[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

@Pendragon - you cannot nest collections inside collections, it is a limitation of the Kindle. Don't use the term "directory" though, because you can in fact in the file system have the books nested. However file structure is not used for the display of your books on the home screen.

Thanks I'll keep that in mind, in that case if I cant unclutter the startup screen can I change the display to show more than a half dozen items there doesn't seem to be an option to reduce the distance between each entry

[scorpion2782]

Originally Posted by meme

You can also PM me the contents of your gui.json file in your Calibre configuration directory - that file defines what calibre will show where among other things.

Now magically working.... I don't know.... Thank's for the help and sorry

[ianw]

Originally Posted by scorpion2782

Now magically working.... I don't know.... Thank's for the help and sorry

Hi Also, tried to create collections for the first time, mine doesn't seem to work?

Created Custom Column collection

then create collections.

calibre, version 0.8.14
ERROR: Failed to create/preview collections: <b>Failed</b>: Create Kindle Collections

'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 43, in create
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.calibre_in fo", line 191, in load_column_book_info
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 928, in get_metadata
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 1144, in format_metadata
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 1199, in format_abspath
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 520, in path
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

[meme]

Originally Posted by ianw

calibre, version 0.8.14
ERROR: Failed to create/preview collections: <b>Failed</b>: Create Kindle Collections

'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 43, in create
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.calibre_in fo", line 191, in load_column_book_info
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 928, in get_metadata
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 1144, in format_metadata
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 1199, in format_abspath
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 520, in path
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

From the line numbers above it looks like something in the calibre code that is failing since the last line in the plugin is to get metadata for all books in the database. That makes it hard to debug in the plugin. It could be a book with a bad path, or some connection issue with the device.

You could try running calibre in debug mode and see if it tells you anything more. Stop calibre, then on the command line change to a directory you have write permission in, then run "calibre-debug -g > out.txt". Look at the last few lines of the out.txt file to see if it gives any more information on the problem.

[mobichuck]

I use the Tags field to represent Genres for fiction (indicated by Suffixing the tag with a tilde ('~')) and, for nonfiction, I assign a tag with an exclamation appended ('!").

So, I might have tags like this:

Jules Verne, 20k Under
Tags: Classics~, Science Fiction~


History of the United States
Tags: History!


I currently use the plugin to make collections in two passes.

First pass: purge collections, make collections with prefix "__Genre/" for each tag including '~'. This works wonderfully, and I use search and replace in a text editor to kill the ~ and ! chars.

Second pass: preserve collections, make collections with prefix "___Nonfiction/" for tags including a ! char.

This works wonderfully, and gives me:

___Nonfiction/History!
__Genre/Classics~
__Genre/Science Fiction~

The extraneous chars are stripped out with a srch/replace, and I have no problems doing this two-step dance to get two different kinds of prefixes/include criteria for the tags.

It's the MIL factor that's currently killing me. I'd like to be able to give the Mother-In-Law the ability to do the same thing, but having to configure and run the plugin twice, being extremely particular about what's done when, would give her (and hence, me) no end of trouble.

Is there an easy way that I can do what I'm doing in a single step? I've tried reappropriating one of the other items (Publishers) to "Create" based on "Tags" (that field, "Calibre Source", in the plugin is editable), but that doesn't work.

[meme]

@mobichuck,

I wonder if what you need is a Custom Column in Calibre that displays the collection names as you want them. I'll have a look at the template code if someone else doesn't do it first. Sounds like what you want is to convert SomeTAG~ to __Genre/SomeTAG, and SomTAG! to ___Nonfiction/SomeTAG - that's if I've read your post right.

Have you tried using Genre instead of Tags?

[mobichuck]

Originally Posted by meme

@mobichuck,

I wonder if what you need is a Custom Column in Calibre that displays the collection names as you want them. I'll have a look at the template code if someone else doesn't do it first. Sounds like what you want is to convert SomeTAG~ to __Genre/SomeTAG, and SomTAG! to ___Nonfiction/SomeTAG - that's if I've read your post right.

Have you tried using Genre instead of Tags?

You've got it exactly right, that's what I'm after. I think the only reason I've not yet used a custom "Genre" field is that I wasn't sure how easy it would be to copy the "Tags" field from each record to the "Genre" field of the same record, but it looks like standard SQL should work, so I think I can get that figured out...

Thanks for the help! A well-deserved donation is on the way!

[amjbrown]

This is an absolutely superb post. I now have Calibre managing my Kindle. I transferred all my old ePub books to the Kindle, created a custom column for the Kindle collection names, populated it from the Kindle, tidied it up, and assigned all the new books a collection.

