User Categories in Virtual Libraries

[Tanjamuse]

Hi all.

I was wondering if there is an option to show fx only the tags in the Virtual Library instead of all of them?

I hope that makes sense.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

Hi all.

I was wondering if there is an option to show fx only the tags in the Virtual Library instead of all of them?

I hope that makes sense.

The tags browser shows only the tags in the books contained in the VL, so under one reading of your question calibre already does it.

If you are asking that it show only the tags named in the VL search expression then that won't happen.

If you are asking something else then more explanation is needed.

[Tanjamuse]

When I choose "manage user categories" and then authors in the "category filter" I get every author that's in the library instead of those that are in the Virtual Library.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

When I choose "manage user categories" and then authors in the "category filter" I get every author that's in the library instead of those that are in the Virtual Library.

@Tanjamuse - I think you'll find that Manage Authors, Tags, Publishers and Series are equally unaware of Virtual Libraries.

I for one wouldn't want that to change without an option to retain the current behaviour.

BR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Tanjamuse - I think you'll find that Manage Authors, Tags, Publishers and Series are equally unaware of Virtual Libraries.

I for one wouldn't want that to change without an option to retain the current behaviour.

BR

It isn't clear to me that the comparison to authors etc is completely valid. There are two places in Manage user categories where one could apply the VL: when displaying the list of user categories and when displaying the list of items one can put into a user category. To be equivalent to manage_[something], manage user categories must show all the categories even though they might not have any items in a book in the VL. This won't change.

Showing the values that one can add to a category could go either way. I am not sure what the right answer is so I added the option. See the following screenshots.

[Tanjamuse]

This is exactly what I would like, would it be possible to incorporate it?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

This is exactly what I would like, would it be possible to incorporate it?

The changes are already submitted to Kovid and will probably be in this week's release.

[Tanjamuse]

Thank you yet again for all the hard work

[BetterRed]

That's fine by me chaley - and it was darn quick.

But I do think there is a case for being able limit visibility of the other Managed categories with a similar option, particularly if ones VLs were sharply divided - eg Medical Journals, Adult Fiction, and Motorcycle Maintenance.

And I do tend to be somewhat OCD about consistency

BR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

But I do think there is a case for being able limit visibility of the other Managed categories with a similar option, particularly if ones VLs were sharply divided - eg Medical Journals, Adult Fiction, and Motorcycle Maintenance.

The problem is that there would be an implied contract that while in a VL, changing a category (e.g., a tag) with the editor would change the category only in the books in the VL.

With Kovid's help I was able to make it work when changing an individual category item using the tag browser context menu, but that case is special in that we know we are dealing with a single category item and the user makes the choice of the scope of the change. Doing something similar in the category editor would require a checkbox per line (global or VL) and would require significant changes in the editor to apply edits to the db on an individual basis instead of all in one fell swoop.

User categories don't have this problem because there is only local scope.

[Tanjamuse]

Is it only the publisher's column?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

Is it only the publisher's column?

No. It works on all columns.

Kovid accepted the change so you can see/run it if you run calibre from source.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by chaley

The problem is that there would be an implied contract that while in a VL, changing a category (e.g., a tag) with the editor would change the category only in the books in the VL.
.....
User categories don't have this problem because there is only local scope.

Ah yes, I see what you mean - I don't think I've ever changed a value in Manage Publisher, Tags, Series. In Manage Authors I often change Author Sort and all authors get a unique value in Author Link, I've also occasionally corrected Author Name.

BR