[GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities

[Skydog]

First and foremost, thank you very much, davidfor, for this excellent plugin -- you are absolutely brilliant.

Since the last post, I uninstalled the plugin, restarted Calibre, reinstalled and repeated the process. This time, after selecting Store/restore bookmark for selected books, the status (Finished) successfully appeared under the appropriate column.

After manually changing selected books to "Finished" via "Change Reading Status in device library" then "Refresh the list of books on the device," the Finished shelf appeared on the Aura. Is this manual action required each time one finishes a book, or whenever a book's status changes? I thought this process was automated following PeterT's instructions. No complaints, I'm just trying to understand how this functions.

You and PeterT are very talented gentlemen.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Is the column for the "Finished" shelf displayed in the calibre library list? If so, what is in the column? Does it show "Finished" for the books you expect it to?



These actions are only enabled for the device list. They are acting against the device without any reference to the calibre library.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Skydog

First and foremost, thank you very much, davidfor, for this excellent plugin -- you are absolutely brilliant.

Since the last post, I uninstalled the plugin, restarted Calibre, reinstalled and repeated the process. This time, after selecting Store/restore bookmark for selected books, the status (Finished) successfully appeared under the appropriate column.

After manually changing selected books to "Finished" via "Change Reading Status in device library" then "Refresh the list of books on the device," the Finished shelf appeared on the Aura. Is this manual action required each time one finishes a book, or whenever a book's status changes? I thought this process was automated following PeterT's instructions. No complaints, I'm just trying to understand how this functions.

You and PeterT are very talented gentlemen.

I'm glad it is working. But, I think I understand what you were missing.

When I read a book, its status is updated on the device as I read it. And when I get to the end of the book and press the screen to go forward, it marks the book as complete. When I connect to calibre for whatever reason, I use the "Store/Restore" function of the plugin to get the current status of the books from the device to the calibre library. When I do this, if the book is finished on the device, then the percent read column in the calibre library will be set to 100%. Then the column that PeterT has defined will show "Finished" for that book. And a sync between calibre and the device will put the book on the "Finished" shelf.

From what you say above, it sounds like the books weren't finished on the device. So, you used the plugin options to do this.

So, right now, there is a manual step to mark the book in the calibre library as complete. This can done by retrieving the status of the book from the device, or manually setting the percent read to 100 in the library. The next sync will update the device to set the shelf. "Refresh the list of books on the device" will do this.

PeterT has asked to have the storing of the state happen automatically when the device is connected. I plan to do that in the next couple of weeks.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eXistenZ

Indeed.

Tryed beta3, same as previous.
With a kobo connected any of the options in the menu crashes Calibre, also the two database options, unplugging the Glo the only 3 options available works normally.

I am surprised the database backup didn't work. It just used a file open dialog, so I expected it to be OK.

Also using a different Glo isn't better.

I'm actually happy about that. Nothing about the device should cause a problem at this point.

I'll try installing Calibre and the plugin on a different mac to see if anything changes

I can't decide if I want it to work or not. It is working perfectly on the Mac I have here. That is what has me about your system.

On the off chance, what language are you using?

I have attached beta4. It has two things. One is removing the help menu item. That is due to some things google found for me. The other is a little change in how strings are handled.

If this doesn't work, can you post another crash log. And tell me which option you tried when it happened.

[Skydog]

Ah... the light bulb just came on.

I almost had it figured out but was doing it backwards. All my completed books on the device are indeed marked as finished as you have described. But instead of selecting the "Store/Restore" function as the very first task I was manually updating the individual books in the library then selecting "Store/Restore".

PeterT has asked to have the storing of the state happen automatically when the device is connected. I plan to do that in the next couple of weeks.

Oh, that will be fantastic!

Very much appreciated.

Originally Posted by davidfor

I'm glad it is working. But, I think I understand what you were missing.

When I read a book, its status is updated on the device as I read it. And when I get to the end of the book and press the screen to go forward, it marks the book as complete. When I connect to calibre for whatever reason, I use the "Store/Restore" function of the plugin to get the current status of the books from the device to the calibre library. When I do this, if the book is finished on the device, then the percent read column in the calibre library will be set to 100%. Then the column that PeterT has defined will show "Finished" for that book. And a sync between calibre and the device will put the book on the "Finished" shelf.

From what you say above, it sounds like the books weren't finished on the device. So, you used the plugin options to do this.

So, right now, there is a manual step to mark the book in the calibre library as complete. This can done by retrieving the status of the book from the device, or manually setting the percent read to 100 in the library. The next sync will update the device to set the shelf. "Refresh the list of books on the device" will do this.

PeterT has asked to have the storing of the state happen automatically when the device is connected. I plan to do that in the next couple of weeks.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I have attached beta4. It has two things. One is removing the help menu item. That is due to some things google found for me. The other is a little change in how strings are handled.

Was Beta4 supposed to be attached to the post or have you put it elsewhere ?

BobC

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BobC

Was Beta4 supposed to be attached to the post or have you put it elsewhere ?

BobC

The beta was supposed to be attached, and I swear I did attach it. But, it isn't there. It should be attached to this post.

[BobC]

A general observation about the use of the utility - this is not a bug !

If you have a reasonably large book you can be quite a few pages into reading it before the % read advances beyond 0% on the device. This is then reflected in the % read value returned by the utility. The result of this is that you can have a book which you are currently reading but where the status as determined by Calibre (with a bit of column tweaking) is not yet "Reading".

