[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[meme]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I may be missing something. It created all of the series collections but did not create any of the author collections that did not have series.

It should work. Custom column is certainly the way to go here.

In the plugin, only set your Custom Column to "Create", and set Author/Author Sort/Series to blank.

Create your custom column (probably comma separated like tags) using the template {series:'ifempty($, field('author'))'} which says if the series column is empty use the author column's data, otherwise use the data from the series column (or use 'author_sort' instead of 'author' to do last name first).

Look on the first post under Calibre tips: Custom Column for more variations.

[meme]

Originally Posted by inpariswithyou

Luckily, I have three degrees, so I was able to wrap my head around the section. What I don't understand, though, is why the plug-in apparently disregards the Kindle sorting order... since my collections before the plug-in sorted exactly as intended, with those special characters marked as ignored. Is there no way around this?

Sorting isn't documented anywhere, so the only way to figure out how the Kindle is sorting was through trial and error. There are some characters that the Kindle will just sort however it wants to - it may sort them one way for a while, but then if something changes it may sort them differently. Its best to only use prefix characters that have a definite sort order so that you can control the sort order.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by meme

It should work. Custom column is certainly the way to go here.

In the plugin, only set your Custom Column to "Create", and set Author/Author Sort/Series to blank.

Create your custom column (probably comma separated like tags) using the template {series:'ifempty($, field('author'))'} which says if the series column is empty use the author column's data, otherwise use the data from the series column (or use 'author_sort' instead of 'author' to do last name first).

Look on the first post under Calibre tips: Custom Column for more variations.

Thank you, Meme. I'll give it another go when I'm back on my feet.
Do I need to tell Calibre to delete the previous collections or just switch them to "blank"?

[meme]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Thank you, Meme. I'll give it another go when I'm back on my feet.
Do I need to tell Calibre to delete the previous collections or just switch them to "blank"?

If you have preserve Kindle-only collections set to true, then you'll have to delete them first.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by meme

If you have preserve Kindle-only collections set to true, then you'll have to delete them first.

Thank you again! That worked, but I have one more question, please: Is there any way, using the template ,to group the authors together and the series together, like we can using prefixes & suffixes the regular way?

[Vaesse]

Never mind, missed that it went to next page. There is probably a way to add the prefixes but it would be in the column not in the collections if you want different for series and authors. But that's beyond me (my brother helps with the template stuff).

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Vaesse

Did you set Kindle collection plugin to use your new column instead if authors or series? Also, can you glance through some books in Calibre to see that the value you expect is in the custom column?

I'm sorry for being daft, but I don't understand the question.

The template is working, however, the authors and series are now mixed together:

The Adventures of Kid Combat
Alcott, Louisa May
Anne of Green Gables
Arenson, Daniel
Assiti Shards
Bandworld


Where as before (through the use of prefixes) I was able to keep all of the series together in alphabetical order and then have all of the authors together in alphabetical order.

The Adventures of Kid Combat
Anne of Green Gables
Assiti Shards
Bandworld

Alcott, Louisa May
Arenson, Daniel


I was wondering if I'd be able to add prefixes to the template allowing it to do the same thing.

[Vaesse]

It is I who was daft, which is why I edited my post. I missed the change of page. I believe you CAN add author and series prefixes, but in the custom column instead of in Kindle collections. The doing of that is beyond me, though. Tomorrow's my 10th anniversary, and so I'm having a tech free day, but if you get no answers before I get back I'll have my brother work on something for you. Just in case, what did you want for series and what for authors?

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Vaesse

It is I who was daft, which is why I edited my post. I missed the change of page. I believe you CAN add author and series prefixes, but in the custom column instead of in Kindle collections. The doing of that is beyond me, though. Tomorrow's my 10th anniversary, and so I'm having a tech free day, but if you get no answers before I get back I'll have my brother work on something for you. Just in case, what did you want for series and what for authors?

First off: A very Happy Anniversary to you and yours! Wishing you many more.

Secondly: Thank you so much for your offer. How incredibly kind of you!

• "[" & "]" (prefix and suffix) for series
• ">{" & "}" (prefix & sufix) for authors

Thank you (and your brother) again.

Have a fabulous Anniversary!

