[GUI Plugin] Extract ISBN

[John Osborn]

Dear KiwiDude
Extract ISBN is great as I follow uo with Download Metadata as like all my books to have Covers and Desriptions. Therefore can use Extract ISBN for 20,000 books at once. Would make it much easier (for me) if there was a button that allowed one to download all the separate (up to 100) results for all the separate results rather than have to do each (100) result separately. Would this be possible? Thanks for the progreamme.

[theducks]

Don't be a Metadata downloader bandwidth hog.
That can get us (Calibre users) banned from good sources.
We get to use their sources for free. Be kind.

Small batches is 1)friendly to the servers. 2)posts the results to Calibre DB (cached until the fetch is done. lost if it crashes). 3)Allows easier resolution of fails (no or wrong results).

I question the need to do ALL your books (with extract ISBN). When you added them to Calibre, it should have pulled available metadata from the book.
That leaves PDF and some personal docs.

FWIW I used Calibre to document my 900+ paperback collection. That is where I came up with the 20 rule. Many were so old they did not have ISBN (or bar codes) or they failed to get results or the cover was modern (not my edition).
20 allowed me to fix most issues (or leave a comment). It took months, but I never had to do it again (BTW be sure to BACKUP as there are no books to re import if you lose your disk)

[ownedbycats]

Agh! Any chance of changing this blue for dark mode?

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Agh! Any chance of changing this blue for dark mode?

No chance of it being changed by me, that is a calibre issue with it’s logger and different colours it sets for debug, warn etc.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Agh! Any chance of changing this blue for dark mode?

The green is terrible too. Not as bad as the blue, but still too dark.

[weichkaese]

I used this plugin for years but now it doesn't seem to work for me.
Nowadays I installed Calibre via Flatpak (flatpak install flathub com.calibre_ebook.calibre).

Could it be related to that?

I see also errors in the console:

Spoiler:

File "calibre_plugins.exlibris_plugin.main", line 179
self.include_spine.setText(str(newRow + 1))
^
TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.common_utils", line 18, in <module>
from PyQt5.Qt import (Qt, QIcon, QPixmap, QLabel, QDialog, QHBoxLayout,
ImportError: cannot import name 'QRegExpValidator' from 'qt.core' (/app/lib/calibre/lib/calibre-extensions/python-lib.bypy.frozen/qt/core.pyc)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre/gui2/ui.py", line 137, in __init__
File "calibre/gui2/ui.py", line 155, in init_iaction
File "calibre/customize/__init__.py", line 612, in load_actual_plugin
File "importlib/__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1050, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1027, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 688, in _load_unlocked
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 206, in exec_module
File "calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.action", line 16, in <module>
import calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.config as cfg
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 206, in exec_module
File "calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.config", line 24, in <module>
from calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.common_utils import KeyValueComboBox, KeyboardConfigDialog
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 206, in exec_module
File "calibre_plugins.extract_isbn.common_utils", line 24, in <module>
from PyQt4 import QtGui
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'PyQt4'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.goodreads_sync.common_utils", line 18, in <module>
from PyQt5.Qt import (Qt, QIcon, QPixmap, QLabel, QDialog, QHBoxLayout, QProgressBar,
ImportError: cannot import name 'QRegExpValidator' from 'qt.core' (/app/lib/calibre/lib/calibre-extensions/python-lib.bypy.frozen/qt/core.pyc)

PS: Thank you for creating and maintaining the plugin.
It was always a reliable companion for me

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Agh! Any chance of changing this blue for dark mode?

Originally Posted by kiwidude

No chance of it being changed by me, that is a calibre issue with it’s logger and different colours it sets for debug, warn etc.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The green is terrible too. Not as bad as the blue, but still too dark.

Try this

Also see this

BR

[weichkaese]

I don't see the edit button any more but my issue is fixed now.

[random733]

Can somebody please tell me how to config the plugin to not prompt for a confirmation after an ISBN was found and just accept all? Thanks

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by random733

Can somebody please tell me how to config the plugin to not prompt for a confirmation after an ISBN was found and just accept all? Thanks

Calibre Preferences > Plugins > Search "ISBN" until you get to Extract ISBN > Customize plugin > Uncheck "prompt to apply ISBN changes." You may also want turn off "display failure dialog."

[John Osborn]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Calibre Preferences > Plugins > Search "ISBN" until you get to Extract ISBN > Customize plugin > Uncheck "prompt to apply ISBN changes." You may also want turn off "display failure dialog."

Thanks for that. Nissed that you could do this, Solves my problem perfectly. Thanks again.

[ownedbycats]

Request, if it fits in scope: An option that removes a preexisting ISBN if none are found in the book. Metadata download sometimes picks them up from paper editions.

[kjdavies]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Calibre Preferences > Plugins > Search "ISBN" until you get to Extract ISBN > Customize plugin > Uncheck "prompt to apply ISBN changes." You may also want turn off "display failure dialog."

Exactly what I came here to find.

I suspect this might be a common request (haven't read the other 30 pages in this thread); it might be good to add to the plugin description in OP... or at least "there are quality of life settings for this plugin".

[kiwidude]

@kjdavies - there is a whole dedicated help manual page dedciated for every plugin which is linked off the first post - and describes the configuration.

I know it gets asked for every now and then so I may relent - a few of my plugins do not have dropdown menus, and hence people struggle to discover the Configuration for them (every plugin can be configured via the Preferences screen mentioned above, but it is way less convenient). The reason for why I don't is a UI choice. A button in the toolbar has two possible modes when you want a menu - either you have a dropdown arrow to the side (which makes the plugin button wider in total space), or you have the menu appear when you click on the action button (which negates the ability to perform an action simply by clicking on the icon).

In the case of something like Extract ISBN I don't want people forced into a submenu to actually perform the action - which means taking the "put a dropdown arrow on the side" approach. The extra real estate this takes in the toolbar can add up - just look at your existing calibre functions like Add books, Edit metadata etc.

So wasting that screen space all for just a single menu option of Configuration seemed overkill to me, but over time there have been increased important configuration options for the plugin and I could also now link to the wiki help page from it.

So I will add it in on a rainy day at some point...

[SidJnsn]

While it is nearly impossible that you haven't been asked this question multiple times, I cannot find it using Search.

It seems like extracting the Classification in Publication (CIP) data would be a logical follow-on to your plugin. It could provide LCC, DDC, and LCCN in custom columns.

I know that the Library Codes plugin gets LCC and DDC data, but sometimes it finds nothing when the CIP data is available on one of the first few pages. That is because it is looking up the book using ISBN or WI numbers on an external site.

It would be nice to be able to select the books that come up dry and be able to run a check for the CIP data. Or, to get the CIP data while extracting ISBN so that it is there (where possible) before the LC plugin is even run.

Thoughts?

And thank you for an extremely valuable plugin!