metadata plugin how to set custom fields

[yamusing]

I'm trying to make my own personal metadata plugin but I'm not able to find out how to set a custom column value. I can do Metadata.authors and Metadata.tags etc.. but not metadata_info.set_user_metadata("#testColumn", "testvalue"). Any ideas how I can achive this without dipping into the db?

    def identify(self, log, result_queue, abort, title=None, authors=None, identifiers={}, timeout=30):
        log(f"Searching for metadata: {title}")

        metadata_info = Metadata("test123")
        metadata_info.authors = ["Unknown Author", "Another Author"]
        metadata_info.tags = ['Example', 'Calibre']
        metadata_info.comments = 'This is a test.'
        metadata_info.set_user_metadata('#testColumn', "testvalue")
        
        result_queue.put(metadata_info)

[kovidgoyal]

IIRC metadata plugins dont support setting custom metadata. This is because they have to work with arbitrary libraries and so dont depend on non-builtin columns.

[yamusing]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

IIRC metadata plugins dont support setting custom metadata. This is because they have to work with arbitrary libraries and so dont depend on non-builtin columns.

ah ok, guess db is the only way then. I have a script that takes the book ids and puts in the metadata in those custom fields using the db, but everytime I do this calibre needs a restart to reflect those changes on the interface

[chaley]

Originally Posted by yamusing

ah ok, guess db is the only way then. I have a script that takes the book ids and puts in the metadata in those custom fields using the db, but everytime I do this calibre needs a restart to reflect those changes on the interface

You can do this with a User Interface plugin, an Action Chains python action, or a calibre python template.