Plugboard for series numbering (decimals & no decimals)

[theducks]

see the int( ?

That throws away the non integer portion

[fogice]

Originally Posted by theducks

see the int( ?

That throws away the non integer portion

Yes, I understand that. So, I see [01] and [01.5] as series indexes on my Kindle. However, [01.5] sorts before [01] . So does [ 01.5 ] before [ 01 ] . And 01.5: before 01: . And (01.5) before (01) . And 01.5, before 01, .

At least one of those should have flipped the sort order.

[chaley]

@fogice: could you give us the exact template you are using when you test "[ 01.5 ] before [ 01 ]"? Please wrap the template in CODE tags, the '#' when you are using advanced mode.

Does it work if you use 04.1f for all numbers? I ask because it could be the kindle that is choosing how and what to sort.

[fogice]

@chaley, thanks for your additional troubleshooting suggestions. Using 04.1f for all numbers does allow them to sort properly, so that takes that variable out of the equation. I'm using lina.w's final code, only tweaking the finish_formatting formula:

program:

sidx=field('series_index');
i=format_number(sidx, "{:02d}");
f=format_number(sidx, "{:04.1f}");
isInt=cmp(f, i, '', 'yes', '');
final_sidx=finish_formatting(
    test(isInt, i, f),
    '',
    ' [ ',
    ' ] '
);

# Add together the final result
strcat(
    field('series'),
    final_sidx,
    field('title')
);

Ideally, I would be using

final_sidx=finish_formatting(
    test(isInt, i, f),
    '',
    '',
    ': '

which would read
Series 02.5: Title

[chaley]

I don't have a paperwhite so I cannot test it there. Testing it in calibre using a custom column built from other columns, the following works:

program:

sidx=field('series_index');
i=format_number(sidx, "{:02d}");
f=format_number(sidx, "{:04.1f}");
isInt=cmp(f, i, '', 'yes', '');
final_sidx=finish_formatting(
    test(isInt, i, f),
    '',
    ' ',    <---- There is a space between the single quotes
    ' '     <---- There is a space between the single quotes
);

# Add together the final result
strcat(
    field('series'),
    final_sidx,
    field('title')
);

It produces the following:


If the kindle sorts differently then all I can suggest is that it is doing something strange with the numbers, for example ignoring the decimal point and what follows.

[fogice]

Still mis-sorted on the Kindle Voyage. No idea why, perhaps someone else will know.

[Divingduck]

Maybe this happen because you have more leading digits or decimal digits. I am using two decimal digits and 3 leading digits. For this I need to adjust the code to:

i=format_number(sidx, "{:03d}");
f=format_number(sidx, "{:06.2f}");

[theducks]

What is the sort direction on the voyage?
01.23
01

would make me guess descending

BUT all books would be affected

So the other difference is either a non-printing or a similar LOOKING character in the other data

[fogice]

Neat, two Ducks commenting in a row! Feels like the Boston Common in here.

The sort direction on the Voyage is
01.5
01
02.5
02

I just tried it with

final_sidx=finish_formatting(
    test(isInt, i, f),
    '',
    '',
    '. '

so that we get a trailing period, and even that didn't sort properly.

I need to research the difference between 'd' and 'f' formatting, I don't know this stuff and I'm just cookbooking here.

[theducks]

Try and get your device to flip the sort direction arrow (to ascending)

That still does not take care of the trailing dot

[chaley]

Does it sort correctly with this template? This template uses floating point numbers everywhere.

{series} {series_index:04.1f|| }{title}

[fogice]

Originally Posted by chaley

Does it sort correctly with this template? This template uses floating point numbers everywhere.

{series} {series_index:04.1f|| }{title}

Yes, that sorts properly (although it looks ugly).

Does format_number return a text value or a numerical value? I'm kind of confused about that, because it looks like text, but then we use cmp on its outputs, which looks like it would require a number.
( edit ) Nevermind, cmp converts to integer to make the comparison.

I also don't understand how strcat doesn't always include a non-null value for final_sidx, even when sidx is null.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by fogice

Does format_number return a text value or a numerical value? I'm kind of confused about that, because it looks like text, but then we use cmp on its outputs, which looks like it would require a number.
( edit ) Nevermind, cmp converts to integer to make the comparison.

All template language functions return strings.

The cmp function converts its input to float before comparing the values.

I also don't understand how strcat doesn't always include a non-null value for final_sidx, even when sidx is null.

format_number returns the empty string (not the null string) if the input value is empty. finish_formatting returns the empty string if the input value is empty. Thus

sidx=field('series_index');
i=format_number(sidx, "{:02d}");
f=format_number(sidx, "{:04.1f}");
isInt=cmp(f, i, '', 'yes', '');
final_sidx=finish_formatting(
    test(isInt, i, f),
    '',
    ' ',    <---- There is a space between the single quotes
    ' '     <---- There is a space between the single quotes
);

returns the empty string if sidx is empty. strcat is happy to concatenate the empty string, which of course does not change the result at all.

[fogice]

I give up.

I tried removing the Plugboard from the equation and manually put the series and index number directly into the titles for my set of sample books. They STILL don't sort properly.

I don't understand what Amazon was thinking when they wrote their alphabetical sort algorithm. There must be a way to make it work, but I'm stumped. Can anyone with a Kindle try this directly?

[Morrigu]

Originally Posted by fogice

I give up.

I tried removing the Plugboard from the equation and manually put the series and index number directly into the titles for my set of sample books. They STILL don't sort properly.

I don't understand what Amazon was thinking when they wrote their alphabetical sort algorithm. There must be a way to make it work, but I'm stumped. Can anyone with a Kindle try this directly?

fogice, I ended up doing the same as you, editing the titles. And like you, still had the problem. Know what crazy thing worked? In calibre I sorted everything by title so it displayed properly. I couldn't leave it like that because the series would be mixed when there were multiple series, so I set it back to series sorting. Then when I transferred to the Kindle Paperwhite it displayed the books in the right order. Would never have thought of it, doesn't make sense to me, but it was a happy accident that I'm not going to complain about. (I literally clicked on the title column...thought nah, and then clicked back on the series column to sort)

Haven't gone back and put the code back in the plugboard to see if it still works that way. Will do that next time I add another big series.