Column Creation

[Tehnam]

Hi

Looking at doing custom columns.

is there a thread with a list common column setups through the "Add Custom Column" feature in calibre.

unable to find what to do, most thread state what is available but not how to do it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Tehnam

Hi

Looking at doing custom columns.

is there a thread with a list common column setups through the "Add Custom Column" feature in calibre.

unable to find what to do, most thread state what is available but not how to do it.

Custom means,: 'Anything you want it for'
There are a few custom plugins that are designed to work (and expect) with custom columns with a defined name and type. the plugin instructions will explain.

You can use the Preference to get to the setup section. (it also has the existing 'system columns' there).
You create a internal use name(you will precede it with a # when using in filters/templates) with no spaces.
Next you create the Visible (column) Label name. Spaces allowed, but keep it short for narrow columns
Next (and maybe last), pick the type of data it will be used for. Take time to think this out...changes later can be difficult.

Last. last
There is one type, where you preset the allowed Answers. You need to set them.
Careful. Adding more choices later is OK, but changing an existing choice (that is in use) can hurt

[travger]

I'm also having trouble finding out what all that special english actually means.
So far experimenting shows:

Comma separated text with 'Contains names' checked - separates entries with &.
For example, book is in several sources (amazon, PG, MR), and you enter 'amazon, PG, MR' in your custom column, it becomes separate option in dropdown list. If you want dropdown options before every entry, you must use 'amazon & PG & MR'.
In Book Details Panel it shows as 'amazon & PG & MR'.

Comma separated text with 'Contains names' unchecked - separates entries with ,.
You can enter 'amazon, PG, MR', and each entry becomes separate option in dropdown list.
In Book Details Panel it shows as 'amazon, PG, MR'.

If story is in several omnibuses, it seems better to use &-d version. I'm still meditating about 'Source', at first I didn't like &s, but maybe I'm changing my mind.


Of others, I have little information. What does 'show checkmarks' do? Where to use floating point numbers or integers? There already is series field, what else series-like could I find? Or already mentioned text with fixed values. Etc.

Hopefully other people will pitch in with their uses for custom columns, it's much easier to find 'Hey, that's a good idea' than 'I would like something...' (or horror unspeakable - 'I should have used different option!').

[theducks]

'Show' tick marks: Make it (the column) visible in the library grid. Not all columns need to show, all the time. (Right-Clicking: Hide in the column header, removes the Tick).

Fields are the per/title values that are in the column. They ALWAYS are available in the Metadata editor view (Single or Bulk mode).
Custom Column fields are on the Custom Metadata tab.

Custom Column information is displayed in the Book (info) Viewer and the columns shown there is (tick) controlled by: Preferences: Look and Feel: Book tab.

Some Custom columns are shown in the Tag Browser and may be used just like any other 'Tag' feature'

Custom columns can be used in templates. The name to use will be the name you assigned the fiels at creation. Hover your Mouse over a column Header to see the EXACT NAME to use in a template.

Have questions about what type to use. Ask!
Give full details on what you wish to accomplish with this field.
Provide sample values of any data you expect to enter. Note any value restrictions you would place on the data.
and wait for all the back seat drivers to chime in

[chaley]

Originally Posted by travger

Comma separated text with 'Contains names' checked - separates entries with &.

The intent is that if you check that box, the column behaves like authors as opposed to like tags.

If story is in several omnibuses, it seems better to use &-d version. I'm still meditating about 'Source', at first I didn't like &s, but maybe I'm changing my mind.

You will probably be unhappy at some point if you do that. These columns sort like authors, so if you "X Y" in the column, it will sort as "Y, X". Only check that box if the column really does contain peoples' names.

What does 'show checkmarks' do?

It displays the value as checkmarks (like Yes/No columns) if the value is appropriate.

Where to use floating point numbers or integers?

Where you need a number, such as price, how many times it has been read, how many chapters in the book, how many pages in the book, a rating scale that isn't =-5, and so on.

There already is series field, what else series-like could I find?

Some books are in more than one series.

Or already mentioned text with fixed values. Etc.

Anywhere where the number of possible values is known in advance, such as status (e.g., Read, Unread, To read, etc), Source (the store name), alternate formats (Dead-tree, Audio, etc).

There was a thread a while back about what people do with custom columns.

[travger]

Originally Posted by chaley

It displays the value as checkmarks (like Yes/No columns) if the value is appropriate.

