[GUI Plugin] Import List

[kiwidude]

Release Notes
https://github.com/kiwidude68/calibr...rt_list-v1.9.1

Please give this a whirl @Rellwood - I admit to not trying this (I don't use this plugin myself nowadays) so let me know if it works or if I broke things...

[Blaineoreski]

Hi kiwidude,

When I saw your plug in and all the kind answers and help you've give people over such a long period of time, I felt impressed. Thank you, kiwidude.

I have just a handful of academic papers that I need to get their metadata for into Calibre.

So far, the easiest way for me to find the data has been to use this website:

https://www.doi2bib.org

For example, this paper:

https://www.doi2bib.org/bib/10.2307/4352738

returns this:

@article{Casazza2003,
title = {“Taming the Savageness of Man”: Robert Kennedy, Edith Hamilton, and Their Sources},
volume = {96},
ISSN = {0009-8418},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4352738},
DOI = {10.2307/4352738},
number = {2},
journal = {The Classical World},
publisher = {JSTOR},
author = {Casazza, Joseph},
year = {2003},
pages = {197}
}

Once I've got that, what would be the easiest way to use your plugin to get it added to the paper in Calibre?

Thanks!

Ski

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by Blaineoreski

I have just a handful of academic papers that I need to get their metadata for into Calibre.

So far, the easiest way for me to find the data has been to use this website:

https://www.doi2bib.org

For example, this paper:

https://www.doi2bib.org/bib/10.2307/4352738

returns this:

@article{Casazza2003,
title = {“Taming the Savageness of Man”: Robert Kennedy, Edith Hamilton, and Their Sources},
volume = {96},
ISSN = {0009-8418},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4352738},
DOI = {10.2307/4352738},
number = {2},
journal = {The Classical World},
publisher = {JSTOR},
author = {Casazza, Joseph},
year = {2003},
pages = {197}
}

If you only have a handful of papers then I suggest you just do it all manually. This plugin won't be able to parse that sort of data response, it is designed for scraping structured html content.

Rather than this plugin what you really need is a different type of bespoke plugin (Metadata) that targets this website, I didn't see any such thing in the index so clearly no-one has had enough of a requirement before now. And since the demand for such a thing is so low it most definitely isn't worth my time to write it

[Blaineoreski]

Hi kiwidude,

First! BLESS you, mate for taking the time to reply. I'm grateful.

Totally follow what you mean.

Me being out of the bespoke code dollar class, I think I'd like to give it a go myself.

Please can I ask a favor? In terms of a model for plug ins, where is the best place to start?

Sincerely,

Ski

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by Blaineoreski

Hi kiwidude,

First! BLESS you, mate for taking the time to reply. I'm grateful.

Totally follow what you mean.

Me being out of the bespoke code dollar class, I think I'd like to give it a go myself.

Please can I ask a favor? In terms of a model for plug ins, where is the best place to start?

Sincerely,

Ski

Any metadata plugin can be used as a starting point - be it one that comes with calibre or for instance one of mine. It just comes down to how much of the bespoke code within it you have to strip out and replace with more bespoke code for this website. I would suggest something like the Baen or Barnes & Noble plugins if choosing one of mine as a starting point to copy from, they are a little simpler than the Goodreads one which is also an option.

You just need to be aware of how many web requests you need to go through to reach the page containing the data that you want to parse, and that varies based on the plugin. For instance the FictionDB plugin needs to do HTTP POST requests, the Goodreads plugin does some extra parsing of editions to try to find a perferred one etc. They all have their quirks, and they will all break as soon as the website changes in an update...

[Blaineoreski]

[Duke9700]

I am having trouble accessing the Preview pane. Hopefully I'm overlooking something obvious, but any help would be appreciated.

Regardless of the size of the window, the Preview portion is just a sliver that shows the first 7-8 characters of the Title. I have tried dragging the bar between the panes (both at the dotted portion and elsewhere on that line).

The cursor changes to the expected double arrows, but dragging isn't doing anything. I have tried this with the overall window at different sizes, but I can't make the Preview more visible.

This is on Windows 11, calibre 7.3 and the latest version of Import List.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Duke9700

I am having trouble accessing the Preview pane. Hopefully I'm overlooking something obvious, but any help would be appreciated.

Regardless of the size of the window, the Preview portion is just a sliver that shows the first 7-8 characters of the Title. I have tried dragging the bar between the panes (both at the dotted portion and elsewhere on that line).

The cursor changes to the expected double arrows, but dragging isn't doing anything. I have tried this with the overall window at different sizes, but I can't make the Preview more visible.

This is on Windows 11, calibre 7.3 and the latest version of Import List.

see the 4 dots by the 10? That is a movable boundary
You WILL need a wider overall window first

[Duke9700]

I have tried dragging the bar between the panes (both at the dotted portion and elsewhere on that line).

I tried that before posting. I can drag anywhere on that line and it will now move. My screenshot was of a small window but even with a huge window the viewable part of the Preview pane is the same. I can select the bar, but the line between the panes does not move.

I'm familiar with the tool to resize pane and when I click on it, the cursor changes as expected. Hold-click and drag simply won't do anything.

Fortunately it's not a crisis. The next screen essentially shows another preview.

[kiwidude]

Try with calibre 6.x. 99% of the issues raised over the last few months are calibre 7.x related.

[theducks]

Works on 7.4. Your whole window (with import List on the title) is too narrow.
I can replicate your issue if I make it narrow.

It needs to be wider than tall (aka desktop monitor shaped, not Tablet portrait)

[kiwidude]

Thanks @theducks - yes the left side of the window has an enforced minimum width, in order to be able to render the content within all the tabs. Make your window wider, then dragging the slider to the left should work.

[tagehring]

I have a CSV file with columns for UUID, title, author, and author_sort for each of the books in my library that I've manually corrected in Excel from catalog output. I've tried using Import List to import the corrections via CSV file but have run into a few problems.

1. There doesn't seem to be a way to correct the author_sort value this way at all.
2. If the author field has significantly changed, Import List returns an error even if the title is identical. When I use the plugin to match the CSV row to the book, it doesn't overwrite the correct author information from the CSV file.
3. To solve #2 another way, despite manually matching the "ID" column of my CSV file to the ID:uuid identifier, I cannot get it to index using uuid. Every row returns an error. (See attached.)

I am at my wit's end trying to get this to work. Any help is appreciated.

[capink]

Originally Posted by tagehring

To solve #2 another way, despite manually matching the "ID" column of my CSV file to the ID:uuid identifier, I cannot get it to index using uuid. Every row returns an error. (See attached.)

You are trying to match id (which is sequential db integer) to a completely different field called uuid (which is 128-bit unique identifier represented as hexadecimal digits).

uuid would look like this

03c78cc3-bdf6-471b-b263-e28ee126965a

When exporting data from calibre make sure to choose the uuid rather than the id field to be able to match them later. uuid was chosen because it is unique for each book record and does not clash with books from other libraries. ids on the other hand, can match to wrong books if imported into another library by mistake, which could end up overwriting your metadata with wrong info.

As for the other points, you should wait until kiwidude sees the post and respond.

[tagehring]

When exporting data from calibre make sure to choose the uuid rather than the id field to be able to match them later. uuid was chosen because it is unique for each book record and does not clash with books from other libraries. ids on the other hand, can match to wrong books if imported into another library by mistake, which could end up overwriting your metadata with wrong info.

D'oh!

For someone who works with data for a living, you'd think I would have made that connection. Adding UUID to the spreadsheet and using that as the index worked for matching. Hoping kiwidude has some insights about the other issues.