Calibre Companion 3 beta for Android released

[DoctorOhh]

I ran across an anomaly that may be easy to duplicate. At least it is on my new Nexus 7 (2013).

I was in the drawer showing authors, I selected an author that had 13 books. I closed the drawer and 4 rows of books showed 4, 4, 4, and 1. I re-opened the drawer clicked on search then canceled the search and closed the drawer. I now showed 14 books (see attached) the top left book (1st of the search) was duplicated in the bottom right corner in image only.

This happened with another author with 22 books (see attached), again the the top left book (1st of the search) even though it was off the screen was still replicated.

Switching to landscape and back removes the rogue image.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@chaley,

I'm thrilled with the new beta!

We strive to please.

Cover View: The Cover view Portrait 65% ratio setting is perfect for me - more books & less background. Even when I choose 'Portrait distort' the actual distortion appears negligible (for my covers), plus it has the added benefit of all thumbnails being a uniform size. BTW a small suggestion, the word 'distort' sounds a bit negative, perhaps 'stretch' or 'stretch-to-fit' sounds less of a bad thing (of course many believe it is A Very Bad Thing )

"Stretch to fit" is a very good suggestion.

If you do add a 3rd option perhaps 75% would be good for those, like DoctorOhh, who have taken a lot of time over the years to make covers look good for their 3:4 ereaders.

I was thinking .65, .8, and square. Each one is ~25% bigger than its predecessor.

One thing I did notice is that if you choose 'Title' it always groups by FL no matter whether the box is ticked or not. But perhaps this is deliberate?

Yes. We don't want to show titles in the grouping drawer, as that is what the booklist is for. If we removed first letters for titles, then we would need to also remove title because we would have nothing to show.

Thanks to all for your service with a smile. Luckily we can't see the gritted teeth each time one of us says 'I've had this really great idea...'

No gritted teeth. Occasionally a rolled eye, though.

Seriously, this has been a fascinating and excellent experience. Your (in the plural) comments have really helped us improve CC, and the process has been fun.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

I ran across an anomaly that may be easy to duplicate. At least it is on my new Nexus 7 (2013).

I was in the drawer showing authors, I selected an author that had 13 books. I closed the drawer and 4 rows of books showed 4, 4, 4, and 1. I re-opened the drawer clicked on search then canceled the search and closed the drawer. I now showed 14 books (see attached) the top left book (1st of the search) was duplicated in the bottom right corner in image only.

This happened with another author with 22 books (see attached), again the the top left book (1st of the search) even though it was off the screen was still replicated.

Switching to landscape and back removes the rogue image.

I am not seeing this. I suspect that I am doing something different from what you are doing.

Steps:
- Search is not in use
- Select an author that results in one book in the last line
- Close the drawer
- Open the drawer
- Click search, then cancel. This does nothing because there wasn't a search before.
- Close the drawer.

What are you doing differently?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by chaley

I am not seeing this. I suspect that I am doing something different from what you are doing.

Steps:
- Search is not in use
- Select an author that results in one book in the last line
- Close the drawer
- Open the drawer
- Click search, then cancel. This does nothing because there wasn't a search before.
- Close the drawer.

What are you doing differently?

I'm doing exactly this, but it doesn't work with less then 4 rows showing. Also the bottom row must be showing with the empty spot as shown.

Large covers
Portrait box distorted or Square box, preserve ar (most likely the others too.
Any background.

[DoctorOhh]

Maybe it is unique to my new tablet. I rebooted my tablet, cleared cache and data then reconnected to calibe. Same results every time.

Steps:
- Search is not in use
- Select an author that results in one book in the last line
- Close the drawer
- Make sure the empty spot is showing, scroll down if needed. Must be 4 or more rows it does not happen when the bottom row is blank.
- Open the drawer
- Click search, then cancel. This does nothing because there wasn't a search before.
- Close the drawer.

It is hours past my bed time, see you later.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Maybe it is unique to my new tablet. I rebooted my tablet, cleared cache and data then reconnected to calibe. Same results every time.

Thanks for the perseverance. I found it.

It is (was) caused by a timing problem when displaying covers. Android "recycles" image cells to be used in different parts of the screen. It was possible that a cell would be recycled that had not finished computing the cover bitmap for the original location of the cell. If the destination cell was empty then the computed cover for the original cell would be placed into the empty cell.

This could happen only under some very constrained conditions, which luckily for me you were able to identify.

I think it is fixed. At least it no longer breaks for me.

[Purple Lady]

I got the new beta today, and overall it's pretty good.

Grouping - can we get the grouping detail at the top of the page or somewhere? When I am grouped by tags for instance, I may not remember what tags I am looking at and don't want to have to slide back and forth to see what the tag is. The old grouping has what grouping you are in at the top and I find this very useful. I normally use my Nexus 7 in portrait view - in landscape I can see the grouping because the drawer stays open.

When I switched from portrait to landscape, the books stay on the shelves, but when I switched back to portrait there are no books or shelves until I touch the screen again. List view works properly here.