I'm afraid I don't understand. There already is a yes/no option, why another one?

Originally Posted by chaley

Where you need a number, such as price, how many times it has been read, how many chapters in the book, how many pages in the book, a rating scale that isn't =-5, and so on.

Thank you! That's exactly what I had in mind - making note of book length falls under 'Good idea'.

Text with fixed values - if used for formats, is every one a separate entry? Some are only in audio, some audio & ebook, some paper & ebook...
IF I understand correctly, it behaves like comma separated text with no names, adding values is same, but changing the existing one is difficult.

And thanks for the link, lot of useful info there. (Can't understand how I missed that thread.)

[chaley]

Originally Posted by travger

I'm afraid I don't understand. There already is a yes/no option, why another one?

It isn't another Yes/No column.

Several people wanted a sort-of Yes/No column that could have values other than Yes & No, but where Yes & No displayed as the normal check marks. The reason given was that it was easier to visually pick out the checks than the words. Thinking about it, this might be because of the color, so the need might be reduced now that column coloring is available.

In any event, for example you might have a field #read with the meaning
- Yes = everyone has read it
- No = no one is reading it at the moment
- blank = no one has read it
- any other value = who is reading it at the moment
You would see checks or the name of a person. Other examples might be workflow, using Yes for done, No for want to start, blank for waiting for decision, and words for the state of the process. I use them for storing whether or not I want a book on my reader, using Yes for yes (imagine that), not using No, and a set of words for priority when I am looking for books to read (therefore change to Yes to put on my device).

Text with fixed values - if used for formats, is every one a separate entry? Some are only in audio, some audio & ebook, some paper & ebook...

If this is your situation, then you shouldn't use fixed values.

IF I understand correctly, it behaves like comma separated text with no names, adding values is same, but changing the existing one is difficult.

No. It behaves like text, not comma-separated text. There can be one value per box, just as in text columns.

Every column type arose because enough people asked for it. That doesn't mean that *you* should use all of them. Some might not be appropriate to your task/mental model, some might not make sense to you, some you might understand but seem useless, but one hopes that some will help you solve your problem(s).

[travger]

Thank you for explanation!

Much easier to choose right option (for me) when I actually know how it differs from others.
Maybe I could use 'show checkmarks' with coloring.
- yes = no cripes
- No = formatting/typos/something irritated me
- typos (dark red) = lot, better edit before next reading
- typos (light red) = few, depends on book if to edit or not
etc.
(Just a few thoughts)

[travger]

Hello.
Now I have pondered on my needs but was still unsuccessful in implementing them.

I have 'Awards' column, comma separated text (at the moment).
I would like to get colored title if:

Won Hugo or Nebula - orange
Won one and nominated for another - chocolate
Hugo, Nebula Nomination(s) - goldenrod
Won some other award, but no H or N - sandybrown
Nominated for some other award - lightsalmon

I was able to get colored title, if 'Awards' field is filled, but typing 'Hugo' into last field gave no results.

1. What type column works best?
2. What should the entries look like? (Win Hugo 1975, Nom Nebula 1975, Decade's Best #3 1981?)

If I'm looking at the nominated book, I'd like to sort somehow so that I can easily see what it was up against.

Next I'll ponder about Quality column...

TIA

[theducks]

Originally Posted by travger

Hello.
Now I have pondered on my needs but was still unsuccessful in implementing them.

I have 'Awards' column, comma separated text (at the moment).
I would like to get colored title if:

Won Hugo or Nebula - orange
Won one and nominated for another - chocolate
Hugo, Nebula Nomination(s) - goldenrod
Won some other award, but no H or N - sandybrown
Nominated for some other award - lightsalmon

I was able to get colored title, if 'Awards' field is filled, but typing 'Hugo' into last field gave no results.

1. What type column works best?
2. What should the entries look like? (Win Hugo 1975, Nom Nebula 1975, Decade's Best #3 1981?)

If I'm looking at the nominated book, I'd like to sort somehow so that I can easily see what it was up against.

Next I'll ponder about Quality column...

TIA

What 'rule' takes precedence if more than one for a title? the field can't be chocolate,goldenrod,sandy,salmon

In your example: Hugo may have failed because your 'value' was "Win Hugo 1975" and you probably tried 'contains'
Try 'has pattern' Hugo

[chaley]

Originally Posted by travger

[...]
1. What type column works best?
2. What should the entries look like? (Win Hugo 1975, Nom Nebula 1975, Decade's Best #3 1981?)

