A link to the author's Wikipedia entry

[HibDelyatt]

I have been using Calibre for a long time now and have been able to adapt it quite well to my needs. I always want to know as much as possible about the author: Where is he from? What is his background? What else has he written? I have set up a column for his country of origin in which I enter the country code by hand, e.g. GB for Great Britain.

A "nice to have" now would be the following:

A link to the author's Wikipedia entry.

The logic/behaviour of the extension could look like this:

Option #1

• Add another column.
• Look up the name of the author in the Wikipedia of my national language.
• Create a link to this Wikipedia entry in the corresponding column field.
• If there is no entry for the author, the field remains empty.
• If more than one author is named, either only the first one is named or, if that is possible, all others separated by commas.
• A click on the author opens the corresponding Wikipedia entry in the browser.
• The Wikipedia default language is the one that is set as the default on the computer. If no entry is found in this Wikipedia, perhaps one or two alternative Wikipedia languages could be deposited.

Option #2

• As above, except that no additional column is used, but the author's name in the "Author" column is directly converted into a link to his Wikipedia entry.

I can imagine that something like this is feasible. But since I can't program myself, I can't say anything about the effort involved. I would be very pleased to hear your opinion on this suggestion.

Hib Delyatt

[kovidgoyal]

Preferences->Look & feel->Book details->Click on the author name should: Change it to search for the author on wikipedia

[kevn57]

I have mine set to Goodreads if you left click on it in Book Details, but if you right click on Author you can choose to search on, Amazon, Google Books, Goodreads or Wikipedia

The same thing holds true for series, tags, Publishers even date published. Freaking Calibre is amazing!

[HibDelyatt]

Hi kovidgoyal,
Hi kevn57,

top - that's it.

But:
The author search opens the English Wikipedia.
I prefer the German Wikipedia.


Example:
I would like to open the Wiki entry on Stanisław Lem.
It opens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem instead of https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem.

In Preferences->Look & feel->Book details I can enter my own search URL.

If I enter https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ there, the Wikipedia main page opens. So a placeholder is still missing at the end of the line that directs me to the wiki entry I am looking for.

What exactly does the search URL have to look like so that (in this example) Stanisław Lem is found?

Thank you very much for your tips and your time,
Hib

[BetterRed]

Try - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/{authors}

BR

[HibDelyatt]

This:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/{authors}

leads to this in the browser:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_variable_authors

If I leave out the "s" in {authors}:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/{author}

it already leads to this result:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav+Lem
Wikipedia tells me "Diese Seite existiert nicht"

If I type "Stanislav Lem" into the search window of Wikipedia, the following URL is generated:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem

First name and surname are connected by an underscore.

So {author} alone does not seem to be parsed correctly.

Any further ideas?

Thanks & greetings,
Hib

[kovidgoyal]

You want

https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search={author}

assuming the german wikipedia follows the same scheme as the english one anyway.

[HibDelyatt]

Hi kovidgoyal,

that's exactly how I wanted it.
It can be so simple - if one knows how.

I love forums.

Big thanks to all for the help & many greetings,
Hib

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You want

https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search={author}

assuming the german wikipedia follows the same scheme as the english one anyway.

It does

This dummy didn't look at the tool tip

@Hib - hover your mouse on the input field.

BR

[svenlind]

I would like to mention the plugin "Search the Internet" .
It can be modified to your hearts desire.
Edit: added a picture of how I use the plugin.

[thiago.eec]

Hi, Kovid.

Is it possible to change the search mechanisms (Amazon, Goodreads, Google Books and Wikipedia) to the user's localized version? Instead of English, I would like to use the Portuguese version (Goodreads does not have one, but the others do).

I know I can use ONE custom URL for clicking the Author name, and I've configured it to use Skoob (a Brazilian alternative to Goodreads). But, I also want the right click options set to Portuguese.

[kovidgoyal]

I'm afraid I dont have the time/patience to check the localized versions of every service has the same url structure etc for every language. The search the internet plugin lets you use as many different urls as you like.

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I'm afraid I dont have the time/patience to check the localized versions of every service has the same url structure etc for every language. The search the internet plugin lets you use as many different urls as you like.

Can't it be an option for the user? I mean, the user would set the URL. No need for you to anticipate every option.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I'm afraid I dont have the time/patience to check the localized versions of every service has the same url structure etc for every language. The search the internet plugin lets you use as many different urls as you like.

perhaps the 4 options (Amazon, Goodreads, Google, and Wikipedia) could be defined as 'resources' that can be overridden in the usual way.

As a minimalist I try to have as few plugins as possible, I've whittled it down to eight.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

That would just mean i end up replicating the search the internet plugin. While I could of course do that, I dont see a pressing need for it.