[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[OneMore]

Hello!
I do not see a plug-in download link in the first message in the thread anymore.
I believe I downloaded version 1.4.3 two weeks ago (4-Apr) and the "zip attachment" icon was below the last screenshot, I even did not have to be a registered user to get it, now this line is empty for me.
If try to download from it using Google's cached copy of this page, I get "Invalid or broken link" message from the forum engine.
Anybody else has this problem today (15-Apr)?

[nynaevelan]

Meme might have taken it down in preparation to uploading a newer version. Give it a little while and try it again.

[meme]

See the first post in this thread to download and install the new version. Calibre 0.7.53 and above required.

This version is another major rewrite as a result of the new plugin API in Calibre 0.7.53 and adding quite a bit more functionality, but it should run without you making any changes.

Full details of updates are in the Version History in the first post, but I'll describe them here as well.

Fixed adding periodicals to collections, along with their display in the collection report, including Back Issues. And collections which no longer have the minimum number of books will be deleted, including collection names with no books on the Kindle. You may want to run Preview before the first Create if you have several local Kindle collections just in case there's an unexpected clash.

A new Import Collections feature has been added to allow you to import your Kindle collection names into a Calibre custom column. This is meant to make it easier for you to see in Library view what books are already in what Kindle collections (especially as Device view doesn't fully support that yet). It also allows you to run Create Collections using your imported column if you really wanted to. I've limited it to text based Custom columns to avoid messing up tags though you can also use a boolean field.

I've added a lot of quality checks for books on your Kindle to help you clean up empty books, books with invalid extensions, duplicate books (same title/author/date), and duplicate codes. These warning should show when you create, save or view collections. Its mainly a consequence of trying to figure out which books the Kindle actually used and which would show up in collections in order to get the reports right And there's a check if you've manually edited the collections between Create runs (ignoring anything in the Never Delete column). It may end up checking more than you want so let me know.

Hopefully the performance has been improved as I've added a cache of book details from the Kindle (first run will be slower), and moved the report of book details to View Report. But I've also added checks that could add time. It seems Windows is quite slow compared to Linux reading path information on the Kindle... Feedback appreciated.

The Editor has been enhanced with several extra columns for Author, Date, In Calibre, and Visible in Kindle Collections. And you can now sort/reverse sort and sort multiple columns. Multiple books can now be selected and added/removed. Tooltips per book show more details such as path name.

The View Report now lists collections with their included books, and for each book it lists the collections it is in.

It includes some miscellaneous items like adding Title to Customization and the ability to split a text field into separate collections, supporting skinning icons, the ability to add the plugin to the right-click menu, and more debug output than anyone really needs.

There are still some internal changes/cleanup I'd like to do at some point but its been long enough since the last update (even though the code is better than the last version, I'm sure there's quite a bit of room for improvement )


If you find any issues, or have any more suggestions/comments, please let me know. As with any big release, inevitably there is something I missed in testing. Have fun

[OneMore]

Thanks!
See it available again.
As Calibre got updated to 0.7.55 today, too, going to update it and see how both newest versions work together uploading a HUUGE eBooks colection to friend's new Kindle.
Sure, will be fun - if the whole system stands it.
;-)

[nynaevelan]

Meme:

I tried the import kindle collections feature to import my collections into a comma separated text custom column, the plugin gave me the popup box stating it imported the collections into Calibre but the column remains empty. I am 0.7.5.4.

Nyn

[meme]

I've just tried it on 0.7.55 and it worked. And on 0.7.53. Are you sure your books are marked as on the Kindle device in the Library view?

Are there any collection names imported? Try sorting/reverse sorting the custom column to check.

Running in debug mode won't tell you much more, but if we can't figure this out I can add some more debugging code.

[kiwidude]

@meme - in your release notes you said text not tags columns, but nyn said they had a comma separated text column. Is that significant?

[meme]

The Import Collection popup will only display columns that are valid to use for you to choose from - any of the text ones (text only, comma separated text, long text) plus boolean.