I found it very useful to restrict my model to one collection per book. So, my latest purchase sits in "new books", when I start it it will migrate to "bedside table", and when I've finished it "Fiction - A to H". I plan to essentially maintain the collections on the Kindle, repopulating my custom field in Calibre from time to time, and using Calibre for big updates, like a spree in the sales.

I can see there are 1,000,001 ways of exploiting all these features, but that's the one for me

Thanks for all the tips contained above. Donation in the ether.

amjb

[RichardN]

I'm using calibre with the Collections plug-in.
I have seen that there are a lot of directories on my K3 for authors which are empty. They look like items I have deleted on the Kindle away from Calibre.

Going to Calibre and running Kindle Collections>View report it shows a lot of entries showing :
Book with no file - *01118a77c44cea83066459dc3998da2e22135475
Book with no file - *0597c26a337df9a4ac8c2bb724e630e7f0778dff
Book with no file - *0d311bd201e0e3ec1e932ea3343c210f77e51246
Book with no file - *0dbd38690885d09fa26ed1500dc3bf62c6047ee6
etc.

I suspewct that I should only delete books via Calibre and not on the device only.

What is the best way to clean up these errors - does the plug in need an extra feature or what ?

Regards from an generally pretty happy Kindle and Calibre user

[meme]

Originally Posted by amjbrown

This is an absolutely superb post. I now have Calibre managing my Kindle. I transferred all my old ePub books to the Kindle, created a custom column for the Kindle collection names, populated it from the Kindle, tidied it up, and assigned all the new books a collection.

I found it very useful to restrict my model to one collection per book. So, my latest purchase sits in "new books", when I start it it will migrate to "bedside table", and when I've finished it "Fiction - A to H". I plan to essentially maintain the collections on the Kindle, repopulating my custom field in Calibre from time to time, and using Calibre for big updates, like a spree in the sales.

I can see there are 1,000,001 ways of exploiting all these features, but that's the one for me

Thanks for all the tips contained above. Donation in the ether.

amjb

Great to read its working well for you. This seems to be a popular way of doing things. Its not how it was originally set up to be used but its a great easy way of dealing with things. I've been wondering how I might update the first post to highlight this approach a bit more for people who already have collections on their Kindle. As you said - there are a lot of ways the plugin can be used - and any one way that works for you is the best way

[meme]

Originally Posted by RichardN

Book with no file - *01118a77c44cea83066459dc3998da2e22135475
...
What is the best way to clean up these errors - does the plug in need an extra feature or what?

The 'Book with no file' entries are book codes found in the Collections list on the Kindle that have no matching book code on the Kindle. The Kindle generates a book code for every book loaded on the Kindle (the long string of numbers/letters above). If you add a book to a collection then only the code is stored against the collection name, not the book title or path.

I suspect if you delete a book from the Kindle using the Kindle, the Kindle deletes the book and its related code entry in the Collections list. If you delete the book another way (e.g. via Calibre), then the code stays in the Collection list. The plugin sees that code and tries to find a matching book on the Kindle, but since none exists it just shows the code.

You can use the Edit Collections option of the plugin to remove each 'Book with no file' entry from a collection and then save. This does not delete any books from the Kindle - it only tells the Kindle that that particular book/code is not in a collection anymore.

[jokermania]

Great job! I used it in manual mode and I find that CBZ files available on my kindle are not displayed in Collections Plugin.

Could CBZ be managed?

thanks in advance
Ferruccio

[meme]

Originally Posted by jokermania

Great job! I used it in manual mode and I find that CBZ files available on my kindle are not displayed in Collections Plugin.

Could CBZ be managed?

See this post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...postcount=1145

I'll be releasing it as the new version once I get a chance to look at another issue.

[jokermania]

Thanks a lot . You saved me a lot of time

[RichardN]

Many thanks
I cleaned up my K3 by
(1) Deleting all empty directories using a Windows Utility
(2) Reloading all the categories for K3 loaded books back into Calibre, clearing up a few mistakes and then updating the categories on the K3
(3) A few unwanted books appeard on the K3 which I then deleted on the Kindle
(4) I used the edit collections to delete the spurious entries.

Two entries are sticky and won't go - but I have identified them as being my two Dictionaries on the Kindle - they seem to have some special status.

Thanks again, and I hope this summary helps others.

I suspect, in the long-term, we need plugin whose job is to check database consistency on the K3 and between K3 and Calibre.