Metadata changes from Content Server?

[Starson17]

I use the Content Server to grab a book and read it. I often don't have immediate access to Calibre that's running the server, so if I finish a book, or spot some bad metadata, there's nothing I can do about it. I have to remember to fix the problem or change the metadata later.

I've been wondering about a change to the search bar that would allow the metadata of all books that meet the search parameters to be changed. For example, let's say I want to mark a book as read. I'd search on the title as follows:
title:"=Huckleberry Finn"
I'd confirm it finds the one book I want marked, then I'd enter in the search bar:
title:"=Huckleberry Finn" set:#read=yes

If I see that title had a typo as in "Huckelberry Finn" I could do this:
title:"=Huckelberry Finn" set:title="Huckleberry Finn"

IOW, the "set" when found at the end of the search would trigger a metadata change, instead of being seen as a field name. The "set:" command would be followed by a field name an equals sign "=" and the value to set the field to.

Does this look useful to others? For Charles and Kovid, are there interactions between the content server and Calibre that make this difficult? Easy? It would be possible to use this on the search bar in the Calibre GUI, too. My initial thought is why bother, but I can see some applications for saved searches that modify metadata. It's primarily the content server that I'm interested in, however.

Alternatively are there other options to remotely change metadata that I haven't thought of or that are on the ToDo list?

Thanks for any comments.

[kovidgoyal]

the content server is designed to be readonly. Changing it to modify the database will be rather problematic, since the database is not designed for simultaneous write access.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

the content server is designed to be readonly. Changing it to modify the database will be rather problematic, since the database is not designed for simultaneous write access.

So the problem is that someone might be changing the DB from the GUI while someone else is changing it from the server?

If I implemented this within the GUI search code, would it immediately pass thru to the content server search code? I might do it for myself, if it isn't too hard, and just live with knowing about the risk.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Starson17

For Charles and Kovid, are there interactions between the content server and Calibre that make this difficult? Easy?

Making the content server read/write would violate several design decisions. I don't think it is practical if the C/S is running along with calibre. It might be possible if the C/S is running standalone.

Alternatively are there other options to remotely change metadata that I haven't thought of or that are on the ToDo list?

I had something like this on my 'feature list' for my android work. Unfortunately, it went away when my android project went away.

I could imagine a r/w client tied into the GUI but running as a separate thread. We have all the necessary bits in place to prevent simultaneous update. What I am not sure if is whether GUI data would be refreshed. There is a notification mechanism, but I have never used it.

Edit: Typical... Kovid beat me to it.

[kovidgoyal]

yes, that and that fact that more than one person could be connecting to the server at the same time is the problem.

If you modify the search_getting_ids function to do what you want, then it will work for the content server as well.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by chaley

Making the content server read/write would violate several design decisions. I don't think it is practical if the C/S is running along with calibre. It might be possible if the C/S is running standalone.

Do you see any problems if I simply modify search_getting_ids to change metadata and carefully refrain from letting anyone else modify metadata remotely or via the GUI? I can even refresh the GUI without concern, as no one will be using it during remote access.

I'd like to leave the GUI running, if possible

[kovidgoyal]

if you're running the CS from within the calibre GUI, there should be no problems.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

if you're running the CS from within the calibre GUI, there should be no problems.

Thanks!

[jrt3a]

Starson17, did you figure out a way to edit metadata remotely that non-coders could implement? I'm eager to find a way to do this.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by jrt3a

Starson17, did you figure out a way to edit metadata remotely that non-coders could implement? I'm eager to find a way to do this.

No. You need to code to do what I was doing. It probably wouldn't help anyone else much, as I set it up to allow me to make certain very specific custom changes remotely. Most aren't the kind of changes that would make sense for anyone else. And, of course, as soon as I did that, I started having to worry about other users logging in. It was only safe for the situation where I could guarantee I was the only user.