[meme]

One thought is to see how far its getting by populating the column with one or more values and then run Import. It should warn you that there is data and ask if you want to continue, and then it should clear all the data and then import the names. So do you get the confirmation prompt? Are the values you entered cleared?

I'll post a new version tomorrow with some extra debug code. It would be useful if someone else tried it to see if its working for them or not.

[jesscat]

Nope, not working for me either. I tried it with both a regular text column and a comma separated text column - custom columns remained entirely empty.

I tried populating my custom column with values, as you suggested. I got the warning that there was data, and then that data was in fact cleared from the column - but nothing was imported in its place.

In all cases I got a pop-up telling me my collections had been imported. But again, the columns were empty; nothing was in fact imported. The reports were empty as well, except for notifications about some bad book formats.

Books are definitely marked as on the device in the library view - I've been using the plugin for a while (I created a test column to try this out). I'm using 7.55 on XP, with a K3.

[meme]

Originally Posted by jesscat

Nope, not working for me either.
I'm using 7.55 on XP, with a K3.

I'll give it a try on XP. The clearing of columns is showing its updating Calibre ok, so the list of collections doesn't seem to be right. The new version should make that clearer if it isn't just an issue with Windows.

[Nyssa]

Import Collection is not working for me wither. I have updated both Calibre & This plugin, and am using Windows 7.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by meme

I've just tried it on 0.7.55 and it worked. And on 0.7.53. Are you sure your books are marked as on the Kindle device in the Library view?

Are there any collection names imported? Try sorting/reverse sorting the custom column to check.

Running in debug mode won't tell you much more, but if we can't figure this out I can add some more debugging code.

U think I would be silly enough to say it wasn't working without checking?? Anyhoo, I was so eager to try it I was using my work computer and there must have been something not setup on that one although I did look to make sure my settings were still in place. i just tried it on my home computer and it still does not work. You can download the debug log from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?rj57fc07cqi0p

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

@meme - in your release notes you said text not tags columns, but nyn said they had a comma separated text column. Is that significant?

She, by the way.

[OneMore]

Feedback.
I uploaded a bunch of books to a virgin new unregistered Kindle (v.3) and created collections using Calibre 0.7.55 and latest plug-in basing on FB2 categories.
All options were left default.
The books were sequentially converted earlier, using Calibre versions from 0.7.51 to 0.7.53.
After Kindle rebooted, everything looked OK, but - after I converted and added some more books to one collection, they appeared at Kindle, but did not get into collection. The FB2 tags in the source books were the same as other books uploaded earlier.
When I tried to re-create the Kindle collection using the same method, I got the following message:

calibre, version 0.7.55
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>TypeError</b>:delete_quiet() got an unexpected keyword argument 'kindle_managed'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.ui", line 83, in create_kindle_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 56, in create_kindle_collections_main
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 127, in process_calibre_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 308, in convert_calibre_collections_to_kindle
TypeError: delete_quiet() got an unexpected keyword argument 'kindle_managed'

Tried twice with the same result, restarting Kindle and OS each time.

extra info:
* system is XP SP3, 1Gb RAM
* Kindle Version is 3.0.2 (529960105)
* option to "trigger fast hack reboot..." does not seem to have any effect on this Kindle. It takes about 3 to 5 minutes to reboot in any case.
* "kindle category" column is empty
* when I remove some books from Kindle using Calibre, there are orphaned records in category (title: book with no file - #[GUID]^EBOK, other fields empty). They can be seen in "edit kindle collections manually" dialog window.
* these orphan books do not disappear even after I re-create the collection automatically (i.e. overriding Kindle collection).

after I imported these Kindle collections to Calibre, the folowing message is displayed attempting to re-create Kindle collections from Calibre:

calibre, version 0.7.55
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>KeyError</b>:u'#importedkindlecollections'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.ui", line 83, in create_kindle_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 56, in create_kindle_collections_main
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 125, in process_calibre_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.create_preview ", line 141, in filter_collections
KeyError: u'#importedkindlecollections'


meme - Let me know if you are interested to check it deeper as a possible bug.