweet/announcement was Apr 1, 2019.

It seems to be working again, at least judging from the one fanfic I was finally able to update.

If you go to the FictionPress twitter itself, it has updates newer than a year and a half ago, though nothing about the current one. I don't know why this doesn't get posted on FFNet or FictionPress's front page though.

[JimmXinu]

I have to disagree--I still have two story notices from yesterday and a new one from over night that don't appear on the web site. Plus another update that I did get the new chapter, but now doesn't appear.

Something bad is still going on. And their direct twitter feed is still last updated a month ago.

[ownedbycats]

Yeah....from the utter lack of RSS feeds now (I usually get 10-15 overnight), it seems to be the case. That one story was probably a fluke. People on Twitter are not very happy.

I've also been having a decent amount of trouble with AO3's RSS feeds timing out the last few days, though the site itself works fine. Seems a bad weekend for fanfic sites. Well, it is 2020...

The current FFNet issue sounds a lot like this one from a month ago.