[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[meme]

Originally Posted by xcfordan :
One quick question/issue: in the "edit collecitons manually" window, is it possible to have the author column sort by last name instead of by first name? Same as it is done in Calibre?

Ok, I was looking at this again while writing up the above post and I realized the Kindle is actually automatically converting lastname,firstname to firstname lastname (or at least from the limited testing I did) for its display. And even if you set the book author to lastname,firstname, the Edit Collections window doesn't show that as the author and doesn't sort on it like I thought.

I've tested some code that will now sort on the author as its found in the book but displays the author as firstname lastname in Edit Collections (with a tooltip showing the author as found in the book). However, this will only work for Mobi files as the plugin can only read the data in a book for Mobi files. So any other file types like txt or pdf will sort by firstname lastname and not what is stored in them. I might be able to override this for books in Calibre, but haven't at the moment.

I'll release it after the next version of Calibre as I've had to make some changes to the plugin to handle an update in Calibre.

If you update calibre to the new version of Calibre when its released, you'll get an error message if you try to change the type of toolbar icon in Customize, although it will change okay after a restart.

[Jen23]

Originally Posted by meme

@Jen23 - So is it working or not working for you? I saw you posted but have removed a comment that you hadn't upgraded to the latest Calibre version. Can you confirm the version Calibre shows and the version of the plugin (there should be an About button on the plugin menu in the latest version).

Sorry for not getting back to you about this...in the middle of a remodel (which has been a nightmare)

At any rate, to answer your question, for some reason when I had updated to the new version of Calibri it didn't stick and when I rebooted Calibri it was using still the old version, that was the issue I was having. After successfully getting it to stay put the plugin worked...not great as it deleted half of my books so I had to mess around with it for a while.

It not perfect yet and I haven't really had a chance to sit down with it again, but I do know that it is having problems recognizing some of my books so it just skips them.

I saw that you have a new version of the plugin available, I will install that and see if I can dial in my sorts.

I have a K3 and am using a Mac with whatever the latest OS for the Mac is (snowleopard X?)...

I just downloaded a bunch of new books so I had planned on messing around with my Kindle again later this afternoon. I will keep you updated (within a reasonable amount of time this time )

Oh and thank you Meme for this, it's great! and You have been most helpful

[meme]

Originally Posted by Jen23

Sorry for not getting back to you about this...in the middle of a remodel (which has been a nightmare)

At any rate, to answer your question, for some reason when I had updated to the new version of Calibri it didn't stick and when I rebooted Calibri it was using still the old version, that was the issue I was having. After successfully getting it to stay put the plugin worked...not great as it deleted half of my books so I had to mess around with it for a while.

It not perfect yet and I haven't really had a chance to sit down with it again, but I do know that it is having problems recognizing some of my books so it just skips them.

I saw that you have a new version of the plugin available, I will install that and see if I can dial in my sorts.

I have a K3 and am using a Mac with whatever the latest OS for the Mac is (snowleopard X?)...

I just downloaded a bunch of new books so I had planned on messing around with my Kindle again later this afternoon. I will keep you updated (within a reasonable amount of time this time )

Oh and thank you Meme for this, it's great! and You have been most helpful

Ok - but best wait until tomorrow (unless you grab the test version above). I'll release a new version then that will also require the Calibre version that will be released today. Its the same as people have been testing, with an update to customize to stop it crashing in certain cases.

Just be certain - I know the plugin did not actually delete any books as there is no code to do that. I assume you mean did not put some of your books in the collections. I believe the version I'll post tomorrow should fix that.

[Jen23]

Hmm...Ok...I will wait then

[Vaesse]

Just wanted to give a heads up about a self-caused issue that makes the Kindle Collections add-on create empty collections. I have been adjusting (simultaneously, so I don't know which is the problem) the metadata plugboard (to put series info in title) and the "export" name (both save to disk and save to device). If I make changes to these and don't then remove and re-add the books from Calibre, the add-on creates all the right collections, but they show up empty. That one had me scratching my head for a day, though, as I said, completely user error.

[meme]

Originally Posted by Vaesse

Just wanted to give a heads up about a self-caused issue that makes the Kindle Collections add-on create empty collections. I have been adjusting (simultaneously, so I don't know which is the problem) the metadata plugboard (to put series info in title) and the "export" name (both save to disk and save to device). If I make changes to these and don't then remove and re-add the books from Calibre, the add-on creates all the right collections, but they show up empty. That one had me scratching my head for a day, though, as I said, completely user error.

