Adding "translator" field

[loviedovie]

Hi

How can I add a field called "translator" that can viewed under "publisher" in the edit view? Is it possible?

[BetterRed]

Do you mean position a custom column field (Translator) after the Publisher field in the metadata edit dialogue window?

If you do, then I don't think there's a way to mingle custom columns with the standard columns in that window. Have you tried the different values in Preferences->Behaviour->Edit metadata (single) layout:.

If you don't mean that, then "Please explain"

BR

[loviedovie]

I want to add a "translator" (as the person who translates a book) field in the edit metadata window to separate a translator from the original writer, and I still want these 2 fields to be side by side if possible.

I looked at the setting you mention, but I am not sure if it entails what I am trying to achieve.

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Do you mean position a custom column field (Translator) after the Publisher field in the metadata edit dialogue window?

If you do, then I don't think there's a way to mingle custom columns with the standard columns in that window. Have you tried the different values in Preferences->Behaviour->Edit metadata (single) layout:.

If you don't mean that, then "Please explain"

BR

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by loviedovie

I want to add a "translator" (as the person who translates a book) field in the edit metadata window to separate a translator from the original writer, and I still want these 2 fields to be side by side if possible.

I looked at the setting you mention, but I am not sure if it entails what I am trying to achieve.

Add the translator custom column like so:



Where it appears in the MDE window depends on which MDE window layout you use (see previous post). But as previously stated you can't place (mingle/intersperse/mix) custom columns amongst the standard columns.

This limitation is one of the reasons I prefer to edit metadata in the book list using the F2, Tab, and Backtab keys. Using that approach allows me to place columns exactly as I want them, even move them around on the fly if needed.

This may be be tangentially relevant ==>> Preferences->Tweaks->Order of custom column(s) in edit

Controls the order that custom columns are listed in edit metadata single and bulk. The columns listed in the tweak are displayed first and in the order provided. Any columns not listed are displayed after the listed ones [ . . . }

BR

[DaltonST]

Even better, let Calibre update the Translator and Original Title custom columns automatically for you instead of doing it manually.

See the attached.



DaltonST

[loviedovie]

Thanks guys, this is really helpful.

[rebl]

Originally Posted by DaltonST

Even better, let Calibre update the Translator and Original Title custom columns automatically for you instead of doing it manually.
DaltonST

Does this still work in 3.46? And the info to populate the columns -- where does it get from? I checked a few books with translator listed on amazon's site but the columns were not populated (and original title is usually not listed on amazon).

Edit: Finally got it to work. Lesson learnt:
- type of column matters (according to the tooltip: long text column - I had the translator column as comma-separated text with name checkbox checked)
- in the end I figured the info is extracted from inside the epub files
- order of lookup text matters e.g. earlier elements should not be shorthand versions of latter, otherwise part of the text will be included in the title

[LostOnTheLine]

This still works, & reading here helped me realize my error, not using the unreasonable [Long text, like comments, not shown in the Tag browser] for the translator field since it's a creator value field & can contain multiple names & should be in the Tag browser...

My question is why?

Is there a reason it HAS to be a long text paragraph block for this to work?
Is there a reason these fields, #translator & #original_title, which, at least for translator, is part of the standard ePub metadata as one of the "Creator" Roles, with Author, Illustrator, Translator, Editor being standards usually included in the ePUB metadata, with many professional ePUBs even having a Translator field present but blank if in the original language.

It seems very strange to me that these standard fields have no way of being automatically added when the ePUB is imported, & the only workaround I've found so far seems to be this one, requiring a completely inappropriate & UI-cumbersome field for the data.
Is there a reason for this? I know illustrator is often included as a 2nd name in the Author field, which I personally remove, but I figure there has to be a reason they aren't included, I just cannot think of anything that makes sense

[theducks]

I just add it to the Authors
Tom Jones (trans)

Author_sort ignores the (...) part, so it lands under J
I also use (ed), (illus) there

[BetterRed]

For me there's a trade off.

The advantage of using a long text column is that I can use that column type's insert link tool (Ctrl+L) to put a URL 'behind' the name, which is something on which I place considerable value

The downside is that the column doesn't appear in the Tag Browser and I can't put it in a search group. To overcome these deficiencies, I have a Contributors column -- Comma separated text, like tags, shown in the Tag browser with the Contains names option checked -- e.g. Fred Nerk (T) & Mary Smith (I) etc; unlike the Authors column, columns of this type lack a Link field.

And because I find the metadata that publishers include in their products is inconsistent, I don't place any value on having calibre extract it from the format file when I add a book. My experience is that it takes more time to check, correct, and complete what calibre is able to extract, than it takes to enter it directly into the book list cells (that's not a criticism of calibre, it can only extract what's there, and if that's garbage…). I gather the metadata before I add a book and have it pinned so I can see it. As often as not, I can use calibre's metadata copy and paste features to replicate columns from an existing book into the book I'm adding.

BR

[Sarmat89]

Originally Posted by LostOnTheLine

It seems very strange to me that these standard fields have no way of being automatically added when the ePUB is imported

The Calibre author doesn't use that feature (and doesn't care about the users), so it is not there.

