CC Alpha release V3.4.4a

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Here's another possibility. My autosort was created the old way where the label didn't match the one in the column that I created in Calibre. Is it possible that something to do with that could be throwing it off. I tried to recreate the custom columns and all sorts of behaviors got worse. (At this point I sent you a debug log). I then tried cleaning up the database, but that didn't help either. I was getting all sorts of weird behaviors at this point. The back button would send me to random screens, or sometimes just redraw the current screen.

I have no clue why this would have happened.

I then saved my settings, uninstalled and reinstalled and loaded my settings. I then reloaded all of my books, and everything seems to be working fine now (including the sort being checked) except that when I loaded my settings, it showed a different sort for my ungrouped sort.

The fact that things worked after a restore settings tells me that the setting migration from 3.4.4 to 3.4.4a worked, which is good.

The different sort for ungrouped items is disturbing, but I can think of one reason it would do that. Version 'a' has a bug where the label on "Groups" would change only when the app restarted. Changing the sort in settings would change behavior but not the label. I hope that is the reason for what you saw.

I will wait for a day or so to see if there are any other comments then send out 3.4.4b.

[jackie_w]

I've been working my way down the list of new features and this is what I've found so far.

These seem to work well, as advertised:

• Optionally sync book files
• Optionally temp-mark a book in calibre
• Allow reordering groups in the grouping drawer
• Allow reordering sorts in the menu
• Make the top-level group name not scroll
• Support picking custom fields to group from a list
• Support picking the is-read columns from a list
• Add Languages as a groupable item
• Make "Disconnect" optionally appear on the action bar
• Support the Samsung version of Kindle for Android
  This works but you might consider explicitly adding 'Samsung' to the label. ATM the word 'Samsung' is only visible on the icon.

There are 3 items which require more comment so I'll follow up with a post for each separately.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

[*]Support the Samsung version of Kindle for Android
This works but you might consider explicitly adding 'Samsung' to the label. ATM the word 'Samsung' is only visible on the icon.

Changed.

Thanks for trying the Samsung change. I have no way to test it, not owning a single Samsung device.

[kaufman]

I have been playing around with the group (and no group) auto sorting, and I think that something might be broken with the back button functionality. I am still trying to track down and exact set of steps to make it happen, but what I am seeing is:

1) Sometimes when I am sitting on a book details screen, a single back will take me to the book list and a second back will take me to book details for a book I was looking at before.

2) Sometimes when at the book list for a single author, the first back press will do nothing and the second will go to the authors list.

3) Sometimes when sitting at the authors list, the back button will redraw the authors list. This will continue to happen, although I can sometimes break out of it by doing two back presses quickly.

I am still playing with this to track down exactly how to get it to happen, but I wanted to get the report out there. Would a debug log help you with this?

Originally Posted by chaley

I will wait for a day or so to see if there are any other comments then send out 3.4.4b.

If it isn't a lot of work for you to send out a release, you should keep in mind that you are only sending it to the people who said they don't mind getting frequent releases.

So if its a pain for you to send out a new release, go ahead and wait. But if you want us to start banging on a new version, I think its ok to go ahead and send it out.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

If it isn't a lot of work for you to send out a release, you should keep in mind that you are only sending it to the people who said they don't mind getting frequent releases.

So if its a pain for you to send out a new release, go ahead and wait. But if you want us to start banging on a new version, I think its ok to go ahead and send it out.

It takes me around an hour, so I don't want to do it every day.

That said, I released V3.4.4b using the standard Google Play channel.

[jackie_w]

Re: Sorting

I've been trying to get my head round the relationship between current Setting for 'Groups from custom columns' and items offered in:

- 'Autosort when choosing a group'
- 'Select sorts to show in menu'

As far as I can tell the options seem to be logical except that User defined sort #1/#2 should only be checkable if they have been created. I've only set up #1 so I shouldn't be allowed to check #2.

This leads on to, what is the relationship between current Setting for 'Select sorts to show in menu' and items offered in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'?

If I choose to have sort by #pages in my Sort menu, under what circumstances might I choose to uncheck #pages in the 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'? What is the point of sorting by #pages if I can't see the value of #pages afterwards? Am I missing something? To me, the items which I'd need to be checked in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist' are:

- all the ones which have been selected as a Group Autosort

plus

- all the ones which have been selected in 'Select sorts to show in menu'

in which case the list could be derived rather than needing a Settings option.

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

To me, the items which I'd need to be checked in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist' are:

- all the ones which have been selected as a Group Autosort

plus

- all the ones which have been selected in 'Select sorts to show in menu'

in which case the list could be derived rather than needing a Settings option.

I think this comes under the "different strokes" category. I actually have them all turned off. All of my sorts come in two categories:

1) Fields that are already shown (author, title, series) or things derived from those fields. So I don't need to see the derived field in the book list.

2) Dates where I don't care about the actual date, I just want the newest ones in front. So, for me, sorting by "Date (calibre)" or "Date Updated" allows me to see the newest books first. I don't care if the newest book was added yesterday or two days ago, I just wanted to know what was added (or changed).

Does that make sense?

[chaley]

I can understand your confusion. I am also conflicted about what to do, when.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Re: Sorting

I've been trying to get my head round the relationship between current Setting for 'Groups from custom columns' and items offered in:

- 'Autosort when choosing a group'
- 'Select sorts to show in menu'

As far as I can tell the options seem to be logical except that User defined sort #1/#2 should only be checkable if they have been created. I've only set up #1 so I shouldn't be allowed to check #2.

