Plugin ideas... add yours here

[DaltonST]

Plugin for upload books by FTP on server.

A simple, lightweight FTP function is a Job Spy GUI Tool available from Version 1.0.76. It is invocable from a shortcut or context menu selection.

I wish I had done this for myself sooner. Using FTP greatly simplifies getting new epubs I want to read from my huge desktop Calibre library to my little Windows 10 tablet eReader with Calibre, which temporarily holds only my read-next queue via an automatic "add new books" folder with "automatic deletion after addition" on the LAN.

Calibre is very conservative about what it will automatically add and then automatically delete, so FTPing only the selected book .epub files to that special folder is perfect.

All of my epubs were originally run after acquisition through the "Modify Epub" plug-in, so they do not need any updating for metadata prior to reading with Freda+ on the tablet. Since Calibre on the tablet is used to organize the read-next queue, the .epub files do not need any special renaming. Perfect.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by iDron

Plugin for upload books by FTP on server.
In the settings specify the host, login and password.

You can achieve something like this by mounting the FTP server as a local drive or folder. You can then use save-to-disk to save it to that location and hence it uploads to the server. Or you can use calibre to connect to that folder as a device. Calibre will then treat it as any other device and show the books on the server in the device list and you use send-to-device to send books to the server. Both of these have the advantage that calibre will update the metadata and covers when sending the books and use a save template for the file name.

[Rellwood]

I don't know how many times I have uploaded books to my Kindle thinking they were formatted perfectly only to find out after ejecting it from the computer and seeing the covers not showing.

I can easily see which ones fail when I look at the thumbnails in the system folder on my computer because they are listed as "partial" but due to the way the Kindle stores the covers with the names not being listed there is no way to determine which cover goes with which book. Unless I eject the kindle, go into it and write down each book that has a missing cover I am stuck knowing a cover is failing but not knowing what book needs attention.

It would be nice if someone would create a plugin that works with a yes/no custom column that would scan the books on the Kindle to see which ones have a cover failure.

Also, if there is some way of bringing in all the cover information listed in the kindle, dimension and byte sizes it could be easier to determine why a cover failed.

[Rellwood]

Sometimes two different books get placed in the same folder. It would be nice if a plugin could be developed that would scan the library and notify me if this happens. It is impossible to determine this without either going through the library and literally opening up each book, or setting each book format's cover from the file and seeing the different covers.

A custom column that indicates when there are different books in the same folder could save a lot of headaches.

[Rellwood]

Can someone create a plugin that would work along the generate catalog in the gui that provides the same csv or text information that would be generated if a user used SQlite to create the file?

Instead of downloading the program and hunting down a specific column and figuring out how to export it to a csv, being able to just tick off the columns like a user does when generating a library csv would be much more user friendly and provide column focused information rather than book focused.

Sometimes it's much more helpful to know all the information that a column has rather than all the information each book holds. This is especially helpful when needing a list of tags or column names when configuring other plugins.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

Can someone create a plugin that would work along the generate catalog in the gui that provides the same csv or text information that would be generated if a user used SQlite to create the file?

Instead of downloading the program and hunting down a specific column and figuring out how to export it to a csv, being able to just tick off the columns like a user does when generating a library csv would be much more user friendly and provide column focused information rather than book focused.

Sometimes it's much more helpful to know all the information that a column has rather than all the information each book holds. This is especially helpful when needing a list of tags or column names when configuring other plugins.

The CLI can export specific columns with additional arguments (see Help)
Calibredb --list


But you can also use Generate Catalog (right click Convert)
The CSV/XML tab is where you select columns


Generate Catalog, respects the current view (VL or Query)

[Rellwood]

I didn't realize that the covert catalog could work that way. I never looked that closely at it to see. I will have to do a check. At least I know how to go about getting that information directly from SQlite. Now I just have to figure out Q C+S enough to apply it to my library. Thanks!

