[GUI Plugin] Goodreads Sync

[ildanoch]

adding to shelf. When I tried syncing it removed my date read from calibre I tried adding to tbr shelf but that was not successful.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ic...sMqRrwEk5rqfg-

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ildanoch

adding to shelf. When I tried syncing it removed my date read from calibre I tried adding to tbr shelf but that was not successful.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ic...sMqRrwEk5rqfg-

Adding a book to a shelf updates GR from calibre. A sync updates calibre from GR. So, a sync for a shelf whose sync action has the option "Sync date read from Goodreads when syncing from this shelf" selected, will set the read date in calibre to what is in GR. But, that will probably clear the date if the date is not set in GR.

With those add to shelf options, the read date in calibre should be sent to GR. But, as I said above, it doesn't always work. Unfortunately, it doesn't fail consistently. I have seen it happen when I put a book directly on the read shelf. But, it can also happen if you add it to current-reading shelf and then move it to the read shelf to quickly. And I'm not sure how long "to quickly" is. For my usual usage it works. I add the book to the currently-reading shelf when I start reading a book. Then move it to the read shelf when finished. That rarely happens on the same day. That seems to always work.

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by ildanoch

adding to shelf. When I tried syncing it removed my date read from calibre I tried adding to tbr shelf but that was not successful.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ic...sMqRrwEk5rqfg-

look at post #1290, to see if it helps you in something
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...postcount=1290

[Rellwood]

I have a couple of suggestions,

First, allow users to drag/omit the columns showing in the sync widget once it's opened up.

The way it is now, the Goodreads column is first, with the dates, and tags column after it followed by the Calibre books they match with. Since the tags aren't going to be synced all at once, there isn't a good reason to show them. I would click to omit that column, and then drag the Calibre titles/dates next to the Goodreads ones to confirm that they are matched right. So being able to move the columns around by dragging them would be really helpful. I didn't even know there were any columns past the tags column.

Also, being able to stretch the sync rules below the columns shown in the widget would be nice. I can't see what rules are being applied because there is only an inch clearance, and I can't stretch the box.

Otherwise, the plugin is great!

[Rellwood]

Wrong plugin (Goodreads general plugin)

[alerum68]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Are you adding to the read shelf directly? Sometimes the read date doesn't get updated. I haven't worked out why. The only workaround is to add to the currently-reading shelf and then move it to the read shelf. From memory, that always works.

I'm having the same issue. The plugin was working fine until around May 11, 2020. That is the last date that synced. When I tried to add to to currently-reading and back to read it did fix the date issue, but because of me setting it up to upload date read on adding, it sync'd today's date, instead of my original read date. So it gave me an idea for a suggestion: Change the behavior to sync the first date read from Goodreads, instead of the last.

edit: Went back in, and redid all the dates. When I go to download again, the dates are missing from those same books. I think it has to do with the last update, and changing the date read in Goodreads instead of Calibre. If Calibre changes it, and then downloads it, it works fine.

edit 2: I modified the dates that Calibre uploaded instead of adding new dates and did a re-sync and now all dates are correct and syncing. I think this is going to happen again the next time I set a read date via Goodreads, which is how I usually handle this.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by alerum68

I'm having the same issue. The plugin was working fine until around May 11, 2020. That is the last date that synced. When I tried to add to to currently-reading and back to read it did fix the date issue, but because of me setting it up to upload date read on adding, it sync'd today's date, instead of my original read date. So it gave me an idea for a suggestion: Change the behavior to sync the first date read from Goodreads, instead of the last.

edit: Went back in, and redid all the dates. When I go to download again, the dates are missing from those same books. I think it has to do with the last update, and changing the date read in Goodreads instead of Calibre. If Calibre changes it, and then downloads it, it works fine.

If when doing a "Add to shelf" and you have it updating the read date on GR, then it takes the date from a column. A column you specify and set. If the wrong date is sent, it is most likely because you set the wrong date. Or are you saying that it didn't use the column you specified as the "Date read column" and just used today's date?

