[GUI Plugin] Consolidate All Library Metadata (CALM)

[DaltonST]

Version 2.0.22 -2016-07-28 Fixed Source Libraries Tab Load-All-Known-Libraries function.


@petzi: I put 35 libraries in, and got 35 libraries out. Repeatedly. .json file too. Generation too. Consolidation too. Multiple times. None got eaten. Just to be extra safe, delete your .json file while Calibre is closed, and after you upgrade to Version 2.0.22. Note that you must restart Calibre after upgrading any plug-in. Otherwise, you are using the old one until you do restart Calibre.



DaltonST

[petzi]

Sorry, no change. The problem persists.

A "Save" in "Source Libraries" is *always* eating three of my libraries. I have now 26 libraries an tried different combinations to get at least the two libraries I am interested. For this I have to save 5 libraries and including 3 copies (= in total 4) of on library I am interested.

I checked if it has to do with an alphabetically listing or with the time of the generation of the libraries. I didn't find any pattern.

The only thing I can think off is still some weird interference with the "View Manager" plugin. In all my tests I have worked without "View Manager", but still I always get when I click on ""Extract a Fresh Copy…" the message that "View Manager" is my target library.

I remember that I had one a fatal error with "View Manager" as a renamed or copied a library to another place. Or did I rename a view in "View Manager" - I can't remember exactly, but thinking now it was probably renaming a view. "View Manager" had enabled "Last View Used" and this had the consequences that I could not start Calibre as it crashed down always trying the appropriate view. This was exactly the time when I renamed my view with 00, 01 and 02 in order have it alphabetically listed and linked with a shortcut command via the OSX panel. so I could change rapidly between the most important views.

I think that getting these weird numbers 00,01 and 02 used with "View Manager" *and* getting this strange reference that "View Manager" is my target library can't be an accident.

So far my newbie-conclusions. Any ideas what could I try next?

[DaltonST]

Job Spy has a tool to purge plugin preferences. Use it to purge ViewManager and CALM in the library you are invoking CALM in. Also delete the .json.

If that does not work, create a new empty default library and run CALM exclusively from that library. First, use Job Spy to verify it has no plugin preferences. Do not use VM in that empty default library. Do not copy another library or its structure to create that default library.

[petzi]

I tried both procedures. No!

For the second idea (trial with an empty default library): I detached all libraries one-by-one as Calibre still had them in some configuration file. I created a new directory and ran the the "Welcome wizard". Then I checked with the Spy Tool: Except for the configuration of Job Spy itself, there were no other configuration files for plugins available.

But there was a slight difference: The number 00 disappeared when I tried to load automatically all libraries, only 01 and 02 are still there. – This was a test after I had finished with your procedure – I put the pathname in manually. And still CALM believes that my target library is "View Manager".

Reconsidering my idea that the "View Manager" caused some trouble : I think that was a mistake because my problem appeared too with the virgin installation of Calibre on the machine of my wife.

I take a break (lunch time) and come back in the afternoon. Hopefully we will find soon a solution, otherwise I must postpone the test, as some other urgent work is piling up; work I had postponed to the weekend.

[DaltonST]

It would be helpful to see a picture of the Source Library tab and also where it says View Manager.

[DaltonST]

@petzi:

Your latest .json file has this item:

"CALM_TARGET_DB_FULL_PATH": "/Users/peterb/Documents/Meine_Calibre-Books/CALM/metadata.db",

That means that CALM is properly updating your Target Library Path and saving it to the .json file.

Given the above, I do not understand about "View Manager" being in your Target Library Path. Could you explain with a picture?

[DaltonST]

@petzi:

About the eating phenomenon:

Does it eat based on alphabetic sort?

Does it eat based on position in the list when you click Save?

Does it eat the top 3 or the bottom 3?


As test data, could you enter these into the Source Libraries after you have deleted all prior entries and Saved so it is a blank list? They are sorted already.

/Users/bogus/1/
/Users/bogus/2/
/Users/bogus/3/
/Users/bogus/4/
/Users/bogus/5/
/Users/bogus/6/

Then, click Save.

Which ones were eaten? 1,2,3 or 4,5,6?

After doing the above, could you also post the .json file along with your test results?



Thanks.

[petzi]

I have sent a collection of different pictures about the "View Manager" phenomenon as an attached PDF in one of my posts yesterday.

These UI messages are popping up whenever I click at the button "Extract a Fresh Copy…"

[petzi]

Always the first three. Attached are screenshots before and after saving.

[DaltonST]

Those are not error messages, but a true helpful message.

View Manager and many, but not all, plug-ins keep their preferences that are database-specific (a.k.a. library-specific) in metadata.db table preferences.

CALM is an add-on, not just a plug-in, because it comes with a special template metadata.db that is extracted from the CALM .zip file when you click "refresh".

CALM also has a companion database, metadata_tools.db, which is where your 'permanent' customizations are cached until you need them put back into metadata.db after it has been freshly extracted from the .zip.

Those messages are "good". Always say "yes, please". Otherwise, you will have to re-customize View Manager etc. each time you refresh the Target Library.

[DaltonST]

So, until I find the source of the issue, can you just put 3 bogus libraries at the top so it eats bogus library names, leaving the rest? That way, you can continue using it.

[petzi]

Oh, I see. I know that they are not error messages but the reference to "View Manager" as my "Target Library" is a bit confusing.

[petzi]

Yes, I will do. I did this trick with the three bogus library yesterday already. But just for test purposes, not for real usage. And what I did not know is that I can even use pathnames they do not exist at all.

So the good news it: there is no problem with VM. That the Library-eating-up-problem also appeared on the other machine of my wife after a new Calibre installation points IMHO to a Mac related issue.

- Do you know of any other OSX user where CALM is working?

[DaltonST]

By the way, CALM delivers its Target Library metadata.db "standard" with a View Manager profile named....CALM. That is because VM is critical to the user-friendliness of CALM.

Regarding OSX, I do not track that. It should not matter. I will triple-check the Python logic related to Source Library paths to ensure the OS does not matter to CALM.

[DaltonST]

Version 2.0.23 -2016-07-29 Bug fix related to saving preferences within the Source Library tab if the user did not immediately move to the other tabs and execute a function that would also save, albeit indirectly, the Source Library preferences.

Some people would never have seen this bug expressed due to the way it "worked" and how they personally interacted with CALM.

"Preferences" in the Source Library tab are the paths of the specified Source Libraries and whether or not each Source Library is checked or not (active or not).

The bug was a typo in a parameter in one of several calls to the Save Preferences function for Source Libraries. The typo was an extra blank space in the middle of 'Source Libraries'.



DaltonST