Templates: various questions not worth their own thread

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by YGKGamer

Is it possible to create a template that can be used to do the following when importing books:
1. Ensure that author is always = last name, first name (title case)

This one is not really doable. Too many exceptions. L. Sprague de Camp for instance would be de Camp, L. Sprague while Marissa de Fontaine would be Fontaine, Marissa de, Alexandre Dumas père and Alexandre Dumas fils, Ludwig van Beethoven is sorted as Beethoven, Ludwig van. You can handle about 90% of the author names automatically but the remainder will be a pain as you start setting up exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by YGKGamer

Is it possible to create a template that can be used to do the following when importing books:
1. Ensure that author is always = last name, first name (title case)
2. Title is always title case
3. Tags can be changed into a set list of tags (convert the incoming tags to ones I want and then drop the rest)
4. Series will be listed name and series number
5. Make sure the rating field is blank
6. Make sure the comment field is blank
7. strip blanks that appear in names or titles as _

Sorry I am not a programmer and the help functions were not at my level of understanding so I do not know what syntax to use.

You cannot make sure the author is always last name, first name via programming. You have to have a look at the author name. You can use the Quality Check plugin to swap the FN & LN for the entries that are FN LN.. But the problem is that some eBooks have the author name in the metadata as last name first name and so you cannot program it to be swapped or you put it in the way you don't want.

[theducks]

And there are the edge cases:
Joe and Marry Smith

Trying for a fully automated FIX is futile.
Come on, it takes seconds to fix some of these. The only time Bulk assistance would be of help, is the initial conversion from a filesystem only or documenting your paper library (Took me about a year to get my 900+ paperback metadata close. Some were pre-ISBN. OK Lots )

[correoparaappzz]

Hi, i want to make a column for stand-alone books (when they don't have nothing on the "Series" column)

[correoparaappzz]

Originally Posted by correoparaappzz

Hi, i want to make a column for stand-alone books (when they don't have nothing on the "Series" column)

don't worry i already figured out

[ownedbycats]

Question:

program:

cleaned_tags = 'whatever';

## Add anthology/omnibus/short story if applicable

	if 'short-stories' && 'omnibus' in $#admintags 
	then cleaned_tags  = 'Anthology' & if cleaned_tags then ', ' & cleaned_tags fi
	elif 'short-stories' in $#admintags
	then cleaned_tags  = 'Short Story' & if cleaned_tags then ', ' & cleaned_tags fi
	elif 'omnibus' in $#admintags
	then cleaned_tags  = 'Omnibus' & if cleaned_tags then ', ' & cleaned_tags fi
	fi;

	cleaned_tags

If only 'omnibus' is in #admintags, I get 'Anthology, whatever' (instead of the expected 'Omnibus, whatever'). It works for expected with only short-story. What mistake did I make here?

[chaley]

[QUOTE=ownedbycats;4439478]Question:

program:

cleaned_tags = 'whatever';

## Add anthology/omnibus/short story if applicable

	if 'short-stories' && 'omnibus' in $#admintags 
	then cleaned_tags  = 'Anthology' & if cleaned_tags then ', ' & cleaned_tags fi...

I think this line is your problem. The && makes the if always true because 'short-stories' is true. I think you want

	if 'short-stories' in $#admintags && 'omnibus' in $#admintags

[ownedbycats]

That did it, thanks.

[foosion]

I'd like to merge some columns I'd created, based on some criteria.

I had been keeping track of the books I've finished by putting a date in #read. Then I got a Kobo and used KoboUtilities to populate #kobopct (the pct of the book I've read on Kobo) and #kobolastread (when I last read the book on Kobo). If #pct = 100, #lastread is when I finished the book.

I'd like to create a new #whenfinished. I think the basic logic would be as follows:

if #kobopct == 100:
  #whenfinished = #kobolastread
else:
  #whenfinished = #read  [date or blank]

What would be the best way to implement this?