Interestingly though if you examine the "Collections" column on the device view for a book like this it shows up as "Im_Reading". If it were possible for the Utility to get this status it would provide a more accurate view of what books have been started than trying to infer it from the %read. Or perhaps someone knows how to access the "collections" column, which only seems to exist with a device connected, to make the true reading status visible in the Library view.

BobC

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BobC

Interestingly though if you examine the "Collections" column on the device view for a book like this it shows up as "Im_Reading". If it were possible for the Utility to get this status it would provide a more accurate view of what books have been started than trying to infer it from the %read. Or perhaps someone knows how to access the "collections" column, which only seems to exist with a device connected, to make the true reading status visible in the Library view.

BobC

I'm with Bob on that one

[BobC]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The beta was supposed to be attached, and I swear I did attach it. But, it isn't there. It should be attached to this post.

Looks like the Attachment Gobbler Bot got it :-)

BobC

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by BobC

Interestingly though if you examine the "Collections" column on the device view for a book like this it shows up as "Im_Reading". If it were possible for the Utility to get this status it would provide a more accurate view of what books have been started than trying to infer it from the %read. Or perhaps someone knows how to access the "collections" column, which only seems to exist with a device connected, to make the true reading status visible in the Library view.

BobC

I've seen that and the reason I have not played with it, is that it is transient; when the device is attached, there is a column available with the collection info, however when disconnected it's not there.

So a custom column would show one value when the device is connected, and a second when it's not. I need to see what happens and how the value of the custom column affects the shelving of books. Stay tuned.

[PeterT]

I think we're out of luck. When you hover over the Collections field in the device list, you are told the lookup/search name is collections.

I've tried using that in a custom column definition and am told that collections is not a valid field name. I somehow think that the fields shown in the library view are distinct from those in device view.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BobC

A general observation about the use of the utility - this is not a bug !

If you have a reasonably large book you can be quite a few pages into reading it before the % read advances beyond 0% on the device. This is then reflected in the % read value returned by the utility. The result of this is that you can have a book which you are currently reading but where the status as determined by Calibre (with a bit of column tweaking) is not yet "Reading".

Interestingly though if you examine the "Collections" column on the device view for a book like this it shows up as "Im_Reading". If it were possible for the Utility to get this status it would provide a more accurate view of what books have been started than trying to infer it from the %read. Or perhaps someone knows how to access the "collections" column, which only seems to exist with a device connected, to make the true reading status visible in the Library view.

I did have this at one time, but setting it exactly write was a problem. The problem is that the reading status has three states: unread=0, reading=1 and finished=2 (there is also a closed=3 but that is fairly rare). The Yes/No with the third state gives this, but displaying the red x for either unread or reading seems wrong.

But, it should work now. The rules for setting the reading percent are:

- ReadStatus = 0 (unread) then reading percent is unset
- ReadStatus = 1 (reading) then reading percent = whatever the device database has
- ReadStatus = 2 (finished/read) then reading percent = 100

So right now, if there is no value in the column, it is unread. If the value is 100, it is finished. Anything else means I'm reading it.

For my percent read column, I have column icon rule that puts a green tick in the percent read column if the value is 100. Looking at the rules, there is no way to see if it is unset. I haven't played enough with the template language to see if there is a test for no value. But, I would expect there to be a for "None".

I can see the benefit of this, but I feel like I can already get the results from the current columns. Adding another column isn't hard, the main issue is what type and what values. And then explaining it properly.

Or maybe there is a bug. If you aren't seeing the zero in the percent read when the book is read, then maybe there is a circumstance where the percent read is not set correctly.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Or maybe there is a bug. If you aren't seeing the zero in the percent read when the book is read, then maybe there is a circumstance where the percent read is not set correctly.

Where I came across the problem was in large books. Imagine a book with 1000 pages. Until you get to page 10 you won't have read 1% of the book and with the percentage read being an integer it won't have advanced beyond 0%. (O.K. I don't know how the device "rounds" values and it might advance at page 6). My Glo certainly shows the book as 0% read in it's own reading stats during the first few pages of some books and I assume this is the reason.

It's probably true that if you get 0% rather than no value then the book has been opened (perhaps only at the title page). Ultimately it all depends on your own definition of what constitutes "reading" the book - simply opening it or actually moving beyond the first page.

I indicate my current reading by using the Column Colouring. I was testing for %read before but now if I use the Current Location and test if it is set it will show books with 0% read but which have been opened and thus have a current location.

"Other solutions are available" .

BobC

[Heartloop]

Hello,

I also have the problem with the plugin crashing calibre when selecting any option in the kobo utility menu when my kobo glo is connected.

Im running calibre 0.9.35 on os x 10.8.4 with the beta4 file from earlier in the thread. My Kobo is running firmware version 2.5.2.

You can have a look at the crashlog here

Hope this helps!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Heartloop

I also have the problem with the plugin crashing calibre when selecting any option in the kobo utility menu when my kobo glo is connected.

Im running calibre 0.9.35 on os x 10.8.4 with the beta4 file from earlier in the thread. My Kobo is running firmware version 2.5.2.

You can have a look at the crashlog here

Hope this helps!

That crash log looks the same as what eXistenZ posted. It works fine on the OSX 10.8.3 machine at work.

It looks like something is going wrong when the main menu is updated. Which agrees with Kovid's suggestion. I must have missed something. I'll have another look.