new calibre help file

[kovidgoyal]

You're right, on windows it is in CSIDL_PERSONAL, which is My Documents. And that is not going to change.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're right, on windows it is in CSIDL_PERSONAL, which is My Documents. And that is not going to change.

For those that don't know, CLSID is "Constant Special Item ID"

CLSID_PERSONAL was aliased (half hearted deprecated) to CLSID_DOCUMENTS when Win 98 with its My Pictures & My Music hit the streets in May '98.

CLSID as a 'brand' was deprecated in the Vista release of Jan 2007 by KNOWNFOLDERID, so continued support of CLSID's in Windows cannot be guaranteed. That said MS, like IBM, have a legacy of supporting users legacy applications long after their users stop using them

The KNOWNFOLDERID Equivalent of CLSID_PERSONAL/CLSID_DOCUMENTS is FOLDERID_DOCUMENTS.

So when Kovid writes in windows it is in CSIDL_PERSONAL, which is My Documents. And that is not going to change, he is in fact referring to a Windows 95 artefact, does Calibre run on Win 95 - probably not,

MS describe CLSID_PERSONAL thus, the same definition is carried forward to FOLDERID_DOCUMENTS, it is known elsewhere as the Document Paradigm.

Originally Posted by Microsoft

The file system directory used to physically store a user's common repository of documents.

In one of their developer guidelines you'll find this

Originally Posted by Microsoft

Per user Documents are “Document” type files that users create/open/close/save in the application that handles that "“Document” type" on a per user.

Example: MyDoc.doc

Access Via
Windows 7: Libraries

Vista: %USERPROFILE%\Document
XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents
Environment Variable: Not applicable

Known Folder ID: FOLDERID_Documents

CSIDL: CSIDL_MYDOCUMENTS, CSIDL_PERSONAL

System.Environment.SpecialFolder: System.Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments

IMO by those definitions & guidelines Calibre does not "manage" its data according to the Document Paradigm, that's fine I have no problem with that, its perfectly acceptable and more importantly it works.

However I do have a problem with the fact that by default Calibre dumps its non-Document compliant data into a location whose stated purpose is to store Documents. And then to rub salt into the wound the 'support community' berate users for having the temerity to treat the Calibre data as if it did conform to the Document (create/open/close/save) Paradigm.

Whats more Calibre only does this on one platform, Windows, on the other two platforms,OS/X & Linux, it puts its data where it ought to be - in a Calibre directory in the users home directory - in Windows parlance that's what you get from %USERPROFILE%.

A conspiracy theorist might imagine its part of the ongoing plot to undermine M$ by the Apple fanboi and Linux bigot communities - but I'm not conspiracy theorist.

BR

[unboggling]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

A conspiracy theorist might imagine its part of the ongoing plot to undermine M$ by the Apple fanboi and Linux bigot communities - but I'm not conspiracy theorist.

BR

Does undermining or dissing MS ever work?

[kovidgoyal]

Wow, now that gets you straight onto my ignore list.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Wow, now that gets you straight onto my ignore list.

:shock: didn't pick you for a coward

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by unboggling

Does undermining or dissing MS ever work?

Yes, they wouldn't have got up off their backside and delivered Windows 7 if Vista hadn't copped such a barrage of criticism, much of which was factually wrong

Don't misunderstand me I criticized Vista plenty. I never had it installed as a primary OS, but it wasn't half as bad as many made out.

Its easy to hide behind the "It Was Microsoft That Done It, Sir" defense. Today we have the converse of the old adage "No one got fired for buying IBM"; now its "No one got fired for blaming M$".

BR

[itimpi]

Perhaps an idea is to put the default for Calibre library to be <appdata>\Calibre. That would mean that it would not show up under a users folders (unless they have show hidden files set so they can see the appdata folder), but it will still be able to use the option in Calibre to open a particular books folder.