If you are downloading the date read during a "Sync from shelf", it can only use the most recently set date. That is all that is available in the API. So, if on the 1st of January you set the read date to the 1st of January, and on the 2nd of January, you set it to the 25th of December, the date the plugin will get is the 25th of December. I'm not completely sure of that as it has been a while since I tested this.

If you are seeing something else, I need some detail. Ideally, a debug log showing what happened. But, the precise steps for how to reproduce it. Without that, it can get hard to work out what is actually going on.

[alerum68]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If when doing a "Add to shelf" and you have it updating the read date on GR, then it takes the date from a column. A column you specify and set. If the wrong date is sent, it is most likely because you set the wrong date. Or are you saying that it didn't use the column you specified as the "Date read column" and just used today's date?

My #gr_date_read column was blank for these books. Date Read was set on Goodreads. When I view the Date Read column inside of the plugin the date was blank, but date was listed on Goodreads.

I used the plugin to set to the Currently_Reading shelf on Goodreads, per suggestion.

I then used the plugin to set the Read shelf on Goodreads, and since there was no date, it did two things on Goodreads: 1) changed all my original Date Started and Date Read dates to today's date, 2) added another Date Read that didn't have a Date Started date, just a Date Read date.

Used plugin to re-sync Read shelf, with the results that the date was changed, but it used today's date as the Date Read.

Went to Goodreads, and deleted both sets of dates, so Goodreads was completely empty of Date Started & Dates Read dates.

Added it to Currently_Reading shelf.

I then set the Date Read column to the correct date in Calibre.

Added to Read shelf on Goodreads.

Used Sync From Shelf again, this time the dates in the plugin were populated, and didn't blank out the date as before, using the correct date from Goodreads.

Originally Posted by davidfor

If you are downloading the date read during a "Sync from shelf", it can only use the most recently set date. That is all that is available in the API. So, if on the 1st of January you set the read date to the 1st of January, and on the 2nd of January, you set it to the 25th of December, the date the plugin will get is the 25th of December. I'm not completely sure of that as it has been a while since I tested this.

Understood.

Originally Posted by davidfor

If you are seeing something else, I need some detail. Ideally, a debug log showing what happened. But, the precise steps for how to reproduce it. Without that, it can get hard to work out what is actually going on.

I'm sorry, I don't have a debug log but I'm pretty sure the steps listed above are reproducible. Just set a Date Started and Date Read date on Goodreads for a book, and sync and see if it's blank. Like I said, this has only been happening to books that I've marked read on Goodreads since May 11th. EVERY book before that date had no problems during sync. Seems to only be when dates are originally set on Goodreads.

I'm using Calibre 4.19 64-bit on Windows 10.

[bulls23]

Sorry, very new to this. I tried to install the plugin and then went to customize plugin and i got the following error message:

calibre, version 3.36.0
ERROR: Must restart: You must restart calibre before you can configure the <b>Goodreads Sync</b> plug-in

I've restarted Calibre multiple times and even restarted my computer and it still shows the same message, any help?

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by bulls23

Sorry, very new to this. I tried to install the plugin and then went to customize plugin and i got the following error message:

calibre, version 3.36.0
ERROR: Must restart: You must restart calibre before you can configure the <b>Goodreads Sync</b> plug-in

I've restarted Calibre multiple times and even restarted my computer and it still shows the same message, any help?

will it be for its caliber version?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by bulls23

Sorry, very new to this. I tried to install the plugin and then went to customize plugin and i got the following error message:

calibre, version 3.36.0
ERROR: Must restart: You must restart calibre before you can configure the <b>Goodreads Sync</b> plug-in

I've restarted Calibre multiple times and even restarted my computer and it still shows the same message, any help?

This is my fault. As part of the Python 3 updates, I updated a library that the plugin uses. That has a version check in it that is failing in pre-4.0 versions of calibre. I thought I had tested in those versions, but, it looks like I haven't.

