Calibre Companion prerelease 3.3.0c

[chaley]

CC prerelease 3.3.0c has been published and will available soon to people who are members of the CC prerelease program.

This prerelease contains the following enhancements and bug fixes over CC prerelease 3.3.0b:

• Add the ability to mark a book "Read" in CC. The value is changed in book details, and you can group on this value. The information can be synced with calibre (requires calibre 1.26 or higher). Read and Not Read can be synced with a calibre Yes/No custom column. CC's Date Read can be synced with a calibre Date custom column. See the "Marked Read" options in CC's Settings for more information.
• In book details, make Authors, Series, Tags, and Publisher clickable. Clicking an item takes you back to the main display, changing the grouping to select the clicked item.
• Improve swipe detection in both book details and when closing the grouping drawer.
• [BUG FIX] Fix the computation of series_sort when scanning for new books on connect.
• [BUG FIX] Don't change the color of the selected item in the grouping drawer when closed with a swipe.
• [BUG FIX] Fix crash when swiping "next" in book details for the last book in the list when using cover view.
• [BUG FIX] Add some logging to help find problems (if any) in the future with series sort.

This prerelease completes the functionality intended for this cycle. There may be more bug fix releases, and it is of course possible that something additional will be added. The release will not go to production until (at least) several days after calibre 1.26 has been released.

If you run from source, the changes to support syncing are in calibre source as of 26/Feb afternoon GMT.

If you have already installed CC 3.3.0b then this prerelease does not require a database upgrade.

[kaufman]

Installed and played with it a bit. Everything seems to be working perfectly. The new swiping is very nice. I'm going to try out your read marking as soon as I get a chance.

So far, no issues to report.

Thanks for putting in so many of my requests.

[kaufman]

I've been trying to get the Read stuff to work, and I can't seem to get it to display.

If you take a look at the four attached screenshots, one of them shows my settings so you can see if I have put the column names in correctly. Two of them show the book details page. One is the top of the page showing that the read checkbox isn't checked, and the other is showing the bottom of the page showing the readrecently value is checked. The last is the screenshot from calibre with the column definition.

A couple of things:

1) Am I using this function correctly? I've been assuming the the checkbox is a two way field. It sets the value if you change it and it shows the current value. Is this correct?

2) Rather then forcing the user to type in the field name, wouldn't it make more sense to allow them to choose from the existing names. This might also make sense for the custom grouping columns.

3) I think "Read" might be a better label then "Marked Read". None of the other labels have verbs associated with them. It just seems out of place to me.

As always, thanks for the help.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

I've been trying to get the Read stuff to work, and I can't seem to get it to display.

If you take a look at the four attached screenshots, one of them shows my settings so you can see if I have put the column names in correctly. Two of them show the book details page. One is the top of the page showing that the read checkbox isn't checked, and the other is showing the bottom of the page showing the readrecently value is checked. The last is the screenshot from calibre with the column definition.

A couple of things:

1) Am I using this function correctly? I've been assuming the the checkbox is a two way field. It sets the value if you change it and it shows the current value. Is this correct?

I need to write the FAQ page.

I am not sure what you have done, so I will instead say what I expect to happen. First, the syncing between the calibre custom column and CC's column happens when you connect as a wireless device. There are three cases:

1) You define the syncing column in settings. The next time you connect as a wireless device, calibre and CC do a special sync. If CC's read value is not empty, then it is synced to calibre's field, otherwise if calibre's field is not empty it syncs to CC's field.

2) For subsequent syncs: if you have changed CC's field (in book details the value in the box differs from the value shown in calibre's column), then the value in the box is written to calibre's database. Otherwise the information in calibre's field is written to CC's value (the one in the box).

3) If neither CC nor calibre's value have changed, nothing happens.

These rules mean that CC's value "wins" over calibre's value.

So, for your example, are you running calibre from source? If you are not, then the version you are running does not yet support syncing. If you are running from source, did you sync after you defined the column name in CC's settings? If so, I would expect that calibre's value would appear in CC's read box.

2) Rather then forcing the user to type in the field name, wouldn't it make more sense to allow them to choose from the existing names. This might also make sense for the custom grouping columns.

Of course you are right. Unfortunately, CC doesn't have a list of custom columns, and in general cannot have that list. Each book can have a different list, as each book can come from a different library. In fact, there might not be any books in the library when the setup is done. Because of this, we cannot know what the column keys are before we connect to a specific library, and we cannot know that the keys are still the same the next time we connect.

Because of these complexities I decided to have the user provide the key. I know that this is less than ideal, but it avoids other problems that would be inexplicable.

3) I think "Read" might be a better label then "Marked Read". None of the other labels have verbs associated with them. It just seems out of place to me.

I have gone back and forth on this for weeks. My problem always comes down to the meaning of "No". If the label is "Read", then "No" carries the strong semantics of "Not Read". However, books with the empty mark are also almost certainly "Not Read" as well. In this case, what is the meaning of the two? By using the label "Marked Read", the meaning of "No" changes to "It hasn't been marked", which makes it easier to apply one's own semantics to it.

This is the kind of thing that I am not good at. I welcome any discussion.

As always, thanks for the help.

Thank you for taking the time to comment! CC wouldn't be the product it is without feedback from interested (and patient) users.

[Purple Lady]

I created a new yes/no column and populated it and connected as a wireless device with my Nexus 7 LTE. After a few minutes Calibre started sending metadata to CC and I got an error in Calibre after 23 seconds:

calibre, version 1.24.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

Device closed the network connection

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 86, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 520, in _sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\smart_device_app\driver.p y", line 50, in _synchronizer
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\smart_device_app\driver.p y", line 1301, in sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\smart_device_app\driver.p y", line 602, in _call_client
ControlError: Device closed the network connection

CC still thinks it is connected though - the Syncing with Calibre msg still shows. I don't think I hit disconnect by mistake - if I did CC wouldn't still think I was syncing, right? I then hit cancel - the debug log is attached.

calibre.companion.debug.log.txt

[Purple Lady]

I just connected wirelessly again and it completed successfully this time. Since I have the custom column now in CC, if I update the read column in Calibre, I'm guessing that after I update to 1.26 on Friday CC will overwrite it?