For non-Amazon books, the code used in the collections file is based on the pathname of the file on the Kindle. If you change the pathname of the file using a plugboard or move the files around on the Kindle, then the code won't match what is in the collection. As you found, you'll need to add your books to collections again, and possibly delete the old ones. If you use Create then this will be done automatically.

Its a subtle issue and it just got me again this week. I forgot changing the title/path will mean extra work deleting old books on the Kindle and checking collections.

[meme]

A new version with a number of bug fixes is available on the first post of this thread (see my signature for the link).

Calibre 0.8.2 or later is required for this release.

Older versions of the plugin will show an error message when trying to set the toolbar icon so I recommend you upgrade to both Calibre 0.8.2 and this release of the plugin.

It looks like all known bugs in the plugin are fixed after going through a number of test releases. Thanks to everyone who tested and sent in details of their issues. Of course if you find any new issues just post and I'll look into it.

The changes include:

- Fixed creating only empty collections when Kindle is reconnected on Windows
- Fixed incorrect number of books in collections when using split character
- Fixed crash of calibre when using Customize to change toolbar icon menu style
- Fixed incorrectly showing error if FONT_FAMILY setting does not exist
- Changed Edit to sort author by Calibre author_sort if available else name defined in Mobi book
- Removed invalid extension warnings to avoid false positives, but left in debug output
- Added warning message if two collection names from Calibre would conflict if prefix/suffix is ignored
- Added error message if no books on device are retrieved from Calibre
- Added error message if no books on device are retrieved from Kindle
- Added title of book in warning message about manually edited Calibre collections instead of code
- Changed displayed pathnames to full paths in correct windows/linux style
- Requires Calibre 0.8.2 or later due to build_bar fix

The tool bar fix in Calibre was unrelated to the crashing in Customize but it helped identify an issue I had with the toolbar since I had to rewrite the code to handle the toolbar icon (thanks Kovid and kiwidude!). It does mean you have to update Calibre though. Now when you change the type of toolbar icon, you'll need to restart calibre to see it instead of having it update automatically.

I've changed the way the Edit Collections window sorts Author names. It might lead to some confusion, but hopefully improves things for most people. It may need some tweaking based on feedback. Essentially it tries to sort the Authors exactly as Calibre sorts them - using the Author Sort field in Calibre if the book is in Calibre and on the Kindle. If the book is only on the Kindle then it will read the author name from the book if its mobi. If its not mobi and not in Calibre, then no author name will show up. When displaying the author name in the Edit window it will show the Author as firstname lastname even if its sorting by lastname, firstname - which should mimic Calibre and the Kindle. The confusion will come for books not in calibre that have author names that aren't set to lastname, firstname - they will sort by firstname until you add them to calibre or update their author name (or check if you've set the Author Sort field correctly in calibre). The tooltip on the author will show how its being sorted.

Suggestions and feedback welcome as usual.

[Vaesse]

Originally Posted by meme

I've changed the way the Edit Collections window sorts Author names. It might lead to some confusion, but hopefully improves things for most people. It may need some tweaking based on feedback. Essentially it tries to sort the Authors exactly as Calibre sorts them - using the Author Sort field in Calibre if the book is in Calibre and on the Kindle. If the book is only on the Kindle then it will read the author name from the book if its mobi. If its not mobi and not in Calibre, then no author name will show up. When displaying the author name in the Edit window it will show the Author as firstname lastname even if its sorting by lastname, firstname - which should mimic Calibre and the Kindle. The confusion will come for books not in calibre that have author names that aren't set to lastname, firstname - they will sort by firstname until you add them to calibre or update their author name (or check if you've set the Author Sort field correctly in calibre). The tooltip on the author will show how its being sorted.

Suggestions and feedback welcome as usual.

Okay, I'm more than my normal stupid today, as I've been experiencing my first ever seasonal allergy symptoms and/or a MAJOR bad head cold... but does this basically say that (assuming I've run all my books through Calibre) author sort on my Kindle will sort by last name while the author column on the Kindle will show first then last (as usual)? If so, this is AWESOME and something I actually submitted a bug report to Amazon about.