I have a simple fix, which @kiwidude had used for the previous version of the library. I have done some basic testing with a couple of 3.x portable versions of calibre and the plugin is loading properly. I have asked for this to released. That should happen sometime today, depending on how busy the person I asked is. There will be no other changes in the plugin.

[BetterRed]

New version should be available within the next hour - the plugin update process runs on the half-hour.

[CorrisD]

I think this is the right place to ask.

I recently picked up a Kobo Clara HD. I'm pretty sure I've got a handle on using Calibre in general, through a bit of googling which lead me to this website I've managed to set up syncing Calibre and my Kobo together, converting to Kepubs etc., and read progress from my Kobo to Calibre with custom columns. Through that I've set up the Goodreads Sync to read that and then update my Goodreads account with my recently read books.

Which so far seems to have worked with the one book I've read on my Kobo, this has synced to Goodreads as being 100% read and then has been put on my Read shelf. This all happened automatically once I set the right columns in the plug-in settings. I didn't seem to need to do much more than that for it to work and just "ok" everything when I next synced my Kobo with Calibre. So this is a great start.

What I can't seem to figure out is how to automatically set a book as "Currently Reading" on Goodreads, if that's at all possible? It's not a big deal if it isn't, books being set as Read will work long term, but I figured I would ask the question anyway.

I've started a second book, and the Kobo plug-in can see I'm reading it, it has updated the percentage on Calibre, and that percentage is being updated on Goodreads with this plug-in and I can see that on my profile that it knows I'm updating the books read percentage. However Goodreads doesn't seem to automatically translate this to a book being read, I can see the "Currently Reading" shelf on the plug-in, but I am unsure how to translate this progress as moving it to the right shelf automatically, if it is possible?

It's perfectly possible I am being a complete newbie at this, a lot of this has just automatically worked after a few synced columns were set up, but I figured I would ask the question in case I am just being a bit dense and I've just missed the explanation somewhere.

[davidfor]

@CorrisD: My apologies, but, I thought I had replied to this before. And in the negative as the plugin didn't do it. And, I thought I tested this and it broke something in the history if the book was put on the currently-reading shelf each time the progress was update. And that there were some problems with checking.

But, I tried today and it seems to work OK. Though, I haven't done near enough testing. So, I am putting out the attached beta.

In this beta, I have added the option, "Put books on currently-reading shelf" to the "Update Reading Progress". If this is checked, when the progress is update to something less than 100%, the book will be put on the currently-reading shelf. From my testing, the first time this is done, the book will be put on the shelf, and the reading start date will be set to the current date. This appears to work well as desired with no side-affects.

Please test the beta and tell me how it goes. If there are no issues, I'll release it in a few days.

[CorrisD]

Originally Posted by davidfor

@CorrisD: My apologies, but, I thought I had replied to this before. And in the negative as the plugin didn't do it. And, I thought I tested this and it broke something in the history if the book was put on the currently-reading shelf each time the progress was update. And that there were some problems with checking.

But, I tried today and it seems to work OK. Though, I haven't done near enough testing. So, I am putting out the attached beta.

In this beta, I have added the option, "Put books on currently-reading shelf" to the "Update Reading Progress". If this is checked, when the progress is update to something less than 100%, the book will be put on the currently-reading shelf. From my testing, the first time this is done, the book will be put on the shelf, and the reading start date will be set to the current date. This appears to work well as desired with no side-affects.

Please test the beta and tell me how it goes. If there are no issues, I'll release it in a few days.

Sorry only just saw the reply, and hey no worries. But thank you for the reply, it wasn't a big issue if it wasn't possible, it was mostly for my sanity that I hadn't missed something obvious while using it.

As I've just seen this I've only been able to try it once, but it worked great that one time so far. I'll try it over the next few days as I get through the book I'm currently reading and get back to you if I come across any issue.

Thanks again!