Search for books with author notes and show one book per author

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

And here I thought I was being creative by doing this to the Formats column:

Attachment 207382

quite similar to my current ones



I would use cover grid most of the time, but recently I've started to play with icons in book list, and the way I'm using them causes misalignments in the title column:

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

quite similar to my current ones

Attachment 207384

I would use cover grid most of the time, but recently I've started to play with icons in book list, and the way I'm using them causes misalignments in the title column:

Attachment 207383

As a suggestion, I would advise that the icon images have a transparent background. You will notice a more pleasant visual change

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

Hi Wiggo, I liked your icons for book formats. They fit better on dark theme than the ones I'm using. Would you mind sharing them in a zip attachment?

I'd never thought of using a column just for symbols, seems a good thing to do!

Here you are!

Originally Posted by chaley

My guess is that "Dan Adams" is the author of books in a different series or no series, and one of those books is appearing ahead of the books with series with a note.

Order is important in "and" search clauses. Clauses following an "and" operate of the results of the previous search clauses. As such they don't see any books already filtered out. This "shortcutting" improves search performance a lot.

Try changing the order of the search to

search:"=#Has.Series notes" and search:"=#Has._One book per author"

This order ensures that the one-book-per-author search operates on the results of the has-series-notes search.

I always click on "One book per author" last in the tag browser, but it looks like the alphabetical order in the tag browser is decisive, not the click order

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by dunhill

As a suggestion, I would advise that the icon images have a transparent background. You will notice a more pleasant visual change

Sure, I've noticed that recently and I'm glad google images allows searching for transparent icons! Now I only use non-transparent images if there's no suitable transparent alternative.

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

Here you are!

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

I would use cover grid most of the time, but recently I've started to play with icons in book list, and the way I'm using them causes misalignments in the title column:

Attachment 207383

I use this icon as a placeholder when I want to avoid misalignments. (I also use it to hide 'Unknown' in the authors field.)

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I use this icon as a placeholder when I want to avoid misalignments. (I also use it to hide 'Unknown' in the authors field.)

good idea, an invisible icon as a placeholder can be useful, thanks

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I use this icon as a placeholder when I want to avoid misalignments. (I also use it to hide 'Unknown' in the authors field.)

I can't see anything. Where is the icon?



SCNR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

I always click on "One book per author" last in the tag browser, but it looks like the alphabetical order in the tag browser is decisive, not the click order

Does it work when the search terms are in the order I suggest?

And yes, the tag browser doesn't know the click order. It emits the search terms in the order they appear in the tag browser (I think), which may or may not be alphabetic.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

Now I only use non-transparent images if there's no suitable transparent alternative.

On windows, irfanview (and probably other programs) can change a color to be transparent. You can click in the icon to select which color to use.

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by chaley

On windows, irfanview (and probably other programs) can change a color to be transparent. You can click in the icon to select which color to use.

Or online https://www.remove.bg/

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

You're very welcome!

I got the icons from https://www.flaticon.com

Originally Posted by chaley

Does it work when the search terms are in the order I suggest?

Yep, it works with the correct order - thank you so much, chaley.

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by chaley

I may have confused things, but lets put that aside.

I have an implementation that doesn't require the temporary VL but respects the current VL. It is a bit more complicated because I wanted to generalize it to any field, not just authors. To use what I describe below you must be running calibre 7.7 or later.

