[Android] Wish List

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Yeah, I figured the icons were limited, but this does the same function even though it's labeled differently.

The Reset Quick Search does not clear the temp marks. It just clears the current search.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

The Reset Quick Search does not clear the temp marks. It just clears the current search.

I just tried adding a mark from a right mouse click and that mark did not clear after clicking Reset Quick Search. I then used the Find Duplicate plugin using Find duplicate books and after returning to the main library by clicking the minus sign the Reset Quick Search button removed those marks.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just tried adding a mark from a right mouse click and that mark did not clear after clicking Reset Quick Search. I then used the Find Duplicate plugin using Find duplicate books and after returning to the main library by clicking the minus sign the Reset Quick Search button removed those marks.

Going through what I think are the same steps, I note that running find duplicates clears any marks. That is what cleared the mark you set, not clicking on Reset Quick Search.

It isn't unreasonable that FD would clear marks. After all, marks are intended to be temporary, used for accomplishing some short-term task. FD assumes that any existing marks are no longer relevant. The wireless device driver could take the same position and clear all marks when it starts. That would mean that all marks left after a connect would be ones that CC (wireless device driver) put there. I am actually tempted to go down this route.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by chaley

Going through what I think are the same steps, I note that running find duplicates clears any marks. That is what cleared the mark you set, not clicking on Reset Quick Search.

It isn't unreasonable that FD would clear marks. After all, marks are intended to be temporary, used for accomplishing some short-term task. FD assumes that any existing marks are no longer relevant. The wireless device driver could take the same position and clear all marks when it starts. That would mean that all marks left after a connect would be ones that CC (wireless device driver) put there. I am actually tempted to go down this route.

Clicking on Reset Quick Search cleared the marks set by FD but not those set by right clicking on a title. I used FD, went back to my full library and the marks from FD were still there. Clicking on Reset Quick Search then cleared those marks.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Clicking on Reset Quick Search cleared the marks set by FD but not those set by right clicking on a title. I used FD, went back to my full library and the marks from FD were still there. Clicking on Reset Quick Search then cleared those marks.

Well, we have a mystery. For me, clicking on the Reset Quick Search does nothing to the marks. To be sure, clicking Reset changes what books are displayed, but the books that had the push pin icon before I clicked Reset still have the push pin after I clicked it. Looking at calibre's code, there is nothing in Reset Quick Search that affects marks. I have no idea why clicking it removes push pins icons for you.

If you set a mark, search for marks with "marks:true", then Reset Quick Search, do any marks go away? If not, then perhaps FD is being your buddy and changing things that you don't expect.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by chaley

Well, we have a mystery. For me, clicking on the Reset Quick Search does nothing to the marks. To be sure, clicking Reset changes what books are displayed, but the books that had the push pin icon before I clicked Reset still have the push pin after I clicked it. Looking at calibre's code, there is nothing in Reset Quick Search that affects marks. I have no idea why clicking it removes push pins icons for you.

If you set a mark, search for marks with "marks:true", then Reset Quick Search, do any marks go away? If not, then perhaps FD is being your buddy and changing things that you don't expect.

I went back to the full library by clicking on the minus sign that was to the right of Virtual library. Is that different than how I should do it?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I went back to the full library by clicking on the minus sign that was to the right of Virtual library. Is that different than how I should do it?

No, that is fine.

FD creates sort-of virtual libraries of books that are in duplicate groups. Clicking on the minus sign removes FD's virtual library without affecting any marks (push pins) on books. For example, if before you click the minus sign you look at the spreadsheet you will see that the books all have push pins. Note a few of them (title/author), click the minus sign, then search for the titles. You will see that the noted books still have the pins. You can do something similar by searching for marks:true. That search will find all the books (and perhaps many more) that were displayed before you clicked the minus.

[untilnoon]

i would like the option to have calibre companion stand alone as an app.

to be able to turn off sync to library or load books from library. all my books are on the sdcard and i would like to be able to select import from sdcard and for calibre companion to import info from that folder to populate itself. i do not want CC to copy all my books into it's own folder so now i have two sets of the same books.

when i add books to my sdcard i could have the option to automatically/manually update CC info.

