[GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities

[Loceka]

Hello,

When filling in the authors to the Kobo, the plugin should change the Calibre list separator (&) to the Kobo list separator (,).

I have noticed that it messed up with the Kobo author sorting method. The Kobo seems to expect the author(s) to be "FirstName1 LastName1, FirstName2 LastName2" and then performs the sort on "LastName1 LastName2".

If the authors are input with the Calibre separator (&): "FirstName1 LastName1 & FirstName2 LastName2", the sort is performed on "LastName2".


Also, I wondered if there was a way to tell the Kobo not to heed the second author when sorting, for a specified book: I have like 30 books belonging to the same serie but with different authors and it would be nice if I could ignore the second author just for them, so that they would appear in the right order. I haven't found anything in the DB that would look like it but who knows...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Loceka

Hello,

When filling in the authors to the Kobo, the plugin should change the Calibre list separator (&) to the Kobo list separator (,).

I have noticed that it messed up with the Kobo author sorting method. The Kobo seems to expect the author(s) to be "FirstName1 LastName1, FirstName2 LastName2" and then performs the sort on "LastName1 LastName2".

If the authors are input with the Calibre separator (&): "FirstName1 LastName1 & FirstName2 LastName2", the sort is performed on "LastName2".

You can do this with a metadata plugboard. I recommend setting the author using:

program: raw_list('authors', ', ')

Also, I wondered if there was a way to tell the Kobo not to heed the second author when sorting, for a specified book: I have like 30 books belonging to the same serie but with different authors and it would be nice if I could ignore the second author just for them, so that they would appear in the right order. I haven't found anything in the DB that would look like it but who knows...

There isn't a way to do this.

[Loceka]

Where do you set this plugboard? Is it somewhere in the KoboUtilities plugin? (sorry I'm not really familiar with Calibre)

As for the 2nd request, I thought so but at least now I'm sure ^^

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Loceka

Where do you set this plugboard? Is it somewhere in the KoboUtilities plugin? (sorry I'm not really familiar with Calibre)

Preferences (Ctrl+P) > Metadata plugboards.

[Loceka]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Preferences (Ctrl+P) > Metadata plugboards.

Thanks, it wasn't quite obvious with the translated name ^^

Still, shouldn't the KoboUtilities plugin do that automatically, since it is designed to be exported on Kobo, knowing the latter manages the authors with commas?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Loceka

Thanks, it wasn't quite obvious with the translated name ^^

Still, shouldn't the KoboUtilities plugin do that automatically, since it is designed to be exported on Kobo, knowing the latter manages the authors with commas?

Why would you want to require use of the optional KoboUtilities plugin to do that when the builtin KoboTouch driver or the add-on KoboTouchExtended driver would be a better place for that functionality.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Loceka

Thanks, it wasn't quite obvious with the translated name ^^

Still, shouldn't the KoboUtilities plugin do that automatically, since it is designed to be exported on Kobo, knowing the latter manages the authors with commas?

If the metadata plugboards didn't exist, I would do it. But, the metadata plugboards are a lot more flexible and can do other things, so I do not see a reason to reinvent the wheel. Or, I'd have to decide whether to override the metadata plugbord or not.

And as @DNSB said, it would need to be in the driver.

[Manguas]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If the metadata plugboards didn't exist, I would do it. But, the metadata plugboards are a lot more flexible and can do other things, so I do not see a reason to reinvent the wheel. Or, I'd have to decide whether to override the metadata plugbord or not.

And as @DNSB said, it would need to be in the driver.

Hi,

Metadata plugboards works perfectly while sending books to the device. However "Kobo Utilities > Update metadata > Author" does not use metadata plugboards and it replaces the author information on the device with "&".

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Manguas

Hi,

Metadata plugboards works perfectly while sending books to the device. However "Kobo Utilities > Update metadata > Author" does not use metadata plugboards and it replaces the author information on the device with "&".

Yes it does. There is an option on the dialog to use them.

[tamarissa]

I'm told that this a plugin problem, and was also told the Kobo Ultilities forum was the place to go for help this issue, so hopefully this is the right place...

