Custom Column: Average Rating by Author

[Lys]

Hi all

I've been using Calibre & plugins for years (thank you all for such awesome software: a game-changer ), but my technical knowledge is non-existent at best so my way-to-go, when I want to try and implement new things, is to check here if someone had the same idea and shamelessly copy and paste the configuration

But since I can't find anything this time around, I'll try the direct approach of simply asking my question(s). If I missed the obvious, please link me to it

1) I know in Calibre you can enable the "show average rating" in the tag browser, but would it be possible to have the average rating (by author) also as a custom column?
If yes, can someone help me to set up such a column?


2) The standard rating column doesn't accept half stars, so I created a custom column of Rating Type that allows half stars. Is there a way to show the average rating (in the tag browser and/or as a custom column) based on this "Custom Rating" column instead of the standard one?

[ownedbycats]

I once requested a tweak to set the averages from a custom ratings column. Unfortunately, it was a wontfix.

[BetterRed]

@Lys - custom columns are attached to "books", there is no provision for attaching a custom column to an author.

So, even if an average rating were to calculated for an author, a change in rating for one book would result all the books by the same author being updated - if the book had more than one author (not uncommon in non-fiction), then all the books by all the authors.

BR

[Lys]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I once requested a tweak to set the averages from a custom ratings column. Unfortunately, it was a wontfix.

Pity, maybe in the future if anyone has the interests and skills to do it. Sadly this is totally out of my skills-set

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Lys - custom columns are attached to "books", there is no provision for attaching a custom column to an author.

So, even if an average rating were to calculated for an author, a change in rating for one book would result all the books by the same author being updated - if the book had more than one author (not uncommon in non-fiction), then all the books by all the authors.

BR

Yeah, I know: all the books "average rating for authors" being updated if I change the rating of one book would be the desired results (although IDK how much impactful something like that would be on the processing time ) while for books with more than one author my idea would be to consider them all (or none, or the first listed. I know there's no perfect solution here, if not having the average against another field which can contain one value only )

Anyway, I guess there's no easy solution to my desiderata if not downloading a catalog as CSV -> creating a pivot that calculates the averages and then manually import back the data on Calibre. And then update the data from time to time to reflect changes


Thanks for your input

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Lys

Pity, maybe in the future if anyone has the interests and skills to do it. Sadly this is totally out of my skills-set



Yeah, I know: all the books "average rating for authors" being updated if I change the rating of one book would be the desired results (although IDK how much impactful something like that would be on the processing time ) while for books with more than one author my idea would be to consider them all (or none, or the first listed. I know there's no perfect solution here, if not having the average against another field which can contain one value only )

Anyway, I guess there's no easy solution to my desiderata if not downloading a catalog as CSV -> creating a pivot that calculates the averages and then manually import back the data on Calibre. And then update the data from time to time to reflect changes


Thanks for your input

Hmmm - knowing what a spreadsheet pivot is, puts a a bit of a lie to your: "…but my technical knowledge is non-existent at best…"

FWIW - I maintain an "Authors library".

Items in my "Books library" link to it via a calibre://show-book/ protocol url in the Link field that's in the Manage Authors tool. And items in the Authors library link to the Books library via a calibre://search/ protocol url in the Link field.

Added: I just remembered I rate Authors rather than Books using a half-star 1-10 scale.

BR

[Lys]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Hmmm - knowing what a spreadsheet pivot is, puts a a bit of a lie to your: "…but my technical knowledge is non-existent at best…"

ahhaha I should have said my python & template language knowledge is very poor
I'm fine with excel, and I know a tiny little of other programming languages (enough to follow the code, even if I'm not a programmer myself), but with python my mind just goes blank and refuses to understand it without clear practical examples before me

Originally Posted by BetterRed

FWIW - I maintain an "Authors library".

Items in my "Books library" link to it via a calibre://show-book/ protocol url in the Link field that's in the Manage Authors tool. And items in the Authors library link to the Books library via a calibre://search/ protocol url in the Link field.

Added: I just remembered I rate Authors rather than Books using a half-star 1-10 scale.

BR

That's a neat idea, I'll look into it