[GUI Plugin] Reading List

[kiwidude]

Hi Kovid, yeah I've been going back and forth in my mind about it. My initial thought was exactly the same as yours of adding a checkbox to control the behaviour. Then I worried about adding "yet another" option to the GUI, and whether you make it at the per list or at plugin level.

There is arguably one significant difference between what this plugin does, and that dialog being triggered elsewhere in calibre. The removal of books is a delayed action (unlike a user accidentally choosing the wrong "Remove" option on a right click. If a user modifies a reading list, they have the opportunity to reverse that action before they plugin or manually sync to their device. So they can review their list before actually sync.

Since the plugin only removes books that also exist in calibre, in normal usage there should be no harm caused by a user "screwing up" and removing a book. However there are always edge cases I guess - such as a user accidentally removing the format for a book, and their only copy existing on the device, that they then contrive to somehow accidentally put on a reading list for removal

So - if I make it an optional dialog to avoid, the simplest option may be to stick it on the Other Options tab in the plugin configuration, and make it apply across all lists.

[kovidgoyal]

plugin level is good enough, IMO

[tilia]

Editing a list works, but when I close the pop-up window I get:

calibre, version 0.8.27
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>AttributeError</b>:'ReadingListAction' object has no attribute 'apply_tags_to_list'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.reading_list.action", line 460, in edit_list
AttributeError: 'ReadingListAction' object has no attribute 'apply_tags_to_list'

I get the same error regardless of whether the list is set to update a column or not.

[kiwidude]

@tilia - I suspect you downloaded the "first version" of the zip in my last beta post. Shortly after I posted it I replaced it with another version that should fix that issue. Can you try it again with that version?

[tilia]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

@tilia - I suspect you downloaded the "first version" of the zip in my last beta post. Shortly after I posted it I replaced it with another version that should fix that issue. Can you try it again with that version?

Downloaded plugin again, no error this time

[kiwidude]

Changes in this release:

• Add list type of "Auto populate list from books on device". Populated when you sync. You cannot manually add/remove.
• Add Clear menu items for fast way of clearing the contents of a list
• Fix to ensure when a list has auto-clear turned on, items are removed even if not found necessary to sync them
• Move the devices list onto its own tab to simplify list appearance
• Add an option on Other Options tab for whether to display the remove books from device dialog, allowing unattended syncing.

I've talked about this release during the beta phases in recent comments, but to repeat myself the main feature is the ability to create a read-only list that is auto-populated based on what books are currently on your device. It is another "twist" and for instance may suit people who are happy to simply use the existing calibre send to device functionality, but want a way to know when a device is not connected what books are on it. As with any reading list you can either view it using the menus, or you can assign a tags or custom column to be updated when a books is added to the list.

The other main changes for 1.4 have primarily been a complete cosmetic update, hopefully making the options dialog a little easier and less confusing.

The final change is that discussed in the last few posts, offering users the ability to sync using the Reading List plugin without having a dialog appear asking them to confirm any books being removed from the device. Note that dialog only appears for certain list types anyway, but now you have an option to ensure it never appears while using this plugin.

Thanks to capnm and tilia for their testing and feedback, it has been quite a major overhaul of the plugin so hopefully not too many other gremlins remain from my changes.

[ElMiko]

hi kiwidude-

Thanks for the latest update. I'm actually looking for a point of clarification on a couple of options from earlier versions. Specifically, I've never been totally clear on the two "Replace" options for syncing. How is the "Replace device with list, add new items only" option different from the "Add new Items only"? And how is the "Replace device with list, add/overwrite all" option different from "Replace..., add new items only"?

[capnm]

Originally Posted by ElMiko

How is the "Replace device with list, add new items only" option different from the "Add new Items only"? And how is the "Replace device with list, add/overwrite all" option different from "Replace..., add new items only"?

"Replace device with list, ....." deletes non-list books from the device.
"Add new items only" doesn't update books on the list that are already on the device.
"Add/overwrite all" copies all books on the list to the device, copying over those already on the device.

[ElMiko]

@capnm - Thanks! That will definitely increase the efficiency in my syncing workflow. I just didn't have the guts to experiment on a populated device!

[kiwidude]

Thx capnm for helping out, I wonder if I should put some sort of explanatory text panel into the gui like I did with Find Duplicates.

Just one further clarification on the "Replace device with list..." options. The books that get removed from the device must also exist in calibre (just not on your reading list). So for instance if you have dictionaries or other books on your device that you have not put in calibre these will remain untouched, regardless of what you put on your reading list.

[capnm]

@ElMiko--

Originally Posted by kiwidude

The books that get removed from the device must also exist in calibre ....

And if, like me, you send a book to your reader, decide it needs work to be more readable, make a copy, futz with it, merge it back in, etc. -- there's a reasonable chance it won't be recognized as being the same as the book on the reader.
It turns out the matching protocol is fairly complex, I quickly stopped thinking about it.
Instead I occasionally check my reader for 'orphans' --
go to device view and search/sort the In Library column (inlibrary:false),
and for 'doubles' --
in library view search/sort the On Device column (ondevice:"books"),
and get rid of them.

[kiwidude]

@capnm - yes, I think there is an unavoidable limitation in the way calibre's device book matching works that if people "mess about" with the books in terms of metadata then all bets are off when it comes to orphaning.

I would not expect there to be any issue if someone just edits a format and re-sends it, provided the title/author is unchanged. However by creating copies of records, then merging the wrong way etc I am not surprised you have orphaning issues.

Personally I would just rely on an external backup for a format if I was concerned I would screw it up with my editing/conversion rather than creating more book records (and hence another calibre unique id which would cause the old id to fall off any lists if merged into that new record). Or use calibre's own conversion backup stuff. I think creating new book entries and merging between etc is making life a bit harder for yourself but if it is a workflow you feel comfortable with then I can't argue with it

It is also another reason why the only books I send to my Kindle come from my "cleaned up library" where my metadata is 100% sorted and books are reformatted. On rare occasions when I read the book I find additional typos or whatever within the text, but unless I plan on offering the book to someone else I am rarely bothered to fix them as I am unlikely to re-read myself (with a TBR backlog already many years long!). However when a rare occasion arises, a simple edit of the book in Sigil of the ePub, reconverting the MOBI and just sending it to the device again has caused no issues whatsoever.

[nynaevelan]

Kiwidude: Did you remove the option to rename a device, I am having the hardest time to rename a connected folder?

[kiwidude]

Not intentionally, no . I wont get home to try it for a few hours. It is possible something got broken in that regard when I moved it to the other tab. If you run calibre in debug mode you should see any error messages,

[capnm]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

.... unless I plan on offering the book to someone else I am rarely bothered to fix them as I am unlikely to re-read myself

I didn't have any issues until I developed an in-house (literally) user base -- and then I trained them to expect ebooks to be well formatted for easy reading

Somebody on here (you?) (chaley?) once commented on how family users could be extra demanding ....