[meme]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

• "[" & "]" (prefix and suffix) for series
• ">{" & "}" (prefix & sufix) for authors

Well, if you are willing to use "()" instead of "{}" then you can use the template:

{series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author'),")"))'}

or if you want author lastname, firstname:

{series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author_sort'),")"))'}

If you want to use {} then you can use:

program: test(field('series'), strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">{",field('author_sort'),"}"))

and if you want you can try listing author followed by series if there is one:

{series:'test($, strcat("[",field('author_sort')," - ",field('series'),"]"), strcat("[",field('author_sort'),"]"))'}

or if you want to use the special characters {} and your original format (although this defeats the purpose of grouping author's books together):

program: test(field('series'), strcat("[",field('author_sort')," - ",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">{",field('author_sort'),"}"))

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by meme

Well, if you are willing to use "()" instead of "{}" then you can use the template:

series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author'),")"))'}

or if you want author lastname, firstname:

series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author_sort'),")"))'}

If you want to use {} then you can use:

program: test(field('series'), strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">{",field('author_sort'),"}"))

and if you want you can try listing author followed by series if there is one:

{series:'test($, strcat("[",field('author_sort')," - ",field('series'),"]"), strcat("[",field('author_sort'),"]"))'}

or if you want to use the special characters {} and your original format (although this defeats the purpose of grouping author's books together):

program: test(field('series'), strcat("[",field('author_sort')," - ",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">{",field('author_sort'),"}"))

You are brilliant! Thank you! I like the Author - Series option.

Two things I've noticed, however, for later consideration:

1. It doesn't seem to like multiple authors. I have a handful of collaborations, and they are skipped when creating collections:
(i.e. - There is a series by Eric Flint called Assiti Shards. The 2nd book was co authored bu David Weber, but the book was left out of the collection until I removed Weber's name).

2. I can not find a way to get certain series or authors ignored while using the template.

Despite those annoyances I do like that option.

Thank you so much for your help!

Oh, I was originally going to try the first option:

series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author'),")"))'}

and noticed that you have to add the "{" before series: to get it to work.

Thank you, again.

[meme]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Two things I've noticed, however, for later consideration:

1. It doesn't seem to like multiple authors. I have a handful of collaborations, and they are skipped when creating collections:
(i.e. - There is a series by Eric Flint called Assiti Shards. The 2nd book was co authored bu David Weber, but the book was left out of the collection until I removed Weber's name)

It has no way of knowing that these 2 authors are really the same for your collection name.

If you want full control over your author and series names for your collection names without modifying the original author/series names then you can do this:

1. Create a custom column, type text, called "Short Author Sort" with lookup name "short_author_sort"
2. Add short/modified author names, to this column only if you want it to be different than the Author Sort column (e.g. make it 'Flint, Eric and friends' for all the books in a series he sometimes works with other authors)
3. Create a custom column, type text, called "Short Series" with lookup name "short_series"
4. Add short/modified series names to this column only if you want it to be different than the Series column (e.g. Poirot instead of Hercule Poirot]
5. Create a custom column, type from other columns, called "Collections" with lookup name collections
6. Enter this as the template - copy all 4 lines and paste into the template field:
   
   program:
   author = test(field('#short_author_sort'), field('#short_author_sort'), field('author_sort'));
   series = test(field('#short_series'), field('#short_series'), field('series'));
   strcat("[", test(series, strcat(author, " -- ", series), author), "]");
   
   
7. In the Kindle Collections plugin Customize screen set 'Create' for the custom field 'Collections'

2. I can not find a way to get certain series or authors ignored while using the template.

This should be a simple matter of putting ".*SERIESNAME.*" without the quotes into the Ignore field for your custom column.

Oh, I was originally going to try the first option:

series:'test($, strcat("[",field('series'),"]"), strcat(">(",field('author'),")"))'}

and noticed that you have to add the "{" before series: to get it to work.

Thanks - I've updated my post.

Thank you, again.

You're welcome.

[Nyssa]

Wow! The author sort situation is quite complicated. Thank you so much for figuring that out.

As for the ignore list, It did not dawn on me to use the asterisks!

[meme]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Wow! The author sort situation is quite complicated.

Well, it depends on what you want - the more restrictions the more complicated the workaround is. If you just want to update the Author Sort field so there is only ever one author then you don't need a separate short author sort field. Same with series. But some people might want the main author/series fields to contain the 'official' information while still being able to tweak it to how they want it to show up on the Kindle as collection names. (A similar extra column approach can be used to change the author/series information in a title when using a plugboard to set the title of a book on the device).

[Nyssa]

Understandable.

I will have to think on whether or not I want to go that far. I was okay with removing Weber's name on the one, but I'm not sure what I want to do with the others.

Now I'm going to go find those tweaks I used months ago to add the series initials to the front of the books. With this template I don't need those anymore.

Thank you for all of your help the last two days. Its made my home page look nicer, less crowded, and more organized.