CC does everything else i want an library app to do, open in reader of my choice, show data in books, sort as i choose, etc.

thanks kovid and everyone else who has contributed to both calibre and it's companion. they are both lovely.https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smiliesadd1/iloveyou.gif

[chaley]

Originally Posted by untilnoon

i would like the option to have calibre companion stand alone as an app.

to be able to turn off sync to library or load books from library. all my books are on the sdcard and i would like to be able to select import from sdcard and for calibre companion to import info from that folder to populate itself. i do not want CC to copy all my books into it's own folder so now i have two sets of the same books.

when i add books to my sdcard i could have the option to automatically/manually update CC info.

CC does everything else i want an library app to do, open in reader of my choice, show data in books, sort as i choose, etc.

thanks kovid and everyone else who has contributed to both calibre and it's companion. they are both lovely.https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smiliesadd1/iloveyou.gif

Thanks for the kind words.

I have considered something like this for quite some time. It isn't a straightforward problem.

First, note that CC depends on getting metadata from calibre. This won't change. Because of this restriction, there are only two ways to do what you want.

1) Do something like the leger calibre app. It wants a copy of a calibre library on the sd card. This sort of function would be hard to build into CC because it is so different from what CC already does.

2) Add the ability to import the metadata calibre saves when it connects to a device. In this scenario you would use "connect to folder" to put the books on the sd card. CC would read the ".metadata.calibre" file to get the metadata for the books. This approach also breaks certain CC suppositions such as separate folders for books, but it is easier to integrate into CC than #1.

Both #1 and #2 suffer from the KitKat SD card changes, making most of the SD card read-only. I don't know how you are getting to books onto the SD card, but we would need to work around this issue.

What would not work with CC is simply dropping books onto the SD card. That approach would mean that CC does not have calibre's metadata, and for many book formats would have almost no metadata at all. It also doesn't app much functionality to what you get with many reader apps.

I am considering adding a "cloud content server" option to CC, where CC could reach into dropbox etc and import books into CC. This is not what you want, of course, but it is somewhat germane to the discussion. It is also much easier to implement than either #1 or #2 above, and is probably of more general interest.

[untilnoon]

thank ypu so much for your fast response and thorough explanation. i really did not understand how CC worked and now it is clear. it sounds like it would make an excellent new project that approaches calibre books from another direction.

the key point is that this app would be optimized for books from a calibre library. it would also get around the kitkat RO problems because it will get all data from the ebook itself and will not be able to change the ebook in any way.

the only reason i persist is that there are no good ebook organizer apps out there on the level of calibre or CC. it could start out as a simple app that gets all data from the ebook itself and build from there.

thank for your time and patience.

[kaufman]

I keep my calibre data folder in Dropbox, so if the "cloud content server" worked by reading the calibre folder and importing any new books and metadata changes, that could be really useful.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

I keep my calibre data folder in Dropbox, so if the "cloud content server" worked by reading the calibre folder and importing any new books and metadata changes, that could be really useful.

Ahhh, this is yet another variant on the theme, one I hadn't thought of.

IIRC, you are suggesting that CC update the metadata in its DB from a calibre library in the cloud instead of via a wireless device connection. This isn't the "cloud content server", but is instead a new form of wireless device connection. I think it is possible, but there are at least 2 problems:
1) The is-read information could not sync because CC cannot write the calibre database.
2) Cover updating would be problematic. The wireless device constructs the thumb and sends it. CC would need to download the "real" cover and then construct the thumb. I don't know what the performance of that would be.

I will add it to the list. I think it will take a lot of experimentation and cogitation, so it won't be in the next cycle, assuming it happens at all.

[kaufman]

You do RC, that was exactly my thought.

As far as (1) goes, this is a idea that I have no interest in, because I don't that use the is-read functionality, but since you are doing calibre coding as well, could you write out a sidecar file with is-read information and then import it later during a calibre session maybe automatically at startup.

As far as (2) goes, good, because autosort is more important.

[kaufman]

If it isn't too late, I would like to make a request for a possible functionality change. It's small and it has no ui changes or user explanations needed.

What I would like is when expanding a grouping with "group by first letter" turned on, don't do they group by first letter if all entries in the group start with the same character.

Most people will never run into this, but it will be useful for sparse custom groupings.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

If it isn't too late, I would like to make a request for a possible functionality change. It's small and it has no ui changes or user explanations needed.

What I would like is when expanding a grouping with "group by first letter" turned on, don't do they group by first letter if all entries in the group start with the same character.

Most people will never run into this, but it will be useful for sparse custom groupings.

I have added it to the list and will look at its implementation.