My thought was that the person might choose to do things in the reverse order: say what they want to see and use, then define the meaning of what they want. The positive side of this choice is that there is no implied "modality" or sequence that things must be done. The negative side is that if the person does not actually do the second step, the end results may not be totally understandable.

As regards the sort menu, if you ask to show a user-defined sort that isn't defined then it will be greyed, showing that it isn't defined. I could do something similar for the grouping drawer, adding "undefined" or some such to the sort spec, assuming the sort spec is displayed.

This leads on to the question "what is the relationship between current setting for 'Select sorts to show in menu' and items offered in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'"?

If I choose to have sort by #pages in my Sort menu, under what circumstances might I choose to uncheck #pages in the 'Select sorts displayed on booklist'? What is the point of sorting by #pages if I can't see the value of #pages afterwards? Am I missing something? To me, the items which I'd need to be checked in 'Select sorts displayed on booklist' are:

- all the ones which have been selected as a Group Autosort

plus

- all the ones which have been selected in 'Select sorts to show in menu'

in which case the list could be derived rather than needing a Settings option.

This too is a hard one. Some people (@kaufman, you are one of them) don't want to see the information that controls the sort. The argument is that "I picked the sort so I know what it is". Another argument is that I want to see custom column X in the grouping drawer but never sort on it. A third argument is that I want to sort on custom column X but never group on it. The only way I could think of to satisfy the diverse demands was to give all choices in show-in-grouping-drawer and show-in-sort-menu.

I am really really really ready to hear alternative approaches. I would like them to be internally consistent and not prevent someone from doing something reasonable.

Final comment: you have hit on the head the penalty of adding options. They interplay with each other and their meaning can be obscure, especially as regards interaction. This is why my son (and partner) thinks that I shouldn't be adding them.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Does that make sense?

I hope that I correctly represented the position of people like you in my last response.

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by chaley

This too is a hard one. Some people (@kaufman, you are one of them) don't want to see the information that controls the sort. The argument is that "I picked the sort so I know what it is".

Actually, its less that and more I am looking to put the books in order, but its the order that is important, not the actual values.

Imagine if you wanted to read a bunch of books in the order that they were published. You don't necessarily care when they were published, you just want to read them in order.

Originally Posted by chaley

Final comment: you have hit on the head the penalty of adding options. They interplay with each other and their meaning can be obscure, especially as regards interaction. This is why my son (and partner) thinks that I shouldn't be adding them.

Have you considered grouping a bunch of option under "advanced settings". You could either have a different path for getting to them, or you could hide them unless a user turned on the "Show advanced settings" option. You could then make it easier for people who didn't care about the little things, while still having absolute control for the nerds like me.

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by chaley

I hope that I correctly represented the position of people like you in my last response.

"Is people like you" the nice way of saying "nerds".

The other reason I don't want to see them is that I have a custom field that is essentially

Author - [Series] - Title

When I sorted by this, next to each book I saw

Title
Author (Series [Index])
Author Works: Author - Series - Title

The duplicated information for each book was driving me crazy.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Have you considered grouping a bunch of option under "advanced settings". You could either have a different path for getting to them, or you could hide them unless a user turned on the "Show advanced settings" option. You could then make it easier for people who didn't care about the little things, while still having absolute control for the nerds like me.

Our general experience with other apps and with calibre say that "advanced setting" just confuse the issue. Some number of people can't find the settings. Most people ignore the caveats. The interactions are all still there, creating confusion for people who are certifiably advanced.

In the end, I must believe that any option will be used by a significant percentage of users or I shouldn't add it. I have pushed that philosophy a bit from time to time, but I really shouldn't.

BTW: you aren't alone in asking to limit the info shown. More than one person has asked not to show counts in the grouping drawer because "they are ugly". No matter that they provide useful information -- they are ugly so they should not be seen. I can intellectually accept that position, but it is really hard for me to accept it at an emotional level, which is one reason that I am not good at UI design.

[jackie_w]

... continued

Group by items and Sort by items - some slight inconsistencies or me misunderstanding which fields are which ???

'Groups from custom columns': date (date)
'Groups to show': date
'Sorts to show in menu': date (date) and Date (calibre)
'Sorts displayed on book list': date (date) and Date (calibre)

'Groups from custom columns': Published pubdate) # note missing open bracket
'Groups to show': Published
'Sorts to show in menu': Published pubdate) and Date published
'Sorts displayed on book list': Published pubdate) and Date published

'Groups from custom columns': N/A
'Groups to show': Read
'Sorts to show in menu': Is read
'Sorts displayed on book list': Is read

[jackie_w]

Well I guess the 2 nerds who are actively alpha-testing today have completely opposite views on 'what makes sense' . I'm pretty sure I will be able to make the alpha implementation of Sorts-in-menu vs. Sorts-in-booklist work the way I want it to. If kaufman can do the same then you're covered.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by kaufman

The other reason I don't want to see them is that I have a custom field that is essentially

Author - [Series] - Title

When I sorted by this, next to each book I saw

Title
Author (Series [Index])
Author Works: Author - Series - Title

The duplicated information for each book was driving me crazy.

I also have a similar Author - Series - Title custom column (used solely when connecting main calibre to a Sony device). It has no practical use in CC so it's unchecked in both 'Groups from custom columns' and 'Items to display in Book Details'. However, I do want to use that value as my User defined sort #1. I was able to do that without using the custom column, so the Author/Series/Title data has never been duplicated in the book list.