Custom metadata not being written consistently to device.

[alyshadeshae]

I have a custom series column for those larger series that have multiple series in the same world (or for fanfiction in some cases). I use mostly the same plugboard code for "save to disk" and "send to device" and it gives me different results for both.

For send to device:

{#collection}{#collection_index:0>2s| | - } {series}{series_index:0>5.2f| | - } {title}

Fo save to disk:

{author_sort} - {#collection}{#collection_index:0>2s| | - } {series}{series_index:0>5.2f| | - } {title}

The regular built in series information shows up correctly, but the collection (custom) series information is erratic. For the first regular series inside the collection, it uses the regular series index numbers instead of it's own. For the remaining series in the collection, it shows the correct index, though.

For example, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus exist in the same universe and have some of the same characters. In my library, I have them sorted as the "Olympian Demgod Series" for collection and their individual series names under series. When sent to my device , the title should read "Collection # - Series # - Title" for all the books.

Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 01.00 - The Lightning Thief
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 02.00 - The Sea of Monsters
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 03.00 - The Titan's Curse
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.00 - The Battle of the Labyrinth
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.50 - The Demigod Files
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 05.00 - The Last Olympian
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 01.00 - The Lost Hero
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 02.00 - The Son of Neptune
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 03.00 - The Mark of Athena

The only difference between "send to device" and "save to disk" should be the author's name appearing at the beginning for the "save to disk" function.

I attached screenshots of a folder on my desktop using the "save to disk" option and pictures of my nook after using the "send to device" option.

I am absolutely stuck and would appreciate any help getting this sorted out. I would love to get this working soon so that I can add all my books back to my nook correctly!

[chaley]

Sorry, but I am having trouble working out exactly what it broken.

First, could you give a small example of what is going wrong? I have tried to decipher your photos etc but am not sure I see it. What I think you are saying is that the Nook is displaying something different from the filenames produced by save-to-disk, and that the filenames are correct.

Second, you mention plugboards but show filenames. Plugboards do not affect filenames in save-to-disk or send-to-device. They affect metadata inside the book. So:
1) What is the template used for file names in save-to-disk?
2) What is the template used for file names in send-to-device?
3) What plugboards have you defined?

I think that the Nook gets its information from the metadata inside the book, e.g. the info set by a plugboard. My guess is that some template in a plugboard differs from the save-to-disk file name template that is working. Also, if the nook gets metadata from the book then you might need to delete the books from the nook before resending them. I don't know what causes the nook to re-read the metadata from the book.

[alyshadeshae]

The preferences for metadata in calibre call it a plugboard, that's where I got the term. It may not be called that for the "save to disk" option for file name, but I didn't see in the program what it would be called so I assumed it would be the same name.

By "template" I'm assuming you mean the information in the code boxes at the top of my original post? The only reason I mention file names is because, for the "save to disk" option, I use almost exactly the same bit of code and it works perfectly (the only difference is adding the author in front) while the plugboard for changing the metadata title when sending the books to my nook does not work.

I use this one for file names with the "save to disk" function:

{author_sort} - {#collection}{#collection_index:0>2s| | - } {series}{series_index:0>5.2f| | - } {title}

I use this one for metadata in the title field with the "send to device" function:

{#collection}{#collection_index:0>2s| | - } {series}{series_index:0>5.2f| | - } {title}

According to all the work I've done putting this together and playing with it in the past and based on the information provided from the columns, my book titles on my device should show up like this:

Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 01.00 - The Lightning Thief
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 02.00 - The Sea of Monsters
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 03.00 - The Titan's Curse
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.00 - The Battle of the Labyrinth
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.50 - The Demigod Files
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 05.00 - The Last Olympian
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 01.00 - The Lost Hero
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 02.00 - The Son of Neptune
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 03.00 - The Mark of Athena

Instead they show up like this on my nook:

Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 01.00 - The Lightning Thief
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 02.00 - The Sea of Monsters
Olympian Demigod Series 03 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 03.00 - The Titan's Curse
Olympian Demigod Series 04 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.00 - The Battle of the Labyrinth
Olympian Demigod Series 01 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 04.50 - The Demigod Files
Olympian Demigod Series 05 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians 05.00 - The Last Olympian
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 01.00 - The Lost Hero
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 02.00 - The Son of Neptune
Olympian Demigod Series 02 - The Heroes of Olympus 03.00 - The Mark of Athena

The second picture shows how the metadata appears in the title on my nook. For some reason, the book with index 4.5 shows up completely correct with collection and series information. For the rest of the books, the first series sends it's regular series index information into the slot that should be for the collection series information. The second series shows up correct, though, for everything.

Also, I have completely formatted my SD card, removed it from the nook and removed all information from between each attempt with a different code. The code does work on file names when using the save to disk option. I just cannot figure out why it writes something different to the metadata of the book when using the save to device function.

I attached two more screenshots showing where the two strings of code are being placed to hopefully help clear everything up.

[chaley]

Thanks for the details. It is rather late here, so I will look at it in the morning when I have a clearer head.

One thing that will help me -- if you are willing, could you send me your calibre db? Having it will allow me to do my tests using your data instead of me making some up. This is important because it may be something in your data that is causing the problem. By "calibre db" I mean the file metadata.db in the root folder of your calibre library. I don't need any of the books. I recognize that sending me the database means telling me all the books you have in your library, and I perfectly understand that you might not want to do that. However, if you are willing then send it by email to "calibre1 at charles dot haleys dot org", making the obvious substitutions.

Also, could you tell me what is in the save template box in preferences -> send to device?

[alyshadeshae]

I don't mind sending you the calibre db file. It will come from a gmail account (alysha.deshae) and the subject name will be the same as this thread.

And the save template box is:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

Thank you!

[chaley]

Well, this was a strange one. You indeed found a bug in calibre, or at least a glaring inconsistency. Without going into too many technical details, if you use bulk metadata edit to set a series custom column and do not set the index, it displays as [1] but is actually stores "nothing" in the database. The "nothing" causes the problems later.

I have submitted a fix for this that should be in the next release. Note that the fix won't change existing data, but it will prevent it from happening with future edits.

You can work around the problem and fix the existing data by running this search

#collection:true and #collection_index:false

It will find all the books with the "displays 1 but really contains nothing" problem. Fortunately there aren't many of them, only around 30. Click on the first one in the list and type E to edit metadata. Go to the custom column information tab. You will see that the index for #collections is showing as 0.00. Click the up triangle to change it to 1.0 (or type 1 into the box). Press the Next button to go to the next book. Repeat until you run out of books.

Thanks for your help and patience with finding this problem.

[alyshadeshae]

Thank you so much! I did use the bulk metadata edit to set most of my collection series, but I could have sworn I set the series index as well. Usually I do it as "Series Universe [1]" and then continue through to the next chunk of books that need "Series Universe [#]" until I get them all.

I did fix all the ones that showed up with the search string you gave me and they're all showing up correctly on my nook, now. Thank you again!