As you want to have more than one item per book, the only column type that makes sense is text, tags like.

As for what to put there, that is up to you. The rule must be that the 'category' of an item must be distinguishable. An idiot robot (a computer program) must be able to tell what an item is from the text in it, without knowing what the words mean. Having entries begin with key phrases like "Win" and "Nom" would do that. You might want to ensure that Hugo/Nebula items begin with "Win Hugo" and "Win Nebula" so they can be easily distinguished.

As for coloring, pay attention to theducks answer. There is some ambiguity in your coloring rules. For example, H/N Nom produces goldenrod, while other win produces sandybrown. What happens if a book has both an other win and an H/N nom?

Once you have the priority worked out, enter the rules. The easiest from the rule standpoint is to use regular expressions as theducks suggests to check if an item begins with something, such as "#XX has pattern ^Win Hugo". Each rule will have the same number of conditions as you expressed above.

[travger]

I peeked into other example and have now:

{#awards:switch(Hugo win,orange,Nebula win,orange,Hugo nom,teal,Nebula nom,teal,Hugo win,goldenrod,Nebula win,goldenrod,Hugo nom,goldenrod,Nebula nom,goldenrod,win,blue,nom,green,black)}

It does mostly what I want - Hugo & Nebula rule over others if present.
But condition 3, if book has won one of them and nominated to other, won't behave. I just have no idea how to express

if has 'Hugo', 'win' & 'nom', then goldenrod

H N win rules and it stays orange.

TIA

[theducks]

Originally Posted by travger

I peeked into other example and have now:

{#awards:switch(Hugo win,orange,Nebula win,orange,Hugo nom,teal,Nebula nom,teal,Hugo win,goldenrod,Nebula win,goldenrod,Hugo nom,goldenrod,Nebula nom,goldenrod,win,blue,nom,green,black)}

It does mostly what I want - Hugo & Nebula rule over others if present.
But condition 3, if book has won one of them and nominated to other, won't behave. I just have no idea how to express

if has 'Hugo', 'win' & 'nom', then goldenrod

H N win rules and it stays orange.

TIA

Switches tend to fire off on the first found in the list.
Your Both tests need to be done first.
That is your priority Bias

[chaley]

try

program:
t = field('#award');
first_non_empty(
	test(and(contains(t, 'Hugo win', '1', ''),
			contains(t, 'Nebula nom', '1', '')),
		'chocolate', ''),
	test(and(contains(t, 'Hugo nom', '1', ''),
			contains(t, 'Nebula win', '1', '')),
		'chocolate', ''),
	test(or(contains(t, 'Hugo win', '1', ''),
			contains(t, 'Nebula win', '1', '')),
		'orange', ''),
	test(or(contains(t, 'Hugo nom', '1', ''),
			contains(t, 'Nebula nom', '1', '')),
		'goldenrod', ''),
	test(and(contains(t, 'Hugo win', '', '1'),
			contains(t, 'Nebula win', '', '1'),
			contains(t, 'win', '1', '')),
		'sandybrown', ''),
	test(and(contains(t, 'Hugo nom', '', '1'),
			contains(t, 'Nebula nom', '', '1'),
			contains(t, 'nom', '1', '')),
		'lightsalmon', '')
)

This applies the tests in order
- Hugo win and Nebula nom: chocolate
- Nebula win and Hugo nom: chocolate
- Hugo win or Nebula win: orange
- Hugo nom or Nebula nom: goldenrod
- win and not Hugo win and not Nebula win: sandybrown
- nom and not Hugo nom and not Nebula nom: lightsalmon
else not colored

[travger]

@chaley: Thank you, it works!

Now to Quality...
So far I've dreamed up about 10 things to note:
-has LOT of typos
-has formatting deficiences
-SOME typos
-few typos
-needs editing, but is not worth the trouble
-no typos, but many pages unnecessary stuff
-no cover/year in prc/mobi
-like it as is
-edited, but not read in Palm
etc

Is best column type to use also text, like tags?
Eventually I will want to get colors in also.


And column to note state of prc/mobi file, choices being:

-made it myself with Calibre =C
-made it myself with Mobi Creator =MC
-added just first page/cover with Calibre =1pg (or something)
-no changes, orig. file =orig
-used mobiunpack, then MC or C
maybe more options pop out later as need arises.

Text, like tags? Text with fixed set of values?