Library Management & Content Server

[AltairWolfe]

First let me say this: I know you can run multiple copies of the content server on different ports from the command line to work around getting the feature I'm wanting. However, as this has inherrent limitations (no automatic updating, command windows open in Windows GUI [yes there's a "workaround" for that too, getting the picture?] or just that you have to deal with multiple URLs because of the port numbers)... So knowing all that -- my question.

I guess I really don't understand what makes it so difficult to place a drop down box on the content server home page to select different libraries. I know there are some organizational freaks out there like myself. I have a library for fiction, for non-fiction, for children's litereature, newspapers and so on and so forth. I realize the same effect could be achieved with saved searches and custom metatag data, but this seems like so much extra work after I've already gone to the trouble of having multiple libraries in the first place.

Now I'm not a developer, so feel free to tell me that the structure of the Calibre database in conjunction with the limitation of the open source web server application make this a difficult piece of coding, but too me it seems a pretty easy feature and something that would make using the great feature of libraries more useful (i.e. - I almost never connect my reader directly to the PC to get new content)

[DoctorOhh]

Welcome to Mobileread.

Originally Posted by AltairWolfe

I guess I really don't understand what makes it so difficult to place a drop down box on the content server home page to select different libraries.

It may be difficult, but who said it was difficult? Instead of saying you "don't understand what makes it so difficult" why not just request that this feature be added to the content server. Kovid may deny the request, put it on his todo list, or add it directly. This passive aggressive approach puts things on an adversarial footing from the beginning with assumptions that may or may not be true.

Originally Posted by AltairWolfe

I know there are some organizational freaks out there like myself. I have a library for fiction, for non-fiction, for children's litereature, newspapers and so on and so forth. I realize the same effect could be achieved with saved searches and custom metatag data, but this seems like so much extra work after I've already gone to the trouble of having multiple libraries in the first place.

There may be great reasons to have multiple libraries and it may seem like extra work to move them to one library. But it would take minimal effort to slap a custom tag to each library, combine all your libraries into one (you could even keep them separate while you try this), do a saved search for each new tag and switch to using the Restrict to: feature to access each library as a separate virtual entity within a single library. The fact that your writing this is evidence that keeping everything separate may actually be more work.

Originally Posted by AltairWolfe

Now I'm not a developer, so feel free to tell me that the structure of the Calibre database in conjunction with the limitation of the open source web server application make this a difficult piece of coding, but too me it seems a pretty easy feature and something that would make using the great feature of libraries more useful (i.e. - I almost never connect my reader directly to the PC to get new content)

Again it may or may not be easy to implement but you still haven't asked for a new feature to be added to calibre, learn how here.