How to sort on Read Progress column?

[whiteowl]

Looking at "Read Progress" column defined as

{id:reading_progress(,percent)}

It shows a correct percentage as reported by the Viewer.

How to sort on this column? Clicking on column header does nothing.

[pdurrant]

I don't have it displaying as a percentage, just a floating point number (synced from justRead.app) that goes from 0 to 100.

It sorts for me when defined that way.

[DNSB]

I use a column with data from my Kobo ereaders which displays integers from 0 to 100. I don't bother adding a % sign.

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

Looking at "Read Progress" column defined as

{id:reading_progress(,percent)}

It shows a correct percentage as reported by the Viewer.

How to sort on this column? Clicking on column header does nothing.

I think that's a bug. Maybe @Kovid can confirm.
When I change the column definition to sort as text, then it sorts (but doesn't help us, because you will get something like 95%, 90% 9% 85% 8%, etc). It should sort as numbers.

[kovidgoyal]

It's possible the sort by numbers code doesnt like the trailing percent, remove it. This is chaley's code so I dont recall off the top of my head if that's the case or not.

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It's possible the sort by numbers code doesnt like the trailing percent, remove it. This is chaley's code so I dont recall off the top of my head if that's the case or not.

The percent sign comes from the function {id:reading_progress(,percent)} it cannot be removed that easily. But the primary issue that Calibre does not even attempt to sort the column.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

The percent sign comes from the function {id:reading_progress(,percent)} it cannot be removed that easily. But the primary issue that Calibre does not even attempt to sort the column.

The column is ASCII (text) the % breaks being a number as text. BTW Text sort usually need padding 01, 02... or you get 1,10,100, 2, 20, 200

[kovidgoyal]

Not sure what the difficulty in removing the % is. Use one of the string manipulation functions to remove it or use pos_frac instead of percent to get a pure number.

[whiteowl]

I do not want to use `pos_frac` since the function knows `percent` and it looks much nicer and cleaner than a fraction.

The `%` sign is printed by the function itself. Do not see how to remove it, and why should I do it in the first place, since the percentage is the value I want to see.

Yes, if the column would have

Sort/search column by: Text

The column become sortable and do a sort as expected by alphabet: 1%, 10%, 2%, etc...
But if the "Sort/search column by:" is set to Number - the click on column header does nothing.

So I see here two ways to solve this issue:
- Add a separate field "sort by function" in parallel with field Template (which defines what is shown in the column). And the new function will be used for sorting.
- Fix sorting of percentage as a number, since it is really a number.

[thiago.eec]

I think the problem is that the template is returning a string when you choose 'percent'. I have a custom column with my reading percentage, but it was created as a 'Floating point number' and I added this formatting: {:.0f}%. It sorts just fine.

I don't know how difficult it would be, but the best-case scenario would be for the template to return a formatted floating point number.

For now, you can use the template below to activate sorting:

program:
	format_number(reading_progress($id, '', 'pos_frac')*100, '{:.0f}')

You will get the same as using 'percent' minus the '%' symbol. And now you can sort.

[kovidgoyal]

@whiteowl I have no idea why you are being so argumentative. If you want it to sort numerically, it needs to be a number. pos_frac gives you a number. percent does not. If you prefer a percentage number to look at such as 23 instead of 0.23 then chain two functions to remove the trailing percentage from the result of reading_progress(). That way you get both a nice percentage number to look at and it will sort by that number as well. In any case, my patience is exhausted, good luck.

@thiago.eec: All template functions operate on and return strings. Numerical sorting simply re-interpretes those strings as numbers.

[pdurrant]

It sounds like you could redefine your progress column to be a pure number, and then use a display format for the column to add a % at the end when it's displayed, rather than having the % in the column data itself.

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@thiago.eec: All template functions operate on and return strings. Numerical sorting simply re-interpretes those strings as numbers.

I see. I didn't know that.

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by thiago.eec

I think the problem is that the template is returning a string when you choose 'percent'. I have a custom column with my reading percentage, but it was created as a 'Floating point number' and I added this formatting: {:.0f}%. It sorts just fine.

Sorry, I do not understand how you did it.

When I click on "Read Progress" template - it creates a "Column type: Column built from other columns". There is no field for formatting.
Attempt to change that column type to Float, adds a field "Format for numbers", but removes the "Template" field with the function.

So: how do you format the "Column built from other columns"?

Originally Posted by thiago.eec

For now, you can use the template below to activate sorting:

program:
	format_number(reading_progress($id, '', 'pos_frac')*100, '{:.0f}')

You will get the same as using 'percent' minus the '%' symbol. And now you can sort.

Again: How? What should I click in the UI to get to the field where I would be able to type that expression?

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@whiteowl I have no idea why you are being so argumentative. If you want it to sort numerically, it needs to be a number. pos_frac gives you a number. percent does not. If you prefer a percentage number to look at such as 23 instead of 0.23 then chain two functions to remove the trailing percentage from the result of reading_progress(). That way you get both a nice percentage number to look at and it will sort by that number as well. In any case, my patience is exhausted, good luck.

I do not want it to sort numerically. I want to see the same percentage as it is shown in bottom-right corner of the Viewer, and I want that column to be sortable as any normal human does sort percentage values. That is all I want.

Currently, Calibre UI does not do it from the box, and all my attempts of customization is failing.

But if your patience is exhausted, I guess, I can do nothing else. Sorry to bother you.