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by chaley

I need to write the FAQ page.

Actually, you just need to bold the part about 1.26 being required, so that idiots like me will see it. I'll try again after 1.26 comes out.

Originally Posted by chaley

I have gone back and forth on this for weeks. My problem always comes down to the meaning of "No". If the label is "Read", then "No" carries the strong semantics of "Not Read". However, books with the empty mark are also almost certainly "Not Read" as well. In this case, what is the meaning of the two? By using the label "Marked Read", the meaning of "No" changes to "It hasn't been marked", which makes it easier to apply one's own semantics to it.

I love the amount of thought you put into everything.

Here's what I think. I imagine that for most people, for most of the time the value of the field is going to be blank or yes. For those people, a label of "Read" is more appropriate. People who also want to use the "No" value (for example, for "currently reading") "Read" won't make sense, but neither will "Marked read". So, I vote you go with "Read". I know your vote is the only one that counts, but I'm giving mine anyhow.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just connected wirelessly again and it completed successfully this time. Since I have the custom column now in CC, if I update the read column in Calibre, I'm guessing that after I update to 1.26 on Friday CC will overwrite it?

It is *very* good to hear that it worked. I was preparing to lose what is left of my hair trying to figure out why it didn't.

Yes, once you update to 1.26 syncing will happen. With one exception, the first sync will use procedure number 1 described in post 4 of this thread. From then on it will use the other procedures. The exception is if you change the Read value in CC after setting up the sync column but before the first sync. In this case the value in CC will win (overwrite the value in calibre) no matter what it is.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Here's what I think. I imagine that for most people, for most of the time the value of the field is going to be blank or yes. For those people, a label of "Read" is more appropriate. People who also want to use the "No" value (for example, for "currently reading") "Read" won't make sense, but neither will "Marked read". So, I vote you go with "Read". I know your vote is the only one that counts, but I'm giving mine anyhow.

I am very willing to make it "Read" instead of "Marked Read".

Anyone else have comments? Alternatives?

[PatNY]

Hello Charles ... Thanks for all the new goodies, though I was perfectly content with how CC was already. Everything seems to be working fine with the new betas on my Nook HD and HD+, running Kit Kat and ICS respectively.

I never saw the need for a feature to mark a book read or not read as I always remember a book I've completed. However, I can see the new feature coming in very handy for something entirely different -- like making a priority reading list or marking books which either need editing/corrections or those which I've made important annotations to. So it is appreciated.

As for whether to label it "Read" or "Marked Read" I think most people would decipher the meaning differently in their own ways. So from a semantical viewpoint, I don't think it makes much difference. But from simply a design perspective and for brevity's sake, "Read" would be the choice. "Marked Read" just sticks out a little as one of the longer labels on the details page. So it's just a bit cleaner to use the shorter label.

--Pat

[chaley]

Originally Posted by PatNY

Hello Charles ... Thanks for all the new goodies, though I was perfectly content with how CC was already. Everything seems to be working fine with the new betas on my Nook HD and HD+, running Kit Kat and ICS respectively.

I never saw the need for a feature to mark a book read or not read as I always remember a book I've completed. However, I can see the new feature coming in very handy for something entirely different -- like making a priority reading list or marking books which either need editing/corrections or those which I've made important annotations to. So it is appreciated.

As for whether to label it "Read" or "Marked Read" I think most people would decipher the meaning differently in their own ways. So from a semantical viewpoint, I don't think it makes much difference. But from simply a design perspective and for brevity's sake, "Read" would be the choice. "Marked Read" just sticks out a little as one of the longer labels on the details page. So it's just a bit cleaner to use the shorter label.

--Pat

Thanks for the comments and for testing. I wish I was like you - that I could always remember. That ability seems to have gone away when I entered my "golden years". I can't even remember a new password long enough to put it into my password keeper program. I must put it in to the program before I use it.

I hadn't thought of using the new Read stuff for such a different purpose as you propose, but that is really a good idea. It is after all a tri-state flag that can have whatever meaning the user wishes. I stole the idea and put it into the FAQ.

[Purple Lady]

I just tried the marked read sync and it works great. I do have one issue though - can it be a choice for whether or not to update the read date in CC when just marking the book read? I knew I had a few that I read a while back that I did not mark as read so I sorted all my books by CC's read date. The books that I simply marked as read are at the top of the list now even though I read them a a few months back. I use the sort by CC's read date frequently and this messes that up. I keep all my books on my tablet which is why the ordering is more important to me.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just tried the marked read sync and it works great. I do have one issue though - can it be a choice for whether or not to update the read date in CC when just marking the book read?

How about if I remove the auto-set of Date Read and add a clickable link next to the box (in book details) offering "Set date read to now".

I would use a clickable link instead of a button so that font size controls work.

This change means that if you set the option to not auto-set the read date on reader app launch then you have total control over if and when the read date is set.

A slight enhancement in addition to the link might be to set the read date when you change the read information to "Yes" only if the read date is empty (not set). I am not sure whether this is or is not a good idea. Opinion?

[chaley]

After thought, I decided that the right thing to do is to give the user the ability to change the date read to whatever they want. The two attachments should make this clear.

Changing Read to Yes (or anything else) no longer changes the date read. You can change the date read without changing Read.

[Purple Lady]

That would be great, thanks!