Display tags as an unordered list (HTML) using a custom column

[chaley]

Originally Posted by 01100001

EDIT: To answer your question

This isn't about tags. It's just an example. I'll be using this for a tags-like custom column called Filenames. Since I want it to behave like tags (for my specific usecase), let's just assume we are dealing with tags.

This easily could be a bad assumption.

And why tags-like column and not something else? Because I want the links-like terms that tags have. Just right-click and you can quickly copy the link text (in my case filename). For normal text, I'd have to manually select the text, make sure no line breaks/endings are selections and then copy the text.

Just trying to optimize things for my workflow here.

You leave out the most important information:

• What exactly does clicking on one of these filenames search for? A value in a column? A book in calibre? Something else?
• Does the calibre URL system support that search?
• How does a template find the information to put in the URL?
• How does it find the information to display?

Seriously, real examples are needed, not contrived ones. The solution I posted above might not work for what you are trying to do. It could be that nothing will work.

[01100001]

Since your response came right after mine that posted just now, I'll link to the relevant threads that should answer your questions:

• The edit (not new) I added at the end of this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=10
• https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...2&postcount=15

EDIT: "Put huge images into spoilers" — Noted!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by 01100001

Since your response came right after mine that posted just now, I'll link to the relevant threads that should answer your questions:

• The edit (not new) I added at the end of this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=10
• https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...2&postcount=15

EDIT: "Put huge images into spoilers" — Noted!

Those posts do not provide the necessary information. One says they items behave like tags which means they search for column values in the current library, but that is almost certainly not what you want. The second doesn't clarify it. I still don't know what clicking on one of these filename links is supposed to do.

We can stop here, or you can provide real data as described in this post.

[01100001]

I don't know how to answer those questions individually, so I'll combine it all into one answer.

The custom column is Filenames (#filenames). I chose the column type Comma-separated text, like tags, shown in the Tag browser because the link of each term/tag (or in this case, filename) allows me to right-click and quickly copy the term name (filename).

As I had explained before:

And why tags-like column and not something else? Because I want the links-like terms that tags have. Just right-click and you can quickly copy the link text (in my case filename). For normal text, I'd have to manually select the text, make sure no line breaks/endings are selections and then copy the text.

That's what I was trying to show in this image:



And that's what I was complaining when I said the terms (filenames) in the custom, auto-generated column (based on the template you provided), despite being proper links, like the terms (filenames) in the original #filenames column, don't allow me to quickly copy the text in a similar manner. That's what I meant when I showed you this:



The options are different!

I only meant to stop because I felt like I'd be wasting everyone's time. I don't mind answering the questions at all!

Those term/tag/filename links don't really have to do anything; ideally it'd be great if they did, because then I could use it elsewhere. Like for Tags too! But the primary objective is to be able to right-click and quickly copy the text (filename). (Filtering/searching filenames is useless, I know. It's the right click option to copy that I am after.)

And I do not know how else to explain what I am after.

[chaley]

What I understand is that you want a right-click option to copy the text in an unordered list of links. The URLs in the links don't need to do anything, and in fact it isn't clear what they could do.

You can easily achieve what you want by making the URL text be the value you want to copy. You would right-click on the value and choose "Copy link location", which will be the text. Clicking on the link will do nothing because they aren't in fact links.

This template does the job. It will work with any source column as long as you set the separator if needed. Hmmm -- there might be special characters that break URL parsing. The template takes care of quotes.

program:
	j = '';
	for i in $tags:
		j = j & '<li><a href="' & re(i, '"', '&quot;') & '">' & i & '</a></li>'
	rof;
	'<ul>' & j & '</ul>'

[01100001]

I'll see if that's a viable option, thank you.

I have to ask though. Any idea why even though we pretty much replicated the tags and the links (except they are in a list), Calibre gives us the option to copy the link text in case of the default tags but not in the generated custom column?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by 01100001

@un_pogaz Yep, I am aware of that, but I am looking to see if there's a built-in, less error-prone way to go about it. Esp. because I'd have to code the URLs in which the search terms must be encoded right.

FTR: I use the calibre:// URL scheme extensively - the notion that I would create and/or could accurately type hex versions of the required strings is truly risible.

