search for books belonging to a given collection

[alexxx]

...before writing a feature request on bugs.calibre, I wanted to be sure it wasnt a stupid thing to ask.
Needing to create a catalog for my books belonging to my "ToRead" Kindle collection, I was told in the catalog thread that there is no way to search (in the Library panel) for books belonging to a given collection (in the device).
Since the "Make Catalog" command is accessible only in the library panel, I'm currently unable to do it...

do you think it can be a feature of interest? Easily added?

... as an alternative, could it be possible to add the "Make Catalog" command in the device panel too?

thank you!

alessandro

[chaley]

Originally Posted by alexxx

do you think it can be a feature of interest?

No idea.

Easily added?

No, it isn't easy to add. Not impossible, though, using the technique I described in the other thread.

I should note that to be done, someone else will need to take it on. Implementing this is of no interest to me as a) I don't have a kindle, and b) with automatic metadata management enabled, Sonys don't have the problem.

[alexxx]

Originally Posted by chaley

a) I don't have a kindle, and b) with automatic metadata management enabled, Sonys don't have the problem.

ahhh ... so it is a kindle-only problem? Damn, I didnt know. I believed that "Collections" column was there for any device.
Of course, this reduces a bit the number of interested people.

alessandro

[chaley]

Kindles, Sonys, Nook colors, and (IIRC) iDevices have collections. The Kobo has one collection, something to do with the book being read. I don't think any other device supports collections.

The Sony and the iDevice (again, IIRC) let Calibre read and update collections, so that the collections on the device match metadata in the library. This makes merging 'device collection' information unnecessary.

The kindle has collection information that Calibre can read (you know that, clearly). I don't know whether it is possible for calibre to read the Nook's 'shelf' information. Regardless, for some reason known only to Amazon and B&N, neither the Kindle nor the Nook permit updating collection/shelf information over USB, which means that calibre cannot manage collections on these devices. There is no way to update the device to make collection information reflect book metadata.

[pchrist7]

Originally Posted by alexxx

...before writing a feature request on bugs.calibre, I wanted to be sure it wasnt a stupid thing to ask.
Needing to create a catalog for my books belonging to my "ToRead" Kindle collection, I was told in the catalog thread that there is no way to search (in the Library panel) for books belonging to a given collection (in the device).
Since the "Make Catalog" command is accessible only in the library panel, I'm currently unable to do it...

do you think it can be a feature of interest? Easily added?

... as an alternative, could it be possible to add the "Make Catalog" command in the device panel too?

thank you!

alessandro

Hi Alessando
Just a thought.
Would it help if you could see in Calibre which books on the Kindle you have read or not ? That would be ALL books on the Kindle, and not just in 1 Collection.
If so, have a look at
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=116496

The REAL goodies are in post #14
Chaley did REALLY good work this weekend,
(at least for me )

If this is a solution, you can always filter your library to only show "not read"/Unopened and use this for building your library.
Note: For this to work you have to use the experimental Fetch Annotations, when ever you connect your Kindle.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by chaley

Kindles, Sonys, Nook colors, and (IIRC) iDevices have collections. The Kobo has one collection, something to do with the book being read. I don't think any other device supports collections.

I believe the Nook color is Android based. I'm not sure what they use as a reader, but for the new Android based tablets and phones, Aldiko is available as an EPUB reader/library app, and it supports collections. I'm using the Archos 70 Android tablet. There are four or more reader apps for Android, but I'm currently using Aldiko, which works well with Calibre's content server. (I'm pretty sure you know all this, but others might not.)

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Starson17

I believe the Nook color is Android based. I'm not sure what they use as a reader, but for the new Android based tablets and phones, Aldiko is available as an EPUB reader/library app, and it supports collections.

Other than iTunes (and it is a different case, really), calibre doesn't directly support any reader applications. Each one would require custom support for its database and features. At this time, send-to-folder and the content server are how such apps are integrated.

