[GUI Plugin] Walk Search History

[kiwidude]

Just FYI I am making a few changes/fixes to this plugin, particularly as it is one that I use every day.

Thanks to @ownedbycats for that bug report above after clearing history. It is a simple bug in displaying the history in the menu which I have fixed.

Several of you also reported problems with the keyboard shortcuts. I've replicated the issue. You will find the keys work fine provided you don't do anything to trigger the menu being rebuilt - like using the Favourites Menu plugin or directly opening the menu of this plugin. There seems to be a problem with the keyboard shortcut being "double registered" - so under the covers Qt goes "what is this nonsense" and reports an "Ambiguous shortcut overload". It doesn't matter what you change the shortcut keys to it will eventually get doubled up and stop working. I'm certain this worked fine a long time ago, nowadays not so much...

Slightly concerning is similar code to register shortcuts was used in most of my plugins (and probably those of many others) - the create_menu_action_unique() method in common_utils.py. Still looking into exactly why it's going wrong and if it is just a bugged version that has been used here vs other plugins as the code has diverged independently over the years. I mention it here in case some of the other plugin authors recall "ahhh yeah I had that happen and I fixed it in XXX plugin"...

EDIT: Ok I think I finally figured it out and yes some other plugins like ReadingList do work around it. The problem is that you have to manually call unregister_shortcut() every time you rebuild the menu. It is only a problem for plugins which have default keyboard shortcuts specified like this one does...

One further addition I have also made for the next version of this plugin is an option to support having a different history per library, remembered as you switch between them. Thanks to @BetterRed for that suggestion - as recently as 2014 so I'm sure it is top of their mind, ha...

[kiwidude]

Changes in this release:

• New: Add option to keep a separate history per library. Not retained when calibre is closed.
• New: Add translation support.
• Fix: Tag browser searches not showing in menu history list after it has been cleared.
• Fix: Keyboard shortcuts stop working after plugin menu gets rebuilt.

[dunhill]

Spanish translation just finished

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

. . .
One further addition I have also made for the next version of this plugin is an option to support having a different history per library, remembered as you switch between them. Thanks to @BetterRed for that suggestion - as recently as 2014 so I'm sure it is top of their mind, ha...

Unsurprisingly I'd forgotten about it

It's no longer an issue for me, a) because I don't do as much metadata searching, b) because CalibreSpy allows me to access multiple libraries concurrently.

BR

[kiwidude]

@dunhill - thanks very much! I did indeed get a notification from Transifex on that and some other translations too. Just initially getting all of my plugins into Transifex (and ensuring every plugin is translatable where not) is one of a number of initiatives I am working on to try to consolidate and modernise dev for my plugins. I fully expect to have to be re-releasing updates for these plugins in the coming weeks to give time for other language translations to be contributed.

@BetterRed - I am deeply hurt and shocked that you did not wait by the phone for 8 years for this feature and have forsaken me...

[Comfy.n]

kiwidude is in tha house

[kiwidude]

Release Notes:
https://github.com/kiwidude68/calibr...history-v1.5.0

[ownedbycats]

Small bug: "Recipes & Cookbooks" renders in menu as "Recipes _Cookbooks." The search itself isn't affected. This happens when ampersands aren't escaped (doubled?).

[kiwidude]

Release Notes:
https://github.com/kiwidude68/calibr...history-v1.5.1

Thanks to @ownedbycats for finding this one...

[ownedbycats]

Is it intended behaviour for the search history to clear upon restart? This happens whether or not separate-library history is enabled.

I found this while documenting some odd behaviour with the button in the new search bar toolbar.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Is it intended behaviour for the search history to clear upon restart? This happens whether or not separate-library history is enabled.

It doesn't do that for me. It definitely won't remember history between different libraries when you restart if you have that box clicked. Are you running from source - perhaps there is some breaking change coming? I run 6.7.1 (not from source). If your search history dropdown has no entries in it after a calibre restart, then this plugin won't have any history either.

Note the plugin definitely does not remember per library search history between restarts if you have that option checked. It relies on calibre's own search history available from the search dropdown - and that is not a per library thing. All the plugin can do currently is assume all that search history belongs to the current library at startup, and then subdivide fresh search queries per library while you have calibre open in the history menu. But as soon as you close calibre that subdivision information is lost and you are back to square one.

Obviously it would be technically possible for the plugin to try to persist its own independent search history state. And that could be remembered as being per library. However that is more work and this was just a quick fudge

[ownedbycats]

Running from source, yes -- I was testing the new search bar toolbar when I noticed.

I have only one library.

Weirdly enough, it seems to be keeping the history now. I was changing a lot of WSH settings to get the button working so maybe that had something to do with it.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

It doesn't do that for me. It definitely won't remember history between different libraries when you restart if you have that box clicked. Are you running from source - perhaps there is some breaking change coming?

Fixes for the bug reported by @owned_by_cats have been pushed.

If it still breaks then please let me know. Some calibre code related to the ancient saved search interface was removed. It is possible that the plugin uses removed code. I did check (remember the View Manager conversation) but I might have missed something.

[ownedbycats]

It seems to work as expected now.

Still working on identifying why the search history is getting cleared; it sometimes happens when I switch between previous search and dropdown menu and then restart, but it's tricky to get to reliably replicate.

[kiwidude]

Release Notes:
https://github.com/kiwidude68/calibr...history-v1.5.2