[GUI Plugin] Action Chains

[chaley]

Originally Posted by capink

My bad. I looked at the release notes and must have missed it. I don't usually update to every new calibre release.

The changes weren't mentioned in the release notes. I suspect Kovid considered them to more technical- than user-oriented.

Also in the release:

• the field_exists() function
• add() & multiply() now take as many arguments as you wish.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by capink

Update: Allow hiding menu entries by putting them in a submenu called invisible.

Thank you for this!

Is "invisible" supposed to be case-sensitive? I had the first letter capitalized and it didn't work.

[capink]

Yes. Could be made case-insensitive in future releases.

[capink]

Version 1.0.0

• Update: Allow Nested sub-menus by using ::: as a separator.
• Fix: Single Field Edit: Bug checking enum types when applying templates.
• Fix: Importing entries should not allow duplicate chain names as it leads to errors when menus are re-built.

[ownedbycats]

congratulations for hitting version 1.0!

[ownedbycats]

A very small UI error, and likely not worth fixing:

When adding a new action to a chain, clicking on the dropdown menu and then immediately alt-tabbing away results in it getting set to "None," which causes a bunch of key errors.

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

congratulations for hitting version 1.0!

Thanks. You helped immensely with your feedback.

[ownedbycats]

Question: How would I set up a template for single-field edit to add an entry to a tag-like?

I have a tag-like #kobocoll for Kobo collections. I'd like to add certain entries depending on the presence of certain entries in #genre column - e.g. if "fantasy" or "science fiction" are present, add "Fantasy & Sci-Fi" to #kobocoll.

thank you!

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Question: How would I set up a template for single-field edit to add an entry to a tag-like?

I have a tag-like #kobocoll for Kobo collections. I'd like to add certain entries depending on the presence of certain entries in #genre column - e.g. if "fantasy" or "science fiction" are present, add "Fantasy & Sci-Fi" to #kobocoll.

thank you!

It would be something along those lines ...

program:
	genre = field('#genre');
	kobocoll = field('#kobocoll');
	intersection = list_intersection(genre, 'fantasy,science-fiction', ',');
	if intersection == '' then
		kobocoll
	else
		strcat(kobocoll, ',Fantasy & Sci-Fi')
	fi

Edit: The template processor in single field edit has been modified to do the following:

• If the template returns a value identical to the current value, it will be discarded and no change will happen.
• If the template returns an empty string, the plugin will unset the column value. This includes all data types (text, numerals, dates ... etc)

[chaley]

Originally Posted by capink

It would be something along those lines ...

program:
	genre = field('#genre');
	kobocoll = field('#kobocoll');
	intersection = list_intersection(genre, 'fantasy,science-fiction', ',');
	if intersection == '' then
		strcat(kobocoll)
	else
		strcat(kobocoll, ',Fantasy & Sci-Fi')
	fi

FWIW: the line 'strcat(kobocoll)' can be written simply as 'kobocoll'.

[capink]

modified.

[capink]

Version 1.1.0

• Fix: Single Field Edit: Don't update column value if template returns a value identical to the current value.

[capink]

Version 1.1.1

• Update: Single Field Edit: Setting template output to empty string deletes the column value for all datatypes.

[ownedbycats]

Thank you!

[capink]

There is a problem with the selection modifier that needs addressing. The search option in the selection modifier did not take into account that some people might have the search highlight option enabled. So if someone with highlight option enabled, decided to use a new or saved search in the selection modifier, and checked the option to select all books in current view, it would actually select all books in the library, since that is the current view (unlike what happens if you do the same steps with the highlight option turned off).

There are two ways to deal with this:

1. Keep the selection modifier action as it is, but temporarily set the highlight feature off and restore it back after the action finishes. The advantage to this is that it is will not break settings configured with older versions. The code for this is already present in the Find Duplicates plugin, so it should be very easy to add.
2. Modify the selection modifier to directly select the books from a search without adding the new search to the search bar and without changing the current view. The selection is going to be within the confines of any previous search or virtual library (the option to clear any search or virtual libraries will still be included).
   
   The advantage to this option is that it is cleaner, and the selection modifier should have been implemented this way from the start. The main problem with this approach; is that it will break actions configured with previous versions of the plugin.
   
   Also since the selection modifier will not add the new search to the search bar, and consequently will not change the book view to reflect the chosen search, I can compensate for this by incorporating this previously posted custom action, as a built-in action in the plugin.

I am leaning towards the second solution, but since it breaks compatibility, I decided to post here first to seek input from others. As a transitional step, I might post a new version that implements the first solution, and then decide whether to pursue the second option or not.