[GUI Plugin] Action Chains

[ownedbycats]

Is Action Chain's Single-Field Edit able to use custom stored templates? I re-use certain templates a lot - but it's very easy to miss one when updating them.

[capink]

Stored templates are part of the template language, so it should work.

[ownedbycats]

Hmm, I'm getting an error for it. Did I format it wrong? It works in template tester.

calibre, version 5.33.2
ERROR: Template Error: Running the template: program: columnupdate_kobocoll() returned an error:
 Formatter: Unknown function columnupdate_kobocoll near 'columnupdate_kobocoll' on line 1

[capink]

That's odd. My own stored templates are working with no problems. Can you post your stored template to see if I can replicate?

[ownedbycats]

Named it columnupdate_kobocoll.

All three of the listed columns are taglikes; #genres and #vls are composites (former puiling from tags, latter using the virtual_libraries() function).

program:
	g = field('#genres');
	k = field('#kobocoll');
	vl = field('#vls');

	v = first_non_empty(
		list_contains(vl, ',', '^Loans$', 'Loans', ''),
		list_contains(g, ',', '^Fanfiction$', 'Fanfiction', ''),
		list_contains(g, ',', '^Horses$', 'Horses', ''),
		list_contains(g, ',', '^Cozy Mystery$', 'Cozy Mysteries', ''),
		list_contains(g, ',', '^(Fantasy|Science Fiction)$', 'Fantasy & Sci-Fi', ''),
	);

	list_union(k, v, ',')

If it matters, I'm trying to update #kobocoll itself without erasing existing values.

[capink]

Does restarting calibre make any difference?

[ownedbycats]

Restarting Calibre worked. I actually noticed that some of my other custom functions were working and tried it just a minute or two before you posted.

[capink]

For now, whenever you create a new stored template, you will have to restart for it to work in Action Chains.

[ownedbycats]

Would the issue also happen when a custom function is updated? Either breaking again or producing outdated results.

[capink]

Unfortunately yes. I will examine this later today or tomorrow to see what can be done.

Edit: The problem is actually in the code of Action Chains not updating template functions. I will include a fix for this in the next version.

[ownedbycats]

Question: Can Action Chains be made to sort a specific column in a specific order?

The calibre action for "sort by" (see attached chain) tends to be a bit flaky for doing this; if it's the current sort, the menu entries change and break validation, and there's no way to define ascending/descending.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Question: Can Action Chains be made to sort a specific column in a specific order?

The View manager plugin can do that for the display at least.
It supports arbitrary multi-column sorts fully.

[ownedbycats]

Unfortunately, VM doesn't support only sorting; you need to select columns too.

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Question: Can Action Chains be made to sort a specific column in a specific order?

The calibre action for "sort by" (see attached chain) tends to be a bit flaky for doing this; if it's the current sort, the menu entries change and break validation, and there's no way to define ascending/descending.

This will need a new action. I already have a sort dialog implemented in the advanced mode of the Find Duplicates plugin, will port it to Action Chains when I have the time to do the next release.

[ownedbycats]

Thank you.