Deleting book from database

[jmoore914]

Hi all,

I'm trying to write a plugin and could use a bit of help. Given a path for an ebook, I would like to delete that book from the database. I can delete the file from my computer using normal python methods but I can't seem to find a way to remove it from calibre.

Apologies if this is super obvious. I searched through the API docs and was only able to find functions to remove a book from a device.

Bonus question: Is there any way to automatically trigger a plug in to run whenever the metadata for a book is changed?

Thanks so much in advance!

[theducks]

Look at the commandline interface section of the users guide

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/gen...db.html#remove

BTW NEVER make changes to the filesystem using anything other than Calibre (tools), you will break things BAD

[jhowell]

The database API documentation is here. See remove_books if you want to remove a book record entirely or remove_formats if you want to eliminate just the e-book content.

[jmoore914]

Thanks for the help!

remove_formats is working for the most part. The only issue I'm having is that it is successfully deleting the ebook from the filesystem but the deleted format is still listed as available in the Calibre interface. Is there some command I need to run in order to have this change reflected in the Calibre interface?

Thanks again

[theducks]

Originally Posted by jmoore914

Thanks for the help!

remove_formats is working for the most part. The only issue I'm having is that it is successfully deleting the ebook from the filesystem but the deleted format is still listed as available in the Calibre interface. Is there some command I need to run in order to have this change reflected in the Calibre interface?

Thanks again

Yes
You are using the wrong call.
Remove, does EVERYTING

[jmoore914]

Originally Posted by theducks

Yes
You are using the wrong call.
Remove, does EVERYTING

Hi theducks,

I am only trying to remove certain formats which is why I was using the remove_formats API call. I'm guessing the command line call would have the same result but I can give it a try I guess.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by jmoore914

Thanks for the help!

remove_formats is working for the most part. The only issue I'm having is that it is successfully deleting the ebook from the filesystem but the deleted format is still listed as available in the Calibre interface. Is there some command I need to run in order to have this change reflected in the Calibre interface?

Thanks again

remove_formats should only remove the nominated format file (e.g. EPUB, TXT etc) from the library, and it should remove the corresponding link in database.

If you restart calibre after running your plugin, is the removed format still showing in Book Details. If not, that would indicate you need to refresh the Book Details panel after doing the remove_formats. If it is -

BR

[jmoore914]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

If you restart calibre after running your plugin, is the removed format still showing in Book Details. If not, that would indicate you need to refresh the Book Details panel after doing the remove_formats. If it is -

BR

Bingo! I just need to refresh the panel. Can I force a refresh or does the program need to be restarted?

[BetterRed]

dunno - I am a logician not a coder. I would be very surprised if there's not a refresh function available, but I've no idea where it is.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

If you are doing this in a GUI plugin then dont use the db API directly, instead use the existing remove books action which will take care of refreshing the GUI for you automatically. Something like:

self.gui.iactions['Remove Books'].remove_format_by_id(book_id, fmt)

Note however, that this function will ask the user for confirmation. If you want to avoid that, then look at its code and re-implement it yourself, you will find it in actions/delete.py

[jmoore914]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

If you are doing this in a GUI plugin then dont use the db API directly, instead use the existing remove books action which will take care of refreshing the GUI for you automatically. Something like:

self.gui.iactions['Remove Books'].remove_format_by_id(book_id, fmt)

Note however, that this function will ask the user for confirmation. If you want to avoid that, then look at its code and re-implement it yourself, you will find it in actions/delete.py

Hi Kovid,

I was not planning on making this a GUI plugin so I will look into re-implementing the function myself. Thanks for the suggestion and for making such an amazing program!