[Rellwood]

Originally Posted by theducks

The CLI can export specific columns with additional arguments (see Help)
Calibredb --list


But you can also use Generate Catalog (right click Convert)
The CSV/XML tab is where you select columns


Generate Catalog, respects the current view (VL or Query)

For whatever reason the Calibredb fails when I try using it because "there are too many columns" or something along those lines.

When I generate the catalog it still lists the information book by book and not just the list of items in the column and the total number of times each item is used. Basically the opposite of what it does now. Instead of a book list, I want a list of all the tags, and the number of books each tag is in.

I guess I was hoping that I could avoid going into SQlite to export the files because it is a hassle figuruing out what each column is. But it is the only way I can figure to get what I am looking for...a list of all the specific items in a column rather than a list of every book and what each one holds.

Thanks anyway.

[theducks]

Ah! you want a 'count', just like you see in the Tag Browser

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

Ah! you want a 'count', just like you see in the Tag Browser

What he wants is a Save to CSV button in the Manage <whatever> dialogues - (authors, publisher, tags, series, #book_awards, #presenter, #translator, #talent etc)

I've sometimes wished for the same, but its not something I would use very often, and its not hard to extract them from the database itself using something like SQLite Browser or SQLite Expert.

@Rellwood - re - Different books in same folder - that seems a big ask - as in a sledgehammer to crack a peanut.

Maybe the Audit Log PI could be used to detect and report format additions to existing books. You would investigate suspicious additions manually.

BR

[DaltonST]

Rellwood:

There is a GUI Tool in Job Spy called "Visualize Metadata" that has an Export to .csv option. The exported .csv has a count by each value for each metadata value for a single metadata column (author, etc.). It does not export a count for all metadata column counts all at once. Its purpose is to "visualize" a single metadata column's top 50 values via a Pie Chart, and export all values (not just the top 50) to a .csv for use in a spreadsheet or other tool.



DaltonST

[Divingduck]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

For whatever reason the Calibredb fails when I try using it because "there are too many columns" or something along those lines.

You can adjust the output width (--line-width). Like --line-width=250. Sample:

calibredb list --fields=authors,title,rating --separator=";" --line-width=250 --with-library="e:\Calibre Bibliothek" >BooklistWithRating.txt

When I generate the catalog it still lists the information book by book and not just the list of items in the column and the total number of times each item is used. Basically the opposite of what it does now. Instead of a book list, I want a list of all the tags, and the number of books each tag is in.

Maybe something like this?

calibredb list_categories >LibraryCategories.txt

[pleiadesc]

Hello,

Would a plugin to search the current library with a list of multiple books at the same time possible?

Example
Booksearch.txt

Inside the text files is a list of book titles to be search
Book A
Book B
Book C
Book D
Book E

The current library only has Book B, C and E

In Calibre open up the Plugin, import the text file to be searched and press Search.

After the Plugin works its magic, it will show you the result in the current list
Book B
Book C
Book E

This will make it easier example you found a list of recommended books, just copy the list, paste it on a text file, import it in the Plugin, cross out books you have and check/review/buy the other books.

Thank you!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by pleiadesc

Hello,

Would a plugin to search the current library with a list of multiple books at the same time possible?

Example
Booksearch.txt

Inside the text files is a list of book titles to be search
Book A
Book B
Book C
Book D
Book E

The current library only has Book B, C and E

In Calibre open up the Plugin, import the text file to be searched and press Search.

After the Plugin works its magic, it will show you the result in the current list
Book B
Book C
Book E

This will make it easier example you found a list of recommended books, just copy the list, paste it on a text file, import it in the Plugin, cross out books you have and check/review/buy the other books.

You can sort of do what you want with the import List plugin. It can read a CSV file with a list of books and match them to books in your library. Then you can apply metadata from the file to the existing books or create new book entries.

In this case, you could use the plugin to create empty book entries for those you don't have and add a tag or something else to indicate they are "want to buy".

[pleiadesc]

Thank you davidfor, I will try the import plugin