[GUI Plugin] FanFicFare

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by Da Man

Is it right that I have to redownload the complete fic to get chapters that got updated? It would be nice if FFF could detect updated chapters to prevent having to do that, especially from FFN.

From the first post:

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

...
Main Features of FanFicFare Plugin:

• Download FanFiction stories from over 100 different sites into ebooks. Supported sites list is below.
• Update Calibre metadata from website.
• Update existing EPUB format ebooks, downloading only new chapters.

...

[ownedbycats]

If you mean re-downloading specific chapters, you can open the file in ebook-editor and delete the files for those chapters and it'll re-add them.

I don't think there's a way for FFF to detect that a chapter has been changed after publication.

[JimmXinu]

Sorry, I misread Da Man's post. I thought they were asking to *not* download existing chapters--I interpreted 'updated' as 'added'.

Unfortunately, there's no universal way (and no way at all on ffnet) to detect when existing chapters have been changed.

The least-steps way to handle that case is to download in Overwrite Always mode.

The least-network-traffic way is, as ownedbycats suggests, to delete the chapters that have changed before updating EPUB.

[Da Man]

So it is as I thought. Well, can't be helped. Thank you both.

[Da Man]

I have an idea how to detect (not get) updated chapters automatically in a quite simple way. FFF includes the following timestamp in epubs:

Updated: 2023-10-28 10:29:27

Now when FFF checks whatever site for updates and detects no additional chapters, but the update timestamp found is more recent than the saved one, it could output a message that there are updated chapters somewhere in that story.

You'd have to manually check and delete/get those chapters, but still it'd be a huge help to find such updates.

Is that possible?

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by Da Man

I have an idea how to detect (not get) updated chapters automatically in a quite simple way. FFF includes the following timestamp in epubs:
...

FFF doesn't read or use anything from the title page. It's so configurable (not to mention optional), that it could contain almost anything.

The Saved Metadata Custom Column would be a decent alternate, but it's also optional.

No site that I know of sends notifications when authors change existing chapters--I know ffnet doesn't. So I assume that you're planning on running FFF Update unprompted on potentially large batches of stories?

I'm generally opposed to features that encourage mass update scans. See FAQ: Why shouldn't I just select my entire library and use FanFicFare plugin to check for updates?

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, ffnet doesn't actually change the updated timestamp on modification of existing chapters. But I might be wrong about that.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, ffnet doesn't actually change the updated timestamp on modification of existing chapters. But I might be wrong about that.

It doesn't.

[gthesob]

This is a new one for me. I have no idea what to make of it and didn't find anything helpful in a thread search.

Status
Title
Author
Comment
URL
Error
Unknown
Unknown
'NoneType' object has no attribute 'decompose'
https://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...mplete.367903/

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by gthesob

This is a new one for me. I have no idea what to make of it and didn't find anything helpful in a thread search.

Should be fixed in the posted test version. Link in my sig text.

[ownedbycats]

I noticed characters are sorted alphabetical on the title page. Is it possible to leave them unordered?

[JimmXinu]

## keep_in_order_<entry> options: FanFicFare sorts list entries by default
## (except for author/authorUrl/authorId). But if you want to use an
## extra entry derived from author, it ends up sorted. For example, if
## you added calibre_author: keep_in_order_calibre_author:true
#keep_in_order_author:true

If you also have a custom column that may or may not still sort, depending on how the column is defined. Calibre sorts tag-like columns.

[ownedbycats]

Thank you, I didn't actually realize that keep_in_order could be used on things other than freeformtags.

[gthesob]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Should be fixed in the posted test version. Link in my sig text.

Thanks

[ownedbycats]

I can't quite remember how to do this: How do I remove the ToC numbering only if the title starts with "Chapter"?

I have 2 dozen storyUrl sections for strip_chapter_numbers, hoping to reduce that down a bit.

[JimmXinu]

defaults.ini says:

## (Two versions of chapter_title_strip_pattern are shown below.  You
## should only have one uncommented.)
## This version will remove the leading number from:
## "1." => ""
## "1. The Beginning" => "The Beginning"
## "1: Start" => "Start"
## "2, Chapter the second" => "Chapter the second"
## etc
## Leaves unchanged "1.1" or "1"
## Note that your ToC entry(ies) may be empty if the
## chapter_title_strip_pattern removes everything and you don't have
## add_chapter_numbers:true.
chapter_title_strip_pattern:^[0-9]+[\.: -]+(?=[^0-9]|$)

## This version remove leading numbers and 'Chapter 1':
## "Chapter 1" => ""
## "1. Chapter 1" => ""
## "1. Chapter 1, Bob's First Clue" => "Bob's First Clue"
## "Chapter 2 - Pirates Place" => "Pirates Place"
## etc
## Note that your ToC entry(ies) may be empty if the
## chapter_title_strip_pattern removes everything and you don't have
## add_chapter_numbers:true.
#chapter_title_strip_pattern:^([0-9]+[\.: -]+)?(Chapter *[0-9]+[\.:, -]*)?

So something like this maybe:

chapter_title_strip_pattern:^(Chapter *[0-9]+[\.:, -]*)?

Need to add IVX, etc if you want roman numbers, maybe replace with ^(Chapter *[^ ]+[\.:, -]*)? to get One, Two, etc.