To use it, make a stored template named whatever you want -- I use "get_one_book_per_field_value". The template itself is:

Spoiler:

python:
def evaluate(book, context):
	field_name = context.arguments[0] if len(context.arguments) == 1 else None
	if field_name is None:
		raise NameError("The argument 'field' wasn't provided")

	db = context.db.new_api
	# Check if we have already computed the necessary data
	book_ids = context.globals.get('book_ids', None)
	if book_ids is None:
		candidates = context.globals.get('_candidates', db.all_book_ids())
		books = {}
		for book_id in db.search(query=''): # restrict the search to the current VL
			if book_id not in candidates:
				continue
			item_values = db.field_for(field_name, book_id)
			if item_values is None:
				continue
			if isinstance(item_values, str):
				item_values = (item_values,)
			for item_val in item_values:
				if item_val not in books or books[item_val]['count'] > len(item_values):
					books.pop(item_val, None)
					books[item_val] = {'count': len(item_values), 'book_id': book_id}
		context.globals['book_ids'] = frozenset(bn['book_id'] for bn in books.values())

	# Check if the current book is to be displayed
	book_ids = context.globals['book_ids']
	return '1' if book.id in book_ids else ''

This template takes one argument, the field (column) you are interested in (authors).

Next, make this template search:

template:"""program: get_one_book_per_field_value('authors')#@#:b:yes"""

It calls the above stored template with the argument "authors". I recommend you create a saved search with it. I did and named it "one_book_per_author". You now have @Katja_hbg's B.

You also need @Katja_hbg's A. To get it, put this in a stored template named what you want. I named it "item_has_notes". The template is

Spoiler:

python:
def evaluate(book, context):
	field_name = context.arguments[0] if len(context.arguments) == 1 else None
	if field_name is None:
		raise NameError("The argument for the field name wasn't provided")

	db = context.db.new_api
	items_with_notes = context.globals.get('items_with_notes')
	if items_with_notes is None:
		items_with_notes = db.get_all_items_that_have_notes(field_name)
		context.globals['items_with_notes'] = items_with_notes
		context.globals['item_name_map'] = db.get_item_name_map(field_name)
	item_name_map = context.globals['item_name_map']

	vals = book.get(field_name)
	if vals is None:
		return ''
	if isinstance(vals, str):
		vals = tuple((vals,))
	for val in vals:
		if item_name_map.get(val) in items_with_notes:
			return '1'
	return ''

This template also takes 1 argument, the field (column) name.

Now make another template search

template:"""program: item_has_notes('authors')#@#:b:yes"""

This calles the stored template with the field name "authors". Again, I recommend you save it as a search. I did that, naming it "author has notes".

You can now do searches like:

• search:"=author has notes" and search:one_book_per_author
• formats:epub and tags:foobar and search:one_book_per_author
• search:one_book_per_author

All of this works for me. I hope it works for you.

Hi @chaley,

Could you please create a similar template to search for each author that has a Link and return only one book per author?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

Hi @chaley,

Could you please create a similar template to search for each author that has a Link and return only one book per author?

stored template: item_has_links.


The template:

Spoiler:

python:
def evaluate(book, context):
	field_name = context.arguments[0] if len(context.arguments) == 1 else None
	if field_name is None:
		raise NameError("The argument for the field name wasn't provided")

	db = context.db.new_api
	items_with_links = context.globals.get('items_with_links')
	if items_with_links is None:
		items_with_links = db.get_link_map(field_name)
		context.globals['items_with_links'] = items_with_links

	vals = book.get(field_name)
	if vals is None:
		return ''
	if isinstance(vals, str):
		vals = tuple((vals,))
	for val in vals:
		if val in items_with_links:
			return '1'
	return ''

The documentation:

Spoiler:

Return ``True`` if any ``item`` in the ``field`` named by ``field_name``, the argument to the template, has a link.

Saved search "author_has_links:

Spoiler:

template:"""program: item_has_links('authors')#@#:b:yes"""

Search to show one book per author that has links:

Spoiler:

search:"=author_has_links" and search:"=one_book_per_author"

This attachment is an importable copy. Import of stored templates is available in calibre source as of 18 Dec 2024, and release 7.23.

[Comfy.n]

Perfect,

This will help me in populating the author links for GR Author Notes plugin.

(template:"""program: item_has_notes('authors')#@#:b:yes""" and template:"""program: get_one_book_per_field_value('authors')#@#:b:yes"" ") not search:"=item has links"

will allow me to filter the ones that have Bio and don't have links.