Reading Lists plugin and Virtual Libraries

[dustyp]

I have the Reading Lists plugin and find it extremely useful.
When I attempt to use a reading list to populate a Virtual Library, by entering (for instance) "marked:reading_list_deb" copied from the search bar to the VL search expression, the contents of the reading list appear as a virtual library for easy access by my wife.
However, I have several reading lists for different members of my family and have populated several VLs from each RL and apart from the first two VLs I created, if I change to a different VL, the contents disappear.
If I then edit the VL search setting, it tells me there the search found no books so the VL will be empty, whereas if I copy the identical search string in from the main search bar, it works again.
Is this a bug in the VL code within Calibre or is it a fault within the Reading Lists plugin?
Is there a solution?

[JimmXinu]

Virtual Libraries(VLs) based on 'marked' searches aren't going to be reliable because the 'marks' on books aren't saved. They're meant to be temporary.

The Reading List(RL) PI keeps the id's for the books in each list in its own configuration. When you view a list, it sets a 'marked' value on each book in the list and then searches for that mark. Those marks are cleared when you next do something else that marks books.

For VL searches, I suggest you use column values.

RL can populate custom column(s) for you, so you could make a custom column (tag type probably) specifically for your lists and populate a value for each list, then use that for the VL searches.

[BetterRed]

what JimmXinu wrote

@dustyp - searches with "marked:blah blah" are created dynamically so they can't be used in VL search terms.

I suggest you create a custom column like Tags called say 'thefamily/The Family'. In each persons Reading List set Column Update Options to :

When changing this list: to Update column for add or remove
Column to update: to #thefamiliy (The Family)
Value on Column to add/remove: to persons name

Then create the VL's based on values in the Family Name column. You probably won't want to see the Family Name category in the Tag Browser, so right click its category header and select Hide.

BR

[chaley]

Another advantage of the JimmXinu/BetterRed method is that if you use a reading device that can "see" custom columns then you can set up collections (or the equivalent) based on the column data. This would let you see individual subsets on a shared device. Exactly how you set this up depends on the device and possibly the reading and transfer apps.