data for custom column goes away when last book with it deleted

hobnail · 08-19-2020, 02:15 PM

I have a custom column, Source, where I fill in with things like Amazon, Project Gutenberg, MobileRead, etc.

As long as there's a book in the library with one of those items I can select it from a drop down when I add a new book. When I finish reading a book I copy it to another library and delete it from this library. When the deleted book is the last one with a particular source then that source is no longer in the drop down when adding a new book.

My solution was to add a bunch of empty books (Ctl+Shift+E), one for each source and set its source. (I changed their dates to long ago so that they sort to the bottom when sorting by date.)

Is there a better solution than this kludge?

theducks · 08-19-2020, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hobnail

I have a custom column, Source, where I fill in with things like Amazon, Project Gutenberg, MobileRead, etc.

As long as there's a book in the library with one of those items I can select it from a drop down when I add a new book. When I finish reading a book I copy it to another library and delete it from this library. When the deleted book is the last one with a particular source then that source is no longer in the drop down when adding a new book.

My solution was to add a bunch of empty books (Ctl+Shift+E), one for each source and set its source. (I changed their dates to long ago so that they sort to the bottom when sorting by date.)

Is there a better solution than this kludge?

Nope. Same goes for any field that offers lookup (Tags being a very common candidate). Kovid recommended just what you did

hobnail · 08-19-2020, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Kovid recommended just what you did

Heh, for once I was actually smart!

chaley · 08-19-2020, 02:28 PM

If the list of sources doesn't change often then you can use a custom column "with a fixed set of values". Those values persist even when they aren't referenced in a book. The major problem with this approach is that you must change the column definition to add or remove an entry.

hobnail · 08-19-2020, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

If the list of sources doesn't change often then you can use a custom column "with a fixed set of values". Those values persist even when they aren't referenced in a book. The major problem with this approach is that you must change the column definition to add or remove an entry.

Nice, thanks. But now that I've got my recommended kludge working I guess I'll stick with it.

08-19-2020, 02:15 PM	#1
hobnail Running with scissors Posts: 1,592 Karma: 14328510 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	data for custom column goes away when last book with it deleted I have a custom column, Source, where I fill in with things like Amazon, Project Gutenberg, MobileRead, etc. As long as there's a book in the library with one of those items I can select it from a drop down when I add a new book. When I finish reading a book I copy it to another library and delete it from this library. When the deleted book is the last one with a particular source then that source is no longer in the drop down when adding a new book. My solution was to add a bunch of empty books (Ctl+Shift+E), one for each source and set its source. (I changed their dates to long ago so that they sort to the bottom when sorting by date.) Is there a better solution than this kludge?

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08-19-2020, 02:28 PM	#4
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,525 Karma: 8065948 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	If the list of sources doesn't change often then you can use a custom column "with a fixed set of values". Those values persist even when they aren't referenced in a book. The major problem with this approach is that you must change the column definition to add or remove an entry.

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