calibre, version 4.21.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>NoSectionError</b>:No section: 'Reading'

calibre 4.21 embedded-python: True is64bit: True
Darwin-18.7.0-x86_64-i386-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '18.7.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 18.7.0: Thu Jun 18 20:50:10 PDT 2020; root:xnu-4903.278.43~1/RELEASE_X86_64')
Python 2.7.16
OSX: ('10.14.6', ('', '', ''), 'x86_64')
Interface language: None
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Gather KFX-ZIP (from KFX Input) (1, 33, 0) && DeDRM (6, 7, 0) && Package KFX (from KFX Input) (1, 33, 0) && Kobo Utilities (2, 11, 0) && EpubSplit (2, 9, 0) && KFX metadata reader (from KFX Input) (1, 33, 0) && KFX Input (1, 33, 0) && Barnes & Noble (1, 2, 15) && KePub Output (3, 2, 13) && KePub Input (3, 2, 10) && EpubMerge (2, 9, 0) && KePub Metadata Reader (3, 2, 9) && Fantastic Fiction Adults (1, 1, 0) && Find Duplicates (1, 7, 2) && Fantastic Fiction (1, 3, 0) && Kobo Books (1, 8, 0) && KePub Metadata Writer (3, 2, 12) && Count Pages (1, 10, 0) && Goodreads (1, 4, 0) && Obok DeDRM (6, 7, 0)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.koboutilities.action", line 832, in set_reader_fonts
File "calibre_plugins.koboutilities.action", line 4714, in _update_config_reader_settings
File "lib/python2.7/ConfigParser.py", line 753, in set
File "lib/python2.7/ConfigParser.py", line 396, in set
NoSectionError: No section: 'Reading'

Failed to set Reader Font on a Kobo Libra H2O
Error Log cannot attached be attached as apparently the limit is 1 MB and the file is 2.07 MB. If it's needed, you can find it here https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1888038

[davidfor]

Well, that's embarrassing. I think that has been there since the first release. It would only happen if the config file did not have a "Reading" section in it. So, I suppose it isn't that surprising.

Anyway, I have fixed it with a few other small fixed. The new version is 2.11.4. The changes ae:

• Fix: Updating parsing of firmware update file name to get the version number.
• Change: Display lookup name for columns in Date added choice in Update metadata dialog.
• Change: Add custom date columns and file timestamp option to Date added choices in Update metadata dialog.
• Fix: More fixes for Python 3.
• Fix: Error if setting font in config file if no "Reading" section.

This will be announced by calibre in the next hour or so. If there are any problems, please post the details here.

[tamarissa]

Well, I'm that special person that manages to have problems no one has ever heard of before... It's a real talent!
My old ereader finally got too old, so I replaced it yesterday with this one, which is surely why I had this issue, but it is very strange no else had ever come across it in all that time.

Luckily I seemed to have timed the error notice right though; I ran the update, and had no problem with it this time, so thank you very much for the super quick fix

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by tamarissa

Well, I'm that special person that manages to have problems no one has ever heard of before... It's a real talent!
My old ereader finally got too old, so I replaced it yesterday with this one, which is surely why I had this issue, but it is very strange no else had ever come across it in all that time.

That pretty much explains why you saw it. Most users will have fiddled with the settings before getting to the point of changing them through the plugin. But, someone reloading books after a factory reset, or replacing their ereader know what they want and might not have fiddled with the settings yet.

Luckily I seemed to have timed the error notice right though; I ran the update, and had no problem with it this time, so thank you very much for the super quick fix

That's always good to hear.

[jwilker]

Not sure if this is this plugin (but think it is)

Describing previous behaviour
When you plugin a Kobo device a pop up appears to update reading position/%read. You can select which books to include in that update.

After that (maybe this part isn't this plugin?) another popup to update to goodreads, your progress.

Asking here as this plugin updated around the same time Calibre did, and a week or so after the goodreads plugin, so hard to know what's what (for me, LOL).

Now on plugin, neither pop up appears.

This is with a Kobo Clara HD.

If the wrong, I'll happily post where appropriate

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by jwilker

Not sure if this is this plugin (but think it is)

Describing previous behaviour
When you plugin a Kobo device a pop up appears to update reading position/%read. You can select which books to include in that update.

After that (maybe this part isn't this plugin?) another popup to update to goodreads, your progress.

Both of those are from this plugin. Well, the latter is this plugin calling the Goodreads Sync plugin if it is installed and you have selected the option to do so.

Asking here as this plugin updated around the same time Calibre did, and a week or so after the goodreads plugin, so hard to know what's what (for me, LOL).

Now on plugin, neither pop up appears.

This is with a Kobo Clara HD.

Firstly, the plugins are working here with all recent updates.

The simplest explanation is that something has changed with the configuration of the plugin. Check that it is enabled, and that the options to fetch the reading status on connect is still checked.

Otherwise, have you needed to do a factory reset recently? If so, the connection between the profile used by the plugin and the device. I have explained this recently in this post.

You can run the fetch manually from the plugins menus. This will let you check that it is working and calling Goodreads Sync properly.

If you cannot work out what is happening, run calibre in debug mode and post the log. I can usually see what is wrong from that. To do that, right-click the preferences button and choose the option to restart in debug mode. Calibre will restart and show a message about the debug log. Connect the device and let the device jobs run. When they finish close calibre. The debug log will be shown. Post the full log. Or PM it to me.