I like being able to specify first letter grouping easily by group.

Cover grid view - I like it and I am getting seven covers across with portrait and four with square! I am also glad to see the choice for grey. The only problem is that every time I scroll up and down, I have to wait for the covers to appear no matter how many covers across I have. I left the cover size at normal.

I see a problem that I had before and never mentioned still exists - I deleted a few custom columns in Calibre, but they are still in my book details after connecting wirelessly. I thought they would be removed.

Thanks for all the hard work!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I see a problem that I had before and never mentioned still exists - I deleted a few custom columns in Calibre, but they are still in my book details after connecting wirelessly. I thought they would be removed.

I'm curious, did you delete the custom columns or did you simply right click and say hide. Hiding the columns in calibre makes it look like you deleted them but they are still there and will be fed to CC.

You can check by going to preferences - Add your own columns, if you see the columns you thought you had deleted then they were just hidden. If you remove them from this screen then the data will be removed from CC the next time you connect.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

I'm curious, did you delete the custom columns or did you simply right click and say hide. Hiding the columns in calibre makes it look like you deleted them but they are still there and will be fed to CC.

You can check by going to preferences - Add your own columns, if you see the columns you thought you had deleted then they were just hidden. If you remove them from this screen then the data will be removed from CC the next time you connect.

I deleted them hoping to speed Calibre up. They were just for testing purposes anyway.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I see a problem that I had before and never mentioned still exists - I deleted a few custom columns in Calibre, but they are still in my book details after connecting wirelessly. I thought they would be removed.

I just verified this error (good catch).

CC's FAQ states:

Originally Posted by chaley

Calibre Companion can update the metadata for the books on every connect, ensuring the information for your books displayed in Calibre Companion is the same as the information displayed in calibre.

This doesn't seem to be completely happening. At least it is not happening if custom columns fit your definition of metadata. I only tested in regards to removing a custom column.

I went into CC and verified that all of my books had a custom column and field.

My example is a custom column (w/assoc. field) called "Working Finished".

This metadata info showed at the bottom of the Book details page for every book.

I went into calibre and removed the custom column "Working".
I restarted calibre
I verified the custom column was gone.
I connected CC as a wireless device.
I waited for the 3 jobs to finish.

• Get device information (0 seconds)
• Get list of books on device (12 seconds)
• Send metadata to Device (0 seconds)

I then posted the above info and disconnected CC.
I exited CC
Cleared CC's cache
Opened CC
The column was still reflected on the Book details page of all of the books.

Deleting and resending a book will correct the metadata for that one book.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Grouping - can we get the grouping detail at the top of the page or somewhere? When I am grouped by tags for instance, I may not remember what tags I am looking at and don't want to have to slide back and forth to see what the tag is. The old grouping has what grouping you are in at the top and I find this very useful. I normally use my Nexus 7 in portrait view - in landscape I can see the grouping because the drawer stays open.

This is a great idea when I select the Author Jane Austen it would be great (if possible) to have the view show Jane Austen next to the drawer icon vice Authors. Or if the Tag I selected is To Be Read, having the tag name vice the word Tags would be ideal. (obviously the same for series)

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

When I switched from portrait to landscape, the books stay on the shelves, but when I switched back to portrait there are no books or shelves until I touch the screen again. List view works properly here.

I can't replicate this on my Nexus 7 (2013).

@chaley I experience a problem when switching between landscape and portrait in the grid view that I don't experience in the list view.

If I am in the middle of scrolling through a grid view accidentally shifting to landscape will cause the books to reset to the beginning, same is true changing back to portrait. Loosing your position does not happen if you are in list view.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

I can't replicate this on my Nexus 7 (2013).

I do however, experience a problem when switching between landscape and portrait in the grid view that I don't experience in the list view.

If I am in the middle of scrolling through a grid view accidentally shifting to landscape will cause the books to reset to the beginning, same is true changing back to portrait. Loosing your position does not happen if you are in list view.

I just did some further testing, and if I start out on landscape in grid view I can switch to portrait with no problem. If I then switch to landscape it's still ok, but if I then switch to portrait I get no books. The problem seems to happen when switching from portrait to landscape and then back to portrait again.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just did some further testing, and if I start out on landscape in grid view I can switch to portrait with no problem. If I then switch to landscape it's still ok, but if I then switch to portrait I get no books. The problem seems to happen when switching from portrait to landscape and then back to portrait again.

Interesting, but I can't replicate this problem.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Interesting, but I can't replicate this problem.

Strange. I just did a reboot to see if it would help, but it didn't. I wonder if anyone else with an original Nexus 7 has this problem. I am rooted, but have the stock rom and kernel. I am still on 4.2.2 though.

So how's the Nexus 7 2013? I am waiting for the LTE version.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Interesting, but I can't replicate this problem.

Did you try with the grouping drawer open or closed? I don't have a problem if the drawer is open, only if it's closed.