I wanted to do such an integration with aldiko. My goal was to integrate their collection and importing mechanisms with calibre. Aldiko's lack of interest (they answered only 1 email) and lack of funding to get an android tablet put a stop to the idea.

(as you said, I think we are telling each other things we already know. )

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by chaley

(as you said, I think we are telling each other things we already know. )

Yes. At the time you started looking into Aldiko, I'd only vaguely heard of it, and had no experience with Android. Since I received an Android tablet for Christmas, I've spent some time looking at the Aldiko database, and as you mentioned, it's SQL based.

At some point, I suppose I'll look at opening it and controlling it from Calibre, if I decide I'm going to stick with Aldiko. Currently, for my tablet, Aldiko is not as useful as I need it to be. At a minimum, I need control over the location of the database, and Aldiko won't put it on the sdcard (it thinks it's putting it on the sdcard, but due to the way the storage is implemented on my tablet, it's not). That basically means I only put a few books on at any one time and use the Calibre content server, instead of the Aldiko storage system.

[alexxx]

Re-Thinking about this problem, I saw that a possible easy-to-add solution could be an option such that if you select some books in the device panel, switching to the library panel the same books (if present) are selected too.
It could be a useful option for other tasks too...
In this way I could sort-by-collections, select all the "ToRead" books, switch to the library panel, and create a catalog!

wishful thinking, or not?


alessandro

[beckywc]

I have a kindle and I have created a custom column:

Lookup Name: collections
Column Heading: In Collection
Column type: text, but with a fixed set of permitted values
Value: To Be Read,Author:Christine Feehan, etc.

I then am able to create catalogs according to each of these values. Since I can't place a catalog in the collection, after creating I convert the catalog and then I'm able to place the catalog inside the collection on my kindle.

I always title the catalog starting with 00 and then the collection name for example, "00 To Be Read". This insures it is always at the beginning of each collection when sorted by title.

[chyron8472]

Originally Posted by chaley

for some reason known only to Amazon [...] the Kindle [doesn't] permit updating collection/shelf information over USB, which means that calibre cannot manage collections on these devices. There is no way to update the device to make collection information reflect book metadata.

I don't understand this. Yes it does.

I downloaded a pyw script called Kindelabra that does update my collections via usb. The only condition is that I have to reboot the device after I eject it before the changes are shown.



Why can't Calibre do this? It makes no sense.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by chyron8472

I downloaded a pyw script called Kindelabra that does update my collections via usb. The only condition is that I have to reboot the device after I eject it before the changes are shown.

Why can't Calibre do this? It makes no sense.

Calibre could implement this, but I believe the decision was made not to implement any feature that requires the user to manipulate their device in order to see the results of what calibre was trying to do.

[chyron8472]

But my Kindle isn't jailbroken, and Kindelabra works fine for me.

You're suggesting that I hacked my Kindle but I didn't, I assure you. For one thing, my warranty is still in effect.

Calibre should be able to edit collections with no issues, if Kindelabra can without hacking my device. What's the problem?



edit: I'm not intending to be rude. I just use Calibre all the time and have been avoiding tools for my Kindle which would require me to jailbreak it (for fear of bricking it.) I found Kindelabra earlier this week, and am both excited at the idea of remotely editing my collections on my Kindle without hacking it as well as confused as to why Calibre isn't able to do it.

I can understand Calibre avoiding officially condoning illegal activity or breaking device warranties, but this doesn't involve either of those issues.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by chyron8472

You're suggesting that I hacked my Kindle but I didn't, I assure you. For one thing, my warranty is still in effect.

I made no such suggestion.

Originally Posted by chyron8472

Calibre should be able to edit collections with no issues, if Kindelabra can without hacking my device. What's the problem?

The manipulation I was referring to was the need to jump through the extra hoop and reboot your device. There is no feature in calibre that requires anyone to manipulate their device for collections, files, metadata etc... to show up.

You can submit an enhancement request, maybe the powers that be will reaccess their position.

[chyron8472]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

You can submit an enhancement request

done.