Bulk Metadata Editing not working

jvik · 01-04-2011, 08:48 AM

I'm pretty new to calibre, so it's probably something simple I'm doing wrong. I'm running the 7.37 version of calibre.

Adding books to calibre, my file-system naming convention has been
last-name, first-name - title
and I get "last-name, first-name" in the Authors field. So I'm trying to use the bulk editing feature for metadata to change that to "first-name last-name", but it's not working either with regex mode or character match mode.

I have 10 books by Pete Overshoe selected. The author field is set to "Overshoe, Pete". In both Character match and regex mode, when I set the search field to Authors, the Book 1 ... List shows the value as "Overshoe | Pete". After setting the search for and replace fields appropriately for the mode I'm using, if I enter "Overshoe, Pete" in the test text, the test result correctly shoes "Pete Overshoe", but the book list results remain unchanged and if I apply the changes there is no result.

I'm pretty sure I was able to do this in 7.35. Is this a bug in the new version?

Thanks for any suggestions.

jvik · 01-04-2011, 08:51 AM

I know that with the example I used - all books by a single author - I could just set the author with the basic metadata page, but the real goal is to be able to do it for multiple authors with regular expressions.

Thanks.

chaley · 01-04-2011, 08:56 AM

Works for me. See the attached screenshot.

Edit: changed screenshot to use regexps against more than one author.

jvik · 01-04-2011, 09:14 AM

Huh! You're right - that works. So then my question becomes: Why does the comma that's in the actual author field display as a pipe symbol in the books list? Silly me, I was trying to match the character that was in the author field:-)

chaley · 01-04-2011, 09:26 AM

The comma/| stuff comes from how calibre manipulates lists of things. In list form, each 'thing' is complete and self contained. In string form, all of the 'things' are put together, separated by commas. The two are intended to be interchangeable, which creates a problem if a 'thing' contains a comma. "Bar, Foo" would become "Bar" "Foo".

For tags, the problem is avoided by forbidding commas in a tag. This doesn't work for authors, so the problem is avoided by converting commas to vertical bars.

This process is rather a pain inside calibre, because we need to be aware of what form we are using. In early versions of S/R, it was too complicated in search/replace to deal with both the interchange of single- and multiple-valued fields and bar conversion. That could be changed now that S/R is more intelligently dealing with multiples using the user-settable separator. I will look at it.

Probably more than you wanted to know.

jvik · 01-04-2011, 09:34 AM

Actually, exactly what I wanted to know. That makes sense. Thanks.

01-04-2011, 08:48 AM	#1
jvik Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: Nook	Bulk Metadata Editing not working I'm pretty new to calibre, so it's probably something simple I'm doing wrong. I'm running the 7.37 version of calibre. Adding books to calibre, my file-system naming convention has been last-name, first-name - title and I get "last-name, first-name" in the Authors field. So I'm trying to use the bulk editing feature for metadata to change that to "first-name last-name", but it's not working either with regex mode or character match mode. I have 10 books by Pete Overshoe selected. The author field is set to "Overshoe, Pete". In both Character match and regex mode, when I set the search field to Authors, the Book 1 ... List shows the value as "Overshoe \| Pete". After setting the search for and replace fields appropriately for the mode I'm using, if I enter "Overshoe, Pete" in the test text, the test result correctly shoes "Pete Overshoe", but the book list results remain unchanged and if I apply the changes there is no result. I'm pretty sure I was able to do this in 7.35. Is this a bug in the new version? Thanks for any suggestions.

01-04-2011, 08:56 AM	#3
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,741 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Works for me. See the attached screenshot. Edit: changed screenshot to use regexps against more than one author. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by chaley; 01-04-2011 at 09:02 AM.

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01-04-2011, 08:51 AM	#2
jvik Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: Nook	I know that with the example I used - all books by a single author - I could just set the author with the basic metadata page, but the real goal is to be able to do it for multiple authors with regular expressions. Thanks.

01-04-2011, 09:14 AM	#4
jvik Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: Nook	Huh! You're right - that works. So then my question becomes: Why does the comma that's in the actual author field display as a pipe symbol in the books list? Silly me, I was trying to match the character that was in the author field:-)

01-04-2011, 09:26 AM	#5
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,741 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	The comma/\| stuff comes from how calibre manipulates lists of things. In list form, each 'thing' is complete and self contained. In string form, all of the 'things' are put together, separated by commas. The two are intended to be interchangeable, which creates a problem if a 'thing' contains a comma. "Bar, Foo" would become "Bar" "Foo". For tags, the problem is avoided by forbidding commas in a tag. This doesn't work for authors, so the problem is avoided by converting commas to vertical bars. This process is rather a pain inside calibre, because we need to be aware of what form we are using. In early versions of S/R, it was too complicated in search/replace to deal with both the interchange of single- and multiple-valued fields and bar conversion. That could be changed now that S/R is more intelligently dealing with multiples using the user-settable separator. I will look at it. Probably more than you wanted to know.

01-04-2011, 09:34 AM	#6
jvik Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: Nook	Actually, exactly what I wanted to know. That makes sense. Thanks.

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