[GUI Plugin] Action Chains

[BetterRed]

@capink - Any thoughts as to feasibility?

Apologies if it already exists

BR

[ownedbycats]

Only on the "add books" action, or also autoadd from a folder?

[capink]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@capink - Any thoughts as to feasibility?

Apologies if it already exists

BR

If you want the chain to be triggered on auto-add as suggested by @ownedbycats, that would need a modification to calibre source to insert the necessary signal.

On the other hand, if you want this when adding books manually, you can have a chain where the add action (through Calibre Actions) is at the top followed by any other actions you want after it. if you choose to go down this route, not the following:

• When you configure "Calibre Actions", you need to tick the option: "wait until any progress bar shown by action finishes".
• You probably want all the newly added books to be selected so that other actions in the chain work on them. To do this, add a "Selection Modifier" action right after the "Calibre Actions" action, and tick the option "Select books modified by last action"

Now whenever you want to add books, you click on this chain and it will open Add Books file dialog where you select the books you want as usual. After all books are added, all other actions in the chain will run.

[ownedbycats]

For future reference, is there a less tedious way to change multiple submenu entries? Selecting multiple chains and using F2 just modified the last one selected.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by capink

If you want the chain to be triggered on auto-add as suggested by @ownedbycats, that would need a modification to calibre source to insert the necessary signal.

On the other hand, if you want this when adding books manually, you can have a chain where the add action (through Calibre Actions) is at the top followed by any other actions you want after it. if you choose to go down this route, not the following:

• When you configure "Calibre Actions", you need to tick the option: "wait until any progress bar shown by action finishes".
• You probably want all the newly added books to be selected so that other actions in the chain work on them. To do this, add a "Selection Modifier" action right after the "Calibre Actions" action, and tick the option "Select books modified by last action"

Now whenever you want to add books, you click on this chain and it will open Add Books file dialog where you select the books you want as usual. After all books are added, all other actions in the chain will run.

I initiate adding books to calibre libraries from Windows, not from calibre itself. Either via a shortcut to calibre.exe I have in the Windows->File Explorer->Send To folder, or via DnD from the Desktop to the Book list.

I avoid dialogue boxes almost as much as I avoid the mouse - maybe even more. One of the first things I did when I started with calibre was to find ways of dodging some of its dialogue boxes - such as Add books and Metadata edit.

So, what I had in mind was a variant of Action Chains (or a wrapper) that ran as File Type plugin - a'la the GetFileName and deDRM plugins.

Don't treat this as a request - it was just an early morning idea that popped into my head and jumped onto the keyboard.


But on another tangent - is what you wrote in November still true ==>> 20. i.e. Conversions can't be initiated from an Action Chain.

BR

[capink]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I initiate adding books to calibre libraries from Windows, not from calibre itself. Either via a shortcut to calibre.exe I have in the Windows->File Explorer->Send To folder, or via DnD from the Desktop to the Book list.

I avoid dialogue boxes almost as much as I avoid the mouse - maybe even more. One of the first things I did when I started with calibre was to find ways of dodging some of its dialogue boxes - such as Add books and Metadata edit.

So, what I had in mind was a variant of Action Chains (or a wrapper) that ran as File Type plugin - a'la the GetFileName and deDRM plugins.

Don't treat this as a request - it was just an early morning idea that popped into my head and jumped onto the keyboard.

Never thought about this. I have no experience with File Type plugins. I will have a look when I have some time to spare.

Originally Posted by BetterRed

But on another tangent - is what you wrote in November still true ==>> 20. i.e. Conversions can't be initiated from an Action Chain.

BR

This problem was solved in version 1.5.0. You now can initiate conversions from Action Chains using "Calibre Actions". Note that you have to tick the option "wait until any job started by the selected action finishes"

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

For future reference, is there a less tedious way to change multiple submenu entries? Selecting multiple chains and using F2 just modified the last one selected.

Currently no. I will look into this for the next release.

[ownedbycats]

Thanks. One way I can see is when changing a submenu entry, check for other ones and then offer to change them. I suspect this might get annoying if you're just moving some to a different submenu though.

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Thanks. One way I can see is when changing a submenu entry, check for other ones and then offer to change them. I suspect this might get annoying if you're just moving some to a different submenu though.

Pressing F2 with multiple selections and active cell is submenu > pop up an input dialog.

[capink]

@BetterRed

Here is another method of achieving what you want, you need to add the following custom event (Manage modules > add module > copy paste the code below):

from functools import partial

# python 3 compatibility
from six import text_type as unicode

from PyQt5.Qt import (QApplication, Qt, QTimer, QWidget, QVBoxLayout, QCheckBox, pyqtSignal)

from calibre import prints
from calibre.constants import DEBUG
from calibre.db.listeners import EventType
from calibre.utils.date import now

from calibre_plugins.action_chains.events.base import ChainEvent
import calibre_plugins.action_chains.config as cfg

class ConfigWidget(QWidget):
    def __init__(self, plugin_action):
        QWidget.__init__(self)
        self.plugin_action = plugin_action
        self.gui = plugin_action.gui
        self.db = self.gui.current_db
        self._init_controls()

    def _init_controls(self):

        l = self.l = QVBoxLayout()
        self.setLayout(l)