[LostOnTheLine]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

And because I find the metadata that publishers include in their products is inconsistent, I don't place any value on having calibre extract it from the format file when I add a book. My experience is that it takes more time to check, correct, and complete what calibre is able to extract, than it takes to enter it directly into the book list cells (that's not a criticism of calibre, it can only extract what's there, and if that's garbage…). I gather the metadata before I add a book and have it pinned so I can see it. As often as not, I can use calibre's metadata copy and paste features to replicate columns from an existing book into the book I'm adding.

I mean yeah, metadata included is definitely inconsistent, like some publishers put ISBN in an unofficial place, I've seen it in like a dozen different places, but most of the time calibre pulls it anyway, & sometimes Translator & Illustrator are in Creator while other times they are under Contributor. But the fact of the matter is that there are OFFICAL tags that are part of the ePUB3 & ePUB2 standards. Some things are kinda ambiguous so I understand them not being recognized, but an eBook software SHOULD support all of the official tags, it doesn't make sense for them to not. I mean there's no specification that specifically says that the Translator goes under Contributor instead of Creator but the standard gives examples that all put Translator & Editor under Contributor while they give inconsistent examples that have Illustrator under both. If calibre recognized just one of the standard ones then you could use software to preprocess & convert anything with the Translator Role under Creator into Contributor.

It shouldn't even be hard to do just a single one. Calibre recognizes ISBNs that are in many different formats, even very obscure ones that are not even close to any version ever outlined in any ePUB revision I'm aware of.
* dc:identifier urn:isbn:#############
* dc:identifier #############
- - * ID Attribute ISBN
* dc:identifier #############
- - * ID Attribute UID
* dc:identifier #############
- - * Identifier Type ISBN
* dc:identifier #############
- - * Scheme ISBN
* dc:identifier #############
- - * Scheme International Standard Book Number
* dc:identifier #############
- - * Scheme URNISBN
* Source #############
* Source eBook ISBN: #############
* Source #############
- - * ID Attribute SourceISBN
* Source URN:ISBN#############
* Source URN:ISBN#############
- - * ID Attribute src-id

All those, or at least most of them, were recognized by calibre & put in the correct spot without issue. Why is a standard, specified value with only 2 possible arrangements not possible?

Originally Posted by BetterRed

My experience is that it takes more time to check, correct, and complete what calibre is able to extract, than it takes to enter it directly into the book list cells

I don't see the point here? The field often exists, so uniformly that someone made a plugin as a workaround to easily get it from the ePUB metadata... There's no reason I should have to manually type it in all the time. I just added a bunch of series for my sister, they all have the translator field populated. Some of the series have 20 volumes & the books in those sets don't all have the same translator. Manually checking the ePUB's metadata is annoying, time consuming, & shouldn't be necessary. That's a lot of work for something that should bee automatic. For books I got myself metadata is easier because if nothing else it's on the box or the digital listing page, but translator is one that doesn't always get listed or is sometimes listed but not easy to see. I really wish more publishers actually put ISBNs on their ePUBs, that's the most annoying thing to find, since there are often multiple editions so if I'm importing one for someone else in my household who may have had it for years & doesn't know which version it is I have to look at the ePUB, try to find it, if it's not there find the publisher, year, edition & search Goodreads for it.



At the very least there should be a way within Calibre to add a field & assign it to a metadata tag, so if a book is imported that has that tag it'll be populated. I mean calibre does that for it's fields already, it even imports Belongs to a Collection data even though it uses it's own unofficial SERIES tag for that information.

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

The Calibre author doesn't use that feature (and doesn't care about the users), so it is not there.

I guess that's really it. I mean if I was making something because I wanted to use it I wouldn't include things that I didn't need or want, but if I was sharing it with others I'd at least make it easy for them to add their own things.

A personal example would be when making tuna sandwiches. My sister & her kids live with me, so often others want some too. They, for some reason, want to have pepper in it, but they don't like the dill relish I put in it. My mom prefers sweet relish in hers so lets pretend she's over too. It's easy enough for me to make it without pepper or relish & let each person add it to their own. There's one, however, who doesn't like that I use Ranch for ¼ of the mayo when I make it. They have to just deal with it or make their own because it's not something you can just add in later conveniently, so I'm gonna make it the way I like, but I can accommodate things that don't cause problems for me & only a little inconvenience, but I'm not gonna harm my own enjoyment for others convenience.

I imagine Calibre's creators feel the same, so I can't fault them for not doing some things, but not letting us use a custom metadata pull field seems like locking the pepper &/or relish in the cupboard so other's can't use it if they want.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

The Calibre author doesn't use that feature (and doesn't care about the users), so it is not there.

Yup I dont care about users. I especially dont care about you. Please dont let the door hit you on the way out.

[kovidgoyal]

translators are not something common enough to warrant their own builtin field. As for adding a mechanism to map epub fields to custom columns, its not something I think is important enough to spend my time on, if you disagree, feel free to work on it and submit a patch.

[DaltonST]

The Job Spy plugin has a tool named 'Extract Original Title/Translator to Update Custom Columns [Selected EPUBs]'. Been around for years.


DaltonST