You can obtain the calibre:// links from the Copy options in book details context menus. If you right click on anything blue (or the background) in the book details panel, you'll get something like this:



The option selected put this in my clipboard

calibre://search/_hex_-54657374?eq=7075626c69736865723a223d5072696e6365746f6e20707265737322

To do with as I wish - like paste it into a onenote note, why would I want to that? Dunno, but its good to know that I can - by the way it works, viz:



BR

[un_pogaz]

In the same way that @chaley you suggested a to_hex(), I will suggest a to_url() which would allow to make calibre scheme more human like (and will avoid any bugs).

def evaluate(self, formatter, kwargs, mi, locals, val):
    from urllib.parse import quote
    return quote(val)

Bal masqué

Bal%20masqu%C3%A9

<a href="calibre://search/_?q=tags:%22=' & to_url(i) & '%22">

<a href="calibre://search/_?q=tags:%22=Bal%20masqu%C3%A9%22">

[01100001]

I wanted a bullet/unordered list so I could easily differentiate, at a glance, the different terms of a field (tags, or filenames (custom column))—which look like one long line of links by default.

In the end I decided that going the least intrusive way (albeit not best aesthetically or preferred) is better than hacking code in this manner unless absolutely necessary.

Just a bit of CSS code helps me with that (added under Preferences > Look & feel > Book details > Text styling):

/* CUSTOM */
#_filenames {
    color: red;
}
#_filenames .title {
    color: black;
}

So now, my Filenames (#filenames) field in Book details pane, looks like this:



Simple, yet much better (than default).

I know this isn't what I asked, and you all were very kind and helpful with my actual question. What learnt here, I am sure will be helpful elsewhere (and to someone else).

Thank you all!

Reference: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/richtext-html-subset.html

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by 01100001

I wanted a bullet/unordered list so I could easily differentiate, at a glance, the different terms of a field (tags, or filenames (custom column))—which look like one long line of links by default.

In the end I decided that going the least intrusive way (albeit not best aesthetically or preferred) is better than hacking code in this manner unless absolutely necessary.

Bugger - I've wanted to have Tags, Authors etc display as a vertical one-item-per-line list in Book Details since forever. I was hoping you were on track to teasing out a simple solution.

Spotting the errors in a list like the following is 'hard' (an extreme example):



An 'error' I see a lot is because of missing qualification suffixes that get interpreted as family names. In that list there's a Prof FMedSci.

BR

[01100001]

Absolutely agree.

In similar APIs (CMSs), to my knowledge, usually there's a way to get a field term (e.g., different taxonomy/tag terms) as text-only as well as linked-text (i.e. both text and link). I was assuming the same when I asked this question. Indeed a bummer that there's no simpler/built-in way.

I want to learn Python and do something about it (a plugin perhaps). As of now I have no programming knowledge, except for some googlefu.

(PS: Not blaming devs or anything.)

[chaley]

Originally Posted by 01100001

In similar APIs (CMSs), to my knowledge, usually there's a way to get a field term (e.g., different taxonomy/tag terms) as text-only as well as linked-text (i.e. both text and link). I was assuming the same when I asked this question. Indeed a bummer that there's no simpler/built-in way.

Problem: calibre was never conceived of as a CMS in the sense you are describing. To do what you describe some kind of UI template scheme is necessary, and large parts of calibre aren't amenable to that because of interesting interlocking data semantics. It could be possible (I think) for "reports" like book details, but making the templates recreate the current look would be interesting. In any event, I am not interested in doing that work.

I want to learn Python and do something about it (a plugin perhaps). As of now I have no programming knowledge, except for some googlefu.

A plugin can't solve this problem because rendering for book details is built into calibre. The first thing required would be to turn the current renderer into a plugin, and probably the field selector code as well. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but who knows?

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Bugger - I've wanted to have Tags, Authors etc display as a vertical one-item-per-line list in Book Details since forever. I was hoping you were on track to teasing out a simple solution.

Most of what you both want (I think) is in calibre source now. I didn't bother with bullets and their hanging indents.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Bugger - I've wanted to have Tags, Authors etc display as a vertical one-item-per-line list in Book Details since forever. I was hoping you were on track to teasing out a simple solution.

Originally Posted by chaley

Most of what you both want (I think) is in calibre source now. I didn't bother with bullets and their hanging indents.

a bunch

It's sort of surprising that it hasn't been requested before.

BR

[01100001]

Originally Posted by chaley

[...] Re: Those referenced screenshots...

Are you saying those are going to be in the next release? (I have v.6.5.0 and I don't see them.) If so, that's awesome, thank you!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by 01100001

Are you saying those are going to be in the next release? (I have v.6.5.0 and I don't see them.) If so, that's awesome, thank you!

It'll be in 6.6

Enhancement: in book details, allow displaying is_multiple categories on separate lines

BR