[theducks]

Lately, I have noticed my Libra2 (latest FW), does something odd with just Finished books ( I Page off the end and it returns to the book list). It shows 'Finished'. Then I sort or page the list to choose my next read and all of a sudden, the Finished book is no longer Finished.

FWIW I only track Done Read by date. so I do it manually. As I don't want 'Otto' changing a already set value .

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by theducks

Lately, I have noticed my Libra2 (latest FW), does something odd with just Finished books ( I Page off the end and it returns to the book list). It shows 'Finished'. Then I sort or page the list to choose my next read and all of a sudden, the Finished book is no longer Finished.

I have the same issue with my Libra H2O. Sometimes immediately after finishing a book, it appears as 99%.

As far as I can tell, it's only a visual glitch and will show itself as properly completed when you switch to the home screen or open another book and back.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I have the same issue with my Libra H2O. Sometimes immediately after finishing a book, it appears as 99%.

As far as I can tell, it's only a visual glitch and will show itself as properly completed when you switch to the home screen or open another book and back.

I find that with quite a few Kobo Plus books, they will not change to Finished until a sync with Kobo.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by foosion

I'd like to merge some columns I'd created, based on some criteria.

I had been keeping track of the books I've finished by putting a date in #read. Then I got a Kobo and used KoboUtilities to populate #kobopct (the pct of the book I've read on Kobo) and #kobolastread (when I last read the book on Kobo). If #pct = 100, #lastread is when I finished the book.

I'd like to create a new #whenfinished. I think the basic logic would be as follows:

if #kobopct == 100:
  #whenfinished = #kobolastread
else:
  #whenfinished = #read  [date or blank]

What would be the best way to implement this?

"Best" depends on you.

There are two general approaches. The first is to use a "Column built from other columns" (a "composite" column) where the template computes the value you want in the column for the book. The second is to use the Action Chains plugin to compute the column contents on when you ask it to. I'll talk about the first. If you want to know about Action Chains then see that plugin's thread.

Here is a template for a composite column that might do most of what you want.

program:
	if $$#kobopct ==# 100 then
		whenfinished = $$#kobolastread
	else
		whenfinished = $$#read
	fi;
	whenfinished

For the language syntax look in the General Program Mode section of the calibre template language documentation. If you are going to ask more questions about this then I suggest you make a separate thread.

You might want to format the dates, in which case you would use the format_date() function after the fi, as in

	whenfinished = format_date(whenfinished, 'whatever format')

[foosion]

Originally Posted by chaley

"Best" depends on you.

There are two general approaches. The first is to use a "Column built from other columns" (a "composite" column) where the template computes the value you want in the column for the book. The second is to use the Action Chains plugin to compute the column contents on when you ask it to. I'll talk about the first. If you want to know about Action Chains then see that plugin's thread.

Here is a template for a composite column that might do most of what you want.

program:
	if $$#kobopct ==# 100 then
		whenfinished = $$#kobolastread
	else
		whenfinished = $$#read
	fi;
	whenfinished

For the language syntax look in the General Program Mode section of the calibre template language documentation. If you are going to ask more questions about this then I suggest you make a separate thread.

You might want to format the dates, in which case you would use the format_date() function after the fi, as in

	whenfinished = format_date(whenfinished, 'whatever format')

Thank you. While I investigate that, why does this get an error as Column built from other columns?

{#kobopct: 'cmp($,100,#read,#kobolastread,#read)'}

I had thought it would compare #kobopct to 100, the choose the value (if any) from either #read or #kobolastread and put that into the whenfinished column. Instead I get a template error.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by foosion

Thank you. While I investigate that, why does this get an error as Column built from other columns?

{#kobopct: 'cmp($,100,#read,#kobolastread,#read)'}

I had thought it would compare #kobopct to 100, the choose the value (if any) from either #read or #kobolastread and put that into the whenfinished column. Instead I get a template error.

In Template Program Mode spaces are significant outside the template code. You can't put a space between the colon and the quote.