        self.select_chk = QCheckBox(_('Select newly added books'))
        self.select_chk.setChecked(True)
        l.addWidget(self.select_chk)
        
        l.addStretch(1)

        self.setMinimumSize(300,300)

    def load_settings(self, settings):
        if settings:
            self.select_chk.setChecked(settings['select_books'])

    def save_settings(self):
        settings = {}
        settings['select_books'] = self.select_chk.isChecked()
        return settings

class BooksAddedEvent(ChainEvent):

    name = 'Books Added'
    books_added = pyqtSignal(object)
    timer_interval = 30

    def __init__(self, plugin_action):
        ChainEvent.__init__(self, plugin_action)
        self.db = plugin_action.gui.current_db
        self.gui.add_db_listener(self.process_event_in_db)
        self.book_created_cache = set()
        self.book_created_cache_last_updated = None
        QTimer.singleShot(self.timer_interval * 1000, self._on_timeout)

    def process_event_in_db(self, db, event_type, event_data):
        if not db.library_id == self.gui.current_db.library_id:
            return
        if event_type == EventType.book_created:
            book_id = event_data[0]
            self.add_to_book_created_cache(book_id, now())
        elif event_type == EventType.books_removed:
            removed_book_ids = event_data[0]
            self.book_created_cache = self.book_created_cache.difference(set(removed_book_ids))
        
    def _on_timeout(self):
        # Make sure no modal widget dialog is present (e.g. add books duplicate dialog). Otherwise, postpone
        if QApplication.instance().activeModalWidget():
            pass
        # postpone event if another action chains is running
        elif self.plugin_action.chainStack:
            pass
        else:
            utime = self.book_created_cache_last_updated
            if utime:
                elapsed = now() - utime
                if elapsed.seconds > 20:
                    QTimer.singleShot(0, partial(self.books_added.emit, self.book_created_cache))
                    QTimer.singleShot(0, self.clean_book_created_cache)
        
        # keep the timer runnig
        QTimer.singleShot(self.timer_interval * 1000, self._on_timeout) 

    def add_to_book_created_cache(self, book_id, timestamp):
        self.book_created_cache.add(book_id)
        self.book_created_cache_last_updated = timestamp

    def clean_book_created_cache(self):
        self.book_created_cache = set()
        self.book_created_cache_last_updated = None
    
    def get_event_signal(self):
        return self.books_added

    def config_widget(self):
        return ConfigWidget

    def pre_chains_event_actions(self, event_args, event_opts):
        if event_opts.get('select_books', False):
            book_ids = event_args[0]
            self.gui.library_view.select_rows(book_ids)
            if DEBUG:
                prints('Action Chains: Books Added Event: Selecting newly added book_ids: {}')

After adding this you should have an event called "Books Added" in the dropdown list of the Event Manager. You can attach whatever chains you want to that event.

Notes:

• The event will automatically select all added books, so that any chains attached to the event can act on them. If whatever reason you don't want this, you can turn it off (Event Manager > Books Added > Event optinos)
• There is a lag of several seconds before the event is activated. This is done to ensure calibre's adder (and auto-adder) has added all the books.
• You can attach one or more chain(s) to the event: Event Manager > Add Event > Books Added > click settings button next to the event.
• Whenever you change the name of a chain attached to an event, you will need to open the Event Manager to re-attach it.

Edit: The solution above is updated to work with auto-add. The File Type plugin solution could work, but it will need a separate plugin, also it will invoke the chain once after each book is added instead of waiting for all books before running the chain.

Edit2: The solution above is updated to be more cleaner:

• It no longer monkeypatches calibre code.
• It waits for all books to be added, and then releases one event for all added books, instead of a separate event per book.
• This will only work with Action Chains version >= 1.11.1

[ownedbycats]

Is there a way to account for Power Search's dialog in an action chain?



I wanted to see if I could make a chain to search a term and then pass on the marked books to Agent Ransack.

Unfortunately even with the two "wait" options selected, it immediately tries to execute the other actions after opening the dialog and fails because there aren't any marked books yet.

[capink]

I don't use the plugin so I don't know what is happening there. The wait option is intended for actions that launch progress bars.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by capink

@BetterRed

Here is another method of achieving what you want:

Add the following custom event to Action Chains module editor

[ . . . ]

Edit: The solution above is updated to work with auto-add. The Filetype plugin solution could work, but it will need a separate plugin, also it will invoke the chain once after each book is added instead of waiting for all books before running the chain.

I tried this and it works - but whether I'll use it is uncertain, I still have to eyeball check the results, but at the end rather than progressively, which goes against my grain.

BR

[capink]

• Update: Events: Add "Book List Enter Key Pressed" Event.
• Update: Events: Rename "Library View Double Clicked" into "Book List Double Clicked". The event now responds to double clicks on the cover grid as well.
• Update: Events: Add "Timer" event. This timer is activated every 5 minutes (can be configured by: Preferences > Plugins > Action Chains > Customize Plugin) for chains that should do automatic tasks at regular intervals.
• Update: Chains Dialog: Pressing F2 with multiple selections when active cell is submenu will pop up an input dialog to batch change the submenu for all selected entries.

[bob.f]

1.11 prevents my Calibre 5.25 from starting.