Descriptions section in an EPUB calibre catalog

[Sirtel]

I'm wondering if it's possible to generate an epub catalog so that the descriptions would only be created for books which actually have comments, and omitted for books with no comments. As I have many books without comments (when there's a series, I only fill in the comments section for the first book), it would be much faster and there's no need to have mostly empty description files for comment-less books.

I've looked at the catalog templates, but found nothing there to help. Maybe it's not possible. Yes, I know I could delete empty description files from the epub, but that's not really feasible with thousands of books. About the only way I can currently think of is to create two different catalogs, one with descriptions, one without, and that's pretty clumsy.

[kovidgoyal]

Not sure I follow. I dont use/maintain that code so maybe I am missing something. By descriptions pages do you mean the pages under the Descriptions section of the ToC? The contain more than just the comments, they have covers, title/author/series etc. And the comments are not in a separate HTML file, they are in the singe decriptions html file for that book.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Not sure I follow. I dont use/maintain that code so maybe I am missing something. By descriptions pages do you mean the pages under the Descriptions section of the ToC? The contain more than just the comments, they have covers, title/author/series etc. And the comments are not in a separate HTML file, they are in the singe decriptions html file for that book.

Yes, that's what I mean. They do contain cover thumbnails etc, but IMO the main point of this section is the comments. I'd like to have the option to omit the entire description file for books with no comments. Of course it might not be doable.

[kovidgoyal]

Ah ok, no not something I wish to spend time on, sorry.

[Katja_hbg]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I'm wondering if it's possible to generate an epub catalog so that the descriptions would only be created for books which actually have comments, and omitted for books with no comments.

Do I understand correct that you like to create a catalogue with all books but blurb (field comment) should be shown only in case there is an own comment added by you?

My understanding is, as the catalog template does not work with JavaScrip there is no solution with condition like "if".
But, thanks to @JimmXinu all custom fields can be used in the template.
So what about the following workaround:
- create a customer column showing descriptionn/comment only in case you added an own comment
- use that column instead of description in the template

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Katja_hbg

Do I understand correct that you like to create a catalogue with all books but blurb (field comment) should be shown only in case there is an own comment added by you