Adding a column "Finished" in Calibre

[bartveld]

My Kobo reader gives me the option to mark a book as finished. Now I would like to make a column in Calibre which shows whether the book is finished (yes/no). How do I make Calibre look for and understand the finished-tag on the reader?

I've looked at Calibre's extensive help pages, but can't seem to find an answer. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by bartveld

My Kobo reader gives me the option to mark a book as finished. Now I would like to make a column in Calibre which shows whether the book is finished (yes/no). How do I make Calibre look for and understand the finished-tag on the reader?

I've looked at Calibre's extensive help pages, but can't seem to find an answer. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

As far as I know that is not a supported capability.

[davidfor]

Get my Kobo Utilities plugin. This is one of its features.

[bartveld]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Get my Kobo Utilities plugin. This is one of its features.

Great. So I created a Percent Read column. Set Column Type to Integers. Then I get to this:
"Choose the function to use when the toolbar button is pressed."
This I don't get. What toolbar button? For now the column shows up empty, but evidently I'm doing something wrong.

[davidfor]

You need a way to use the plugins functions. It has to be put on a toolbar or menu somewhere. When you were installing the plugin, it should have prompted you to do this. The help for the plugin recommends putting it on either "Main toolbar when a device is connected" or "The menubar when a device is connected". If you skipped this, you can do it using the "Toolbar" section of the calibre preferences.

[bartveld]

Sorry, David, I feel like an utter noob. I already have the KoboUtilities button on the toolbars. So I connect the reader and I would expect the Reading Location column I made to fill with percentages. But it remains empty. In the dropdown of the toolbar button I see no function which looks like it's pertaining to this particular wish. Most functions are meant to change something in the file on the device, but I only want Calibre to get information from the device.

Somehow I feel I've not been clear enough about my wishes. Of course I can change the percentage in Calibre manually, but I would like Calibre to read the percentage from the device. Or even better, I would like Calibre to read the "Finished-mark" from the device and put that in a yes/no column. Is this possible and am I completely missing the point?

[davidfor]

The plugin does what you want. Plus more. In the menu, you want the "Store/restore current bookmark". I probably should have used "reading position" rather than "bookmark". This function stores were you are up to in the books on the device. It can get the percent read, the timestamp when you last read the book, the rating you gave the book and what the device uses to store the position. It can also restore those values in case of a factory reset. You don't have to store all three pieces of information.

There are two ways to use this:

- When the device is connected, select the books that are on the device in the calibre library. Then select the menu option, choose the store options on the dialog and press OK.

- You can configure his to happen automatically when the device is connected. The option to do this is on plugins configuration dialog.

[bartveld]

Got it! Thanks.

[davidfor]

Good to hear. When you get used to it, you might want to look at "Column icons". I have my percent read column show a tick when it is 100% and an open book for more than 1%.

[TheArtfulDodger]

Originally Posted by bartveld

My Kobo reader gives me the option to mark a book as finished. Now I would like to make a column in Calibre which shows whether the book is finished (yes/no). How do I make Calibre look for and understand the finished-tag on the reader?

I've looked at Calibre's extensive help pages, but can't seem to find an answer. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

I guess that now that I've found out that the capability is available, I must change these comments. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the comments except the original one posted by BartVeld!

So, now I've printed out the instructions for the plugin and I'm no further along! I created a custom column (% Completed) as suggested. Therefore, the Current Reading Location Column becomes "#currentreadinglocation (% Completed)". However, the Configuration section loses me. I can't get past number 1.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Sparky

[PeterT]

I think you will find the problem is that each and every reader has a different means of recording info lick reading location / finished status.

Well you will say, make each device driver responsible for this.

Unfortunately it gets worse; not every device exposes the data to a location that is accessible by any external means (ie in the case of calibre via a file).

Some devices such as the Kobo eReaders (and NOT the Kobo Android devices) store that data in a SQL database, and yes, the Kobo calibre device driver DOES allow access to that data.

I use it to automatically add a Finished tag to each book and in turn allow for easy removal of read content from my Kobos.

[TheArtfulDodger]

Hello:

Well, in the absence of any further guidance, I decided to press on with the instructions as I interpreted them. Here's what I did:

1. I added a column called "% Completed" - Lookup Name: "percentread"; Column Heading: "% Completed"; Column Type: "Integers"; Format for Numbers: blank.

2. I restarted Calibre.

3. With the device connected, I navigated to the Kobo Utilities Options panel.

4. In the "Percent Read Column" dropdown list I selected "#percentread (% Completed)".

5. Under "Other Options", "Library Button default:" I chose "Store/Restore current bookmark" based on davidfor's comment:

In the menu, you want the "Store/restore current bookmark". I probably should have used "reading position" rather than "bookmark".

6. I clicked on "OK".

That's all I did. I assumed that when I clicked the "Kobo Utilities" button and selected "Store/Restore Current Bookmark", the percentages for all of the books in the current library would magically appear in the appropriate column in the main window. Instead I am faced with another screen with my choice of either "Store" or "Restore". Neither one gets me where I want to go.