[Vaesse]

Oh, one question about your recent change with the split character:

- Fixed incorrect number of books in collections when using split character

Assume I'm splitting on the "&" on author_sort. What happens if I have set a minimum of 2 books to form a collection and have (for example) one book by Smith, John and one by Smith, John & Smith, Jane? Would it still create a collection for Smith, John?

Or, what if there were two by Smith, John and one by Smith, John & Smith, Jane (or two by the pair and one solo) would the extra book still find its way into the collection?

Just trying to figure out if this will work the way I want it to.

[Grahamc]

I am quite new to Kindle and wondered how to list my books by author - looks like I have found the very thing

Thank you

[meme]

Originally Posted by Vaesse

Okay, I'm more than my normal stupid today, as I've been experiencing my first ever seasonal allergy symptoms and/or a MAJOR bad head cold... but does this basically say that (assuming I've run all my books through Calibre) author sort on my Kindle will sort by last name while the author column on the Kindle will show first then last (as usual)? If so, this is AWESOME and something I actually submitted a bug report to Amazon about.

This change has no affect on what is on your Kindle. It is only what is shown in the Edit Collections window in the plugin.

You can use Calibre to set the book's internal author's name to Lastname, Firstname using the Preferences->Output->Mobi->Use author sort as author (once you've setup all your calibre author_sort fields to be lastname, firstname) and then resend to Kindle.

I believe the Kindle does sort by lastname but show firstname lastname if the book has the author defined as lastname, firstname. But I think I'll have to go and recheck all this just to be 100% sure - my focus was on getting Edit to work like calibre's sorting.

EDIT: well, it does appear to work that way. If I set some books by an author to firstname, lastname, and others to lastname, firstname, then the Kindle sorts them differently. Of course, this only works with MOBI books where the name is embedded. It may work with PDF too as the Kindle does seem to be able to extract PDF author information (though my plugin can't), but I haven't tested that.

[meme]

Originally Posted by Vaesse

Oh, one question about your recent change with the split character:



Assume I'm splitting on the "&" on author_sort. What happens if I have set a minimum of 2 books to form a collection and have (for example) one book by Smith, John and one by Smith, John & Smith, Jane? Would it still create a collection for Smith, John?

Or, what if there were two by Smith, John and one by Smith, John & Smith, Jane (or two by the pair and one solo) would the extra book still find its way into the collection?

Just trying to figure out if this will work the way I want it to.

Hmm, haven't tested that edge case but since minimum checks are done near the end after all the collections are known, my guess is that it will know there are 2 books by Smith, John and therefore create the collection.

Using the split character of & with author sort is telling the plugin to treat each author's name separately so it will add 1 book to each author's collection for the authors listed for the books. Without the split it will treat all the authors as just 1 long name and create just 1 collection.

[Vaesse]

Okay, I've updated Calibre, updated the plugin and recreated collections (and since I did one HOPEFULLY FINAL tweak of name structure, I also removed and added all my books to my Kindle AGAIN before recreating collections). I have one weirdness showing up and I don't know where it's coming from.

I have set up (with my little brother helping me with the coding) a column that populates with the series name (if there is one) or the author sort if there is no series. I did this so that I don't have a bunch of collections for authors I know primarily by their series. I then told that column to split on & (and made sure I have no "&" in my series names). But for some reason, every book I have that's written by Michael Crichton (and ONLY by him) are also showing up under Douglas Crichton though he's not anywhere I can find. What do I need to do to give you the information needed to figure out what's up with this? Everything else looks great! (And I did temporarily re-author a book and it went to the right split collections with only one by that author combo.)

[meme]

In the preview or create report, does it say that 'Douglas Crichton' is coming from the custom column you created, or left on Kindle as Kindle only?

Running in debug mode (see first post troubleshooting) will give a file you can PM me (you can't attach the file but can PM me a link, or how to send a link).

[Vaesse]

It shows it coming from the custom column. Best I can see from the debug output, somehow either Kindle or Calibre or both think "Crichton, Michael" = "Crichton, Michael & Crichton, Douglas" though I've checked author, author_sort, and my custom column and none show Douglas. I believe I have one book that they wrote together, and it is in Calibre, but it is NOT on my Kindle, so I don't see how that could be the problem.