[Metadata Source Plugin] Comicvine

[MikeyTsi]

Aaand it's working again.

[akkariim]

Hello, after trying it many times, I have never managed to install this add-on and it will work correctly. I manage to install it without any error, I modify the plugin by adding the comicvine API and the problem comes when trying to create the "search and replace" template, I cover the following fields:
1st Seach mode: Regular expression
2nd Search field: identifiers
3rd Identifier type: the option "comicvine-volume" does not appear so it is blank, is this ok or is the problem that it doesn't work?
The rest of the steps I can do and save the template as "Update ComicVine IDs".
Now I don't know what to do, how do I add a comic from the comicvine website?
Thanks for the job

[MikeyTsi]

You don't "have" to put anything in the field, but it may not match correctly if you do.

As far as values you can use, both "comicvine:xxxxx" and "comicvine-volume:xxxxx" are valid values for it it search on. As an example, let's look at say, Batman V3. If you search for Batman and bring up the Volume 3 ongoing series (the current one), you'll get this link:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batman/4050-91273/

The last number sequence is the comicvine-volume value for the series. So if you wanted to tag one or more Batman V3 comics, you'd tag them as comicvine-volume:91273. As long as you have something in the title to denote what issue the comic is it should identify fine from there.

Suppose then we go to the most current issue of Batman V3. That brings you to link https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batma...6/4000-741783/

Same idea. If you want to tag the issue directly, you can just do "comicvine:741783" And it'll identify it as that exact issue. I generally use this for special issues where there's only one issue since it's a bit faster.

Unless you have a high level of accuracy in your titles, I would suggest reviewing each issue before saving, because unless you pre-tag everything with an identifier it will regularly miss the correct issue.

[SoccerDad91016]

Getting the following error when trying to install v0.10.7 of the plugin

calibre, version 5.26.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>SyntaxError</b>:Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(result_text)? (calibre_plugins.comicvine.source, line 62)

calibre 5.26 embedded-python: True is64bit: True
Linux-4.4.180+-x86_64-with-glibc2.2.5 Linux ('64bit', '')
('Linux', '4.4.180+', '#41890 SMP Thu Jul 15 03:37:40 CST 2021')
Python 3.8.5
Interface language: None
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Gather KFX-ZIP (from KFX Input) (1, 43, 0) && Package KFX (from KFX Input) (1, 43, 0) && Action Chains (1, 13, 2) && Embed Comic Metadata (1, 6, 1) && Find Duplicates (1, 8, 10) && Goodreads (1, 5, 1) && KFX metadata reader (from KFX Input) (1, 43, 0) && KFX Input (1, 43, 0) && Reading List (1, 7, 6)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre/gui2/preferences/plugins.py", line 327, in add_plugin
File "calibre/customize/ui.py", line 477, in add_plugin
File "calibre/customize/ui.py", line 65, in load_plugin
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 293, in load
File "importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1014, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 991, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 975, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 671, in _load_unlocked
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 192, in exec_module
File "calibre_plugins.comicvine.__init__", line 4, in <module>
from calibre_plugins.comicvine.source import Comicvine
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 991, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 975, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 671, in _load_unlocked
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 185, in exec_module
File "calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 181, in get_code
File "calibre_plugins.comicvine.source", line 62
print result_text
^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(result_text)?

[georgemk]

The plugin isn't Calibre V5 compatible as it is not written in Python 3.

The author of this plugin was last active here on "9th Jun 2014 12:58" so I doubt it will be updated to work.

[SoccerDad91016]

Originally Posted by georgemk

The plugin isn't Calibre V5 compatible as it is not written in Python 3.

The author of this plugin was last active here on "9th Jun 2014 12:58" so I doubt it will be updated to work.

That's unfortunate, saw a few relatively recent posts and had my fingers crossed.

Any suggestions on other tools to pull information from Comicvine (or other Comics DB) to update metadata for CBZ and CBR files?

I used ComicRack but that has also been abandoned by its developer.

