Clara HD Author name truncated if separator

[Francois16]

Hello,
On a Kobo Clara HD. if I enter the author as "last name, first name" in Calibre, it is displayed truncated on the e-reader (only "last name")
Do you know of a way to correct this behavior ?
Thanks !!

[Sirtel]

Kobo wants the author names to be "first name last name". That's the only way to have them behave correctly.

[Francois16]

Thank you for your answer, Sirtel !!
My need is actually for Kobo to display authors as "last name, first name", instead of "first name, last name", knowing that I selected sort by last name and not by first name (and the sorting by last name is correct).
And thus have consistency between display and sorting.
Is there a way to have this display ?
Thanks.

[Sirtel]

No. Kobo interprets the comma as a separator between two different authors.

[Francois16]

The comma "," is the separator character for 'Name, First name'

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...72&postcount=2

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Francois16

The comma "," is the separator character for 'Name, First name'

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...72&postcount=2

For calibre, yes. For Kobo, it's the separator between different authors.

[Francois16]

OK.
So is there a way to make Kobo display "LastName FirstName" in the tab "Author" (sorted on LastName) instead of "FirstName LastName" ?
Requests to modify directly the database may be a way but not the simplest.

[Sirtel]

I don't know of any way to do that. It's not available as a patch either.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Francois16

OK.
So is there a way to make Kobo display "LastName FirstName" in the tab "Author" (sorted on LastName) instead of "FirstName LastName" ?
Requests to modify directly the database may be a way but not the simplest.

There is a way. Create a custom column that displays the author sort. See this thread on how to do it.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=142508

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is a way. Create a custom column that displays the author sort. See this thread on how to do it.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=142508

The OP wants it on their Kobo.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The OP wants it on their Kobo.

No way to do that.

[Francois16]

Thanks.
I hope for an update Kobo that will allow for consistent display and sorting. How can I make a request?

[Sirtel]

I guess by contacting their customer service. I don't think Kobo employees regularly visit MobileRead, if at all. We're all just ordinary users here.

Yes, there is a thread of firmware requests, because 15-20 years ago some Kobo folks did visit MR. But they haven't done so in a long time, so I doubt there's much point in posting in that thread.

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by Francois16

OK.
So is there a way to make Kobo display "LastName FirstName" in the tab "Author" (sorted on LastName) instead of "FirstName LastName" ?
Requests to modify directly the database may be a way but not the simplest.

Actually, there is a hack to simulate this.
The trick is to replace the comma which forms the separator character for 'Last Name, First name' by something which Kobo does not see as a standard comma. I use the "single low-9 quotation mark" (U+201A).
This can be accomplished during the sending of the metadata by using the Metadata Plugboards. Choose the correct device and enter as source template:

program:strcat(re(list_item($author_sort, '0', '&'),',', '‚'), ' [', $languages, ']')

The red part indicates the replacement character U+201A. This results in kobo listing for authors LN,FN and is shown in the last picture.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DrChiper

Actually, there is a hack to simulate this.
The trick is to replace the comma which forms the separator character for 'Last Name, First name' by something which Kobo does not see as a standard comma. I use the "single low-9 quotation mark" (U+201A).
This can be accomplished during the sending of the metadata by using the Metadata Plugboards. Choose the correct device and enter as source template:

program:strcat(re(list_item($author_sort, '0', '&'),',', '‚'), ' [', $languages, ']')

The red part indicates the replacement character U+201A. This results in kobo listing for authors LN,FN and is shown in the last picture.

That's good to know. I might try it myself.