Instead, when I unplug the device, stop Calibre, connect the device, and restart Calibre, I get a small display entitled "Show Reading Position Changes" with 8 titles in it (all told there are 1,162 books in my library so I don't know where the '8' comes from) but nothing has changed since the last five times I've tried this. Besides the title and author there are four columns, "Current %", "New %", "Current Date", and "New Date". Under "New %" are small numbers except for two of them and they are "-2147483648" which I presume is a text value being interpreted as a number. None of this makes any sense, at least to me!

So, dear readers, it is obvious either my expectations are too high or I did something wrong. Someone please help!

Thanks in advance,

Sparky

[theducks]

this may not be your problem: Allways follow PI supplied instructions

Integers are whole numbers: 1, 10, 100
Floating Point for 12.7(%) or it might come in as .127

[PeterT]

In my case I have the following:

Columns:

Spoiler:

koboreadloc
Heading: Kobo Reading Location 
Column Type: Text, column shown in tag browser
koboreadpct 
Heading: Kobo Read Percentage 
Column Type: Integer
koborating
Heading: Kobo Reading Location
Column Type: Integer
kobolastread 
Heading: Kobo Last Read TimeStamp
Column Type: Date

In configuration for Kobo Utilties

Spoiler:

Current Reading Location Column: koboreadloc
Percent Read Columns: koboreadpct 
Rating Columns: koborating
Last Read Column: kobolastread
Store On Connect:
Store current bookmark on connect: checked
Prompt to store any changes: checked
Only if more recent: not checked
Not if finished in library: not checked

When I connect the Kobo the following happens:

• Device recognized by calibre
• Various Jobs start automatically
• Window pops up with a list of books titled Show Reading Position Changes listing books that have been read since the last connection
• When I select OK a status window briefly displays as the book status is updated in calibre

Additionally a custom column I have defined gets updated. This column is used as a shelving option, adding a books to either a Reading shelf, or a Finished_year shelf.

Spoiler:

readstatus
Column heading: Reading Status
Type: Column built from other columns
Template:
{#koboreadpct:'cmp($, 100,cmp($, 0, '', '', 'Reading'), strcat('Finished_',format_date(field('#kobolastread'), 'yyyy')),'')'}

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by TheArtfulDodger

Hello:

Well, in the absence of any further guidance, I decided to press on with the instructions as I interpreted them. Here's what I did:

1. I added a column called "% Completed" - Lookup Name: "percentread"; Column Heading: "% Completed"; Column Type: "Integers"; Format for Numbers: blank.

2. I restarted Calibre.

3. With the device connected, I navigated to the Kobo Utilities Options panel.

4. In the "Percent Read Column" dropdown list I selected "#percentread (% Completed)".

5. Under "Other Options", "Library Button default:" I chose "Store/Restore current bookmark" based on davidfor's comment:

6. I clicked on "OK".

The configuration sounds correct.

Now, before commenting on the rest, a brief explanation.

The store/restore of the reading status is about getting the reading status from the Kobo device and storing it in the calibre library. To do this, the book has to both be on the device and in the library. That means that when the Kobo device is connected, calibre shows a green tick against the book in the library list. If that tick isn't there, as far as calibre is concerned, the book isn't on the device. If you response to that is "But it is on the device", the most likely reason is that the title is different. It could be a spelling error or one place includes the series name or uses a colon instead of a dash. You can fix this, but I think that's a different thread.

That's all I did. I assumed that when I clicked the "Kobo Utilities" button and selected "Store/Restore Current Bookmark", the percentages for all of the books in the current library would magically appear in the appropriate column in the main window. Instead I am faced with another screen with my choice of either "Store" or "Restore". Neither one gets me where I want to go.

When you use this, it works on the books selected in the library. My guess would be that one book was selected and it wasn't shown as on the device. Or it is a book you haven't started reading. To use this, find a book in the library that is shown as on the device and that you have started reading. Select it and try "Store" function. When finished, the percent read should be in the column.
[/QUOTE]
Instead, when I unplug the device, stop Calibre, connect the device, and restart Calibre, I get a small display entitled "Show Reading Position Changes" with 8 titles in it (all told there are 1,162 books in my library so I don't know where the '8' comes from) but nothing has changed since the last five times I've tried this. Besides the title and author there are four columns, "Current %", "New %", "Current Date", and "New Date". Under "New %" are small numbers except for two of them and they are "-2147483648" which I presume is a text value being interpreted as a number. None of this makes any sense, at least to me![/QUOTE]

This means you have configured the automatic store when the device is connected. The dialog shows the books that are on the device and in the library that have had a reading status change. As you have only configured the percent read column, this means that the books in the list have a different percent read on the device than in the calibre library. As this is the first time, that means that of the 1162 books in the calibre library, 8 are on the device AND have been opened. When this dialog is displayed, you can press OK to update the calibre library. Or press cancel to not do the updates. You can also untick one or more books so that when you press OK, only the ones with the tick are updated. Usually, you just press OK. Then, the next time you connect after reading one of the books a bit more, only that books should be displayed.

The "-2147483648" is probably from an unset value in the percent read column. I thought I had these working properly, but I might have missed a case.

Hopefully the above explains it. If I have missed something, please ask away until we get it sorted out.