[georgemk]

1 idea.

Download the portable version of Calibre 4.23 from https://download.calibre-ebook.com/4.23.0/ as it can share the same database as V5.

Add the plugin to the portable version and give that a try.

That may work for you.

[SoccerDad91016]

Originally Posted by georgemk

1 idea.

Download the portable version of Calibre 4.23 from https://download.calibre-ebook.com/4.23.0/ as it can share the same database as V5.

Add the plugin to the portable version and give that a try.

That may work for you.

Hmm, might be worth a try, though my main Calibre library is on a Synology NAS running in a Docker container.

Though I might be able to move files from the portable Calibre to the Synology Calibre once I've updated the Metadata in the files.

[georgemk]

Having a local portable install of 4.23 and preparing the books there would be the safest approach. Then export the finished product and import into the docker container version.

[MikeyTsi]

Well, I guess it's a good thing I haven't updated Calibre in forever then. It's too bad I don't know anything about Python, it would be great if someone could take over this plugin and maintain it, at least get it updated to V3 so it'll work on the newer builds.

One problem I'm noticing is that it looks like Comicvine broke the SSL stuff, so I'm not able to pull down information through the plugin today. Has anyone else seen that?

[MikeyTsi]

Also, if it's still working, what rev are you running? Looks like I'm still using 2.66, which is pretty ancient.

[MikeyTsi]

Answered my own question, I updated to the last release of V4 and now it's pulling again. Guess the SSL cert in V2 expired or something, which probably means eventually V4 will stop functioning.

[jbernardo]

Hello,
I've forked the code and did a first quick hack to get it to work with python 3.x/calibre 5.x. From my first tests, it works well if you already have the comicvine id, not so well searching the name of the comic.
I did a few changes - allowed setting the request rate (comicvine API will kick you out if you do more than 1 request per second), and the maximum number of volumes to return (1 volume can have several issues) so that it will answer in a "normal" time.

The fork is in my github here, in case anyone wants to try it.

If you want to just add the ID, put it in the metadata ids field, in the format "comicvine:xxxxxx". The value can be obtained from the comicvine page for the issue you want, it's the six digits at the end of the URL.

[MikeyTsi]

Yeah, searching just from the title has been rather inconsistent, for my weekly ads I've been having to put in an ID for a lot of them.

FYI, you can also use comicvine-volume:xxxxxx and it'll search for that volume field, useful if you've got several comics from the same series to sort in.

Originally Posted by jbernardo

Hello,
I've forked the code and did a first quick hack to get it to work with python 3.x/calibre 5.x. From my first tests, it works well if you already have the comicvine id, not so well searching the name of the comic.
I did a few changes - allowed setting the request rate (comicvine API will kick you out if you do more than 1 request per second), and the maximum number of volumes to return (1 volume can have several issues) so that it will answer in a "normal" time.

The fork is in my github here, in case anyone wants to try it.

If you want to just add the ID, put it in the metadata ids field, in the format "comicvine:xxxxxx". The value can be obtained from the comicvine page for the issue you want, it's the six digits at the end of the URL.

[jbernardo]

Originally Posted by MikeyTsi

Yeah, searching just from the title has been rather inconsistent, for my weekly ads I've been having to put in an ID for a lot of them.

FYI, you can also use comicvine-volume:xxxxxx and it'll search for that volume field, useful if you've got several comics from the same series to sort in.

Are you using some other fork of the plugin? It would be interesting to see how others have been updating it. I managed to reach the original author, Russel Heilling, by email, and he agreed with my forking of his code to update it.
I've done a new release just now, fixing search on authors as well as main cover download. Adding an author lets the plugin cut down on the number of issues returned significantly, and speeds up the search and increases accuracy of the returned results. I still don't get any decent results from comicvine if I miss some significant word from the title, but that also happens on the site (eg. searching for "Heavy Metal" instead of "Heavy Metal Magazine").
The new release, v0-13-0, is here.