[GUI Plugin] Reading List

[kiwidude]

Choose the "Replace device with list, add new items only" option. The add new items only means that if you have already sent an epub previously to the Kindle, it won't continually overwrite it. It should still remove from your Kindle any books that are no longer on the list, and of course add any items on the list not on the Kindle.

Make sure you don't have the "Clear this list after a sync to this device" option checked, or else your list won't be any good to do this a second time

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Choose the "Replace device with list, add new items only" option. The add new items only means that if you have already sent an epub previously to the Kindle, it won't continually overwrite it. It should still remove from your Kindle any books that are no longer on the list, and of course add any items on the list not on the Kindle.

Make sure you don't have the "Clear this list after a sync to this device" option checked, or else your list won't be any good to do this a second time

Thank you.

[Kraftwerk]

One other question: I have downloaded directly from Amazon, about twenty books to my Kindle which I have put into a 'collection' folder.

Does this mean that as these books will not be in my 'reading list' they will be deleted when I sync when connecting my Kindle?

If it does mean this will happen, is there any way of getting round this problem?

Thanks

[copyrite]

Is there a way to keep a tag after deleting a book from a list? I inadvertently cleared a list and poof! the tags went, too; if the tags hadn't been deleted I could've rebuilt the list very quickly.

ETA: Oh nevermind... I didn't realize it was already there under the Column Update Option "update column for add to list only".

Thanks for a terrific plug-in!

ETA2: Or how 'bout a "are you really sure to want to clear this list, dummy" notice so I don't do that again? (Or is that already there too and I missed it? )

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

One other question: I have downloaded directly from Amazon, about twenty books to my Kindle which I have put into a 'collection' folder.

Does this mean that as these books will not be in my 'reading list' they will be deleted when I sync when connecting my Kindle?

If it does mean this will happen, is there any way of getting round this problem?

No, they will not be touched *unless* you also add them to your calibre library. The particular reading list type you are referring to which deletes items not on the list has the proviso that it only deletes items that it sees exist in your calibre library.

So any other books that are "Kindle only" such as user guides, free dictionaries or whatever that you download directly from Amazon and haven't added to calibre will always be untouched on the device.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by copyrite

ETA2: Or how 'bout a "are you really sure to want to clear this list, dummy" notice so I don't do that again? (Or is that already there too and I missed it? )

There is no prompt currently, I shall put it on the todo list for a future release.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

No, they will not be touched *unless* you also add them to your calibre library. The particular reading list type you are referring to which deletes items not on the list has the proviso that it only deletes items that it sees exist in your calibre library.

So any other books that are "Kindle only" such as user guides, free dictionaries or whatever that you download directly from Amazon and haven't added to calibre will always be untouched on the device.

Thanks for the reply.

[Philip36Fld]

How about enhancing the Move option with additional functionality; ie one does not have to be viewing a specific list to initiate a Move. The user would be queried and choices presented: From list …?, To list …?.

The current configuration:
Calibre is installed on a laptop which two people are sharing.
There is one custom column defined as comma separated text.
The text for the column: Reader A next, Reader A current, Reader A finished, Reader B next, Reader B current, Reader B finished.
There are six lists set up in the Reading List plugin: Reader A next, Reader A current, Reader A finished, Reader B next, Reader B current, Reader B finished.

The current “work”flow:
When Calibre initially starts a search is used to restrict the book display so that only those books with any “next” or “current” value entered in the custom column are displayed.
From the main book display Reader A or B moves (at present it is removes from/adds to) a book of theirs from “Next” to “Current.”
From the main book display the book is opened in Calibre Viewer.
From the main book display the book is moved (at present it is removed from/added to) from “Current” to “Finished.”
The View list option within the Reading List plugin is not used.

Or does someone suggest a different “work”flow?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Philip36Fld

How about enhancing the Move option with additional functionality; ie one does not have to be viewing a specific list to initiate a Move. The user would be queried and choices presented: From list …?, To list …?.

The current configuration:
Calibre is installed on a laptop which two people are sharing.
There is one custom column defined as comma separated text.
The text for the column: Reader A next, Reader A current, Reader A finished, Reader B next, Reader B current, Reader B finished.
There are six lists set up in the Reading List plugin: Reader A next, Reader A current, Reader A finished, Reader B next, Reader B current, Reader B finished.

The current “work”flow:
When Calibre initially starts a search is used to restrict the book display so that only those books with any “next” or “current” value entered in the custom column are displayed.
From the main book display Reader A or B moves (at present it is removes from/adds to) a book of theirs from “Next” to “Current.”
From the main book display the book is opened in Calibre Viewer.
From the main book display the book is moved (at present it is removed from/added to) from “Current” to “Finished.”
The View list option within the Reading List plugin is not used.

Or does someone suggest a different “work”flow?

I use a similar set of lists and tags ("To Read", "Reading" and "Read") and workflow, though I don't do the search at startup. I have frequently wanted to move a book along the workflow when I see the book in a different view (such as an author list). Having these options would be good.

An alternative is to recognize that there is a workflow and defining the order. Then the option would be "move to next list in flow". With the multiple flows that you have, this might be harder. How does that sound?

Right now, I can't decide if kiwidude is saying "yeah, I have it planned but haven't had the time" or is trying to come up with a polite way to tell me I'm an idiot and to get lost

[kiwidude]

I think kiwidude is wondering what on earth you guys are up to...

@Philip36Fld - Let me see if I can paraphrase correctly:

You want to keep track of (for each person):
- book(s) you are currently reading
- book(s) you will read next
- books you have finished

And by the sound of it you are not using an ereader device, and just reading the books directly in calibre?

If someone came to me with that list of requirements, my recommendation would *not* be to have multiple reading lists for each step. Instead:

• have a custom column to track whether you have read a book (various ways of doing that for multiple users, either individual columns or comma separated values).
• use a single reading list for each user which represents your "to read" list and "current" combined. Use the ability of the reading list plugin to order the books, so that your "current" is the book at the top of the list.

So then the "workflow" becomes:

• when see a book of interest, add it to the appropriate person's list with the plugin
• to open a book for reading, using the plugin just view that person's list which is ordered so the "current" should be at the top. You can assign that to a keyboard shortcut.
• when finished reading a book, update the "read" custom column and remove from the list
• if you change your mind about which book to read "next", edit the reading list to change the order.

How does that sound?

[Philip36Fld]

@kiwidude:

Originally Posted by kiwidude

You want to keep track of (for each person):
- book(s) you are currently reading
- book(s) you will read next
- books you have finished

Correct.

And by the sound of it you are not using an ereader device, and just reading the books directly in calibre?

Correct again.

If someone came to me with that list of requirements, my recommendation would *not* be to have multiple reading lists for each step. Instead:

• have a custom column to track whether you have read a book (various ways of doing that for multiple users, either individual columns or comma separated values).
• use a single reading list for each user which represents your "to read" list and "current" combined.

We are using a custom column with comma separated values but instead of only two lists we have six lists.

• A book can be reread and we are able to see the present state (next/current) and that it has already been read at least once.
• Individual current and next lists can be seen (we do tend to read multiple books at any given time and have multiple books in our “next” stacks).
• We also have other searches saved such that we can restrict the main book display to present various combinations depending upon our individual needs at any given time.

Use the ability of the reading list plugin to order the books, so that your "current" is the book at the top of the list.

The complete list of all next and current books is small enough that we do not order the list and so do not use View List.

So then the "workflow" becomes:

• when see a book of interest, add it to the appropriate person's list with the plugin

We are already doing that from the main book display.

• to open a book for reading, using the plugin just view that person's list which is ordered so the "current" should be at the top. You can assign that to a keyboard shortcut.

• We do not sequence our next or current lists, they are too small to bother with doing that.
• The complete list of books that either of us is reading is small enough that by using the View Manager plugin and Search we have set Calibre upon starting to, in the initial book display, show together everyone’s current books and only those.
• We then open a book from that main book display without using the Reading List plugin, meaning without having to bring up and View a specific List.

• when finished reading a book, update the "read" custom column and remove from the list

We are already doing that from the main book display.

• if you change your mind about which book to read "next", edit the reading list to change the order.

Again we do not sequence our next or current lists, they are too small to bother with doing that.

How does that sound?

Doing it your way:

• we both feel is cumbersome with extra clicks.
• would require us to begin sequencing very small lists which is both unnecessary and a pain.
• would require us to change our saved searches which might end up meaning the loss of some flexibility.

What we were wanting was the added functionality of, from the main book display, of being able to click on Move to list just like we can presently click on either Add to list or Remove from list.

[kiwidude]

I'm not sure about extra clicks being involved in comparison to what you do now, but I was just throwing it out there as an option, it seems less complex to me than managing six lists and you do not have to bother with ordering the lists if as you say the lists are kept small.

However if you don't want to do that, no problem, it was just a suggestion to your question about workflows. To answer your question about why the Move to list option is not on the main library view, it was because of the fact that unless you are viewing a list there is no guarantees about the book being clicked actually being on the supposed list you are moving "from" or that it is on any list at all. Since it is entirely possible that the user has no visible cues as to if a book is on a particular list (depending on their tagging strategy with the lists).

When I very first read your original post, I thought you were wanting some sort of complicated workflow state associations driven from values in custom columns etc. Though may have just been an imperssion from what davidfor posted which was more explicitly around that. Its a direction I would prefer to avoid going in.

However if indeed as per your latest post you simply want the Move option to be enabled on the library view that is something more reasonable. Just thinking out loud but presumably it would display a dialog with a left side list representing all the (modifiable) lists common to your selected book(s) that they currently exist on, and the right side containing all the (modifiable) lists you could possibly transfer to. You could multi-select on either side and job done...

[Philip36Fld]

@kiwidude:

Let me expand a little on what I described earlier. In an attempt to simplify things I was not 100% accurate.

We are actually using two custom columns, both of which are defined to use comma separated text values: #list and #read(red).

Valid text values for user Jxx (her) in #list:

• Blank – everything else.
• Pool/Jxx-P – look here first when creating the to-be-read stack on the table.
• Next/Jxx-N – the to-be-read stack which used to sit on a table, typically no more than two books.
• Current/Jxx-C – those books currently being read, typically no more than one book.

Valid text values for user Pxx (me) in #list:

• Blank – everything else.
• Pool – look here first when creating the to-be-read stack on the table.
  • Pxx-P1 – science fiction, newer.
  • Pxx-P2 – science fiction, older.
  • Pxx-P3 – other fiction, newer.
  • Pxx-P4 – other fiction, older.
  • Pxx-P5 – classics.
  As you can clearly surmise, if you have not done so already, I am the a***-retentative one.
• Next/Pxx-N – the to-be-read stack which used to sit on a table, typically no more than six books.
• Current/Pxx-C – those books currently being read, typically no more than four books.

Valid text values in #read:

• Jxx-R – books that Jxx has read at least once.
• Pxx-R – books that Pxx has read at least once.

Total number of books currently in the library: 454.

[Philip36Fld]

@kiwidude:

To answer your question about why the Move to list option is not on the main library view, it was because of the fact that unless you are viewing a list there is no guarantees about the book being clicked actually being on the supposed list you are moving "from" or that it is on any list at all.

How does 'Add to list' know which lists are valid? Doesn't 'Remove from list' only know and display the lists that a book is in? I will have to look at that last one more closely.

Click on ‘Move to list.’

• If the book is not in any list, display the message “The book is not in any list. Use ‘Add to list’ instead."
• If the book is in any list at all, display the message “Move from ...” and present as choices all of the lists which the book is in. Allow the user to select only one. Perform the same action as 'Remove from list.'
• Then display “Move to ...” and present as choices all of valid lists that have been defined. Allow the user to select only one. Perform the same action as 'Add to list.'

[Wretch]

Hi Kiwidude,

Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but after a recent update to Calibre I dont seem to be able to access my reading list any more. I can see that the plugin is installed, and have also tried reinstalling it, but I cant find anyway to view my reading lists at all.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks