Does this happen to you? Series info deleted after modifying a field.

[aleyx]

Originally Posted by At_Libitum

So aleyx's claim that any field gets nulled in which you type something and then remove it before applying is not what I am seeing

It's certainly possible. As I said, it's just the way I see it. I don't have any intimate knowledge of Calibre's code, so I can only infer from what you've described.

I can infer wrongly. It's happened before, may have happened here, and certainly will happen again.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by MelBr

So to delete fields you just leave fields empty?

Can you tell me which fields will be replaced with null here:

This is Bulk mode so there is a tick box. Single edt mode has no tick as you can just cancel the Bogus change

Nothing because the change tick is not marked.
When you DO something, the field gets flagged.
When you change your mind, you need to remove the TICK for that field, it can't guess that blank is not wanted in this case

[At_Libitum]

@theducks,

the funny thing is that for Series information that tickbox is never checked no matter what you do in the Series field. Logical because it does not say "Apply". That is why it does not feel logical that it should do exactly that when editing the field and changing your mind, even without the tick

[theducks]

Originally Posted by At_Libitum

@theducks,

the funny thing is that for Series information that tickbox is never checked no matter what you do in the Series field. Logical because it does not say "Apply". That is why it does not feel logical that it should do exactly that when editing the field and changing your mind, even without the tick

I noticed that the box name (and usage) was not consistent with that of some other fields.

If you have/allow a <Blank> series (as opposed to an Undefined series), you don't need a Clear box, but you GET the results stated

So I think allowing a Blank or whitespace only in the series (change) field should be blocked from making any change. OR add the Apply Series Tick.

[MelBr]

Originally Posted by theducks

When you DO something, the field gets flagged.

What if I tab through an empty field or just place an i-beam cursor in an empty field? Does that mean I want those fields nulled? How is that different from leaving them empty?

When you change your mind, you need to remove the TICK for that field, it can't guess that blank is not wanted in this case

There is no tick of any kind.

If I leave nothing in the field, that doesn't mean I want it nulled... that's what "Clear series" checkbox is there for. Not sure why else it would be there for.

Anyway, that's what's logical when looking at that dialog.

[Adoby]

Calibre keeps track of what fields have been updated, even if you revert back to an empty field. If you press OK, then all the updated fields will be used to update the books. That is how calibre works. You may not like it, but you have to learn to live with it.

Sure there is room for some improvements of the GUI to make this more obvious. Perhaps a tick box for each of the fields that is automatically ticked when you update a filed, to indicate that calibre will apply the value of the field to the books. Also the Clear Series box may be a little confusing and redundant.

Feel free to refine and suggest this as an improvement of the GUI. Perhaps Kovid will fix it. But the dialog is already cluttered...

But I can live with calibre as it is now, I know how it works and it seems perfectly logical to me. And I prefer a simple GUI.

[MelBr]

Just got an email from bug tracker. Kovid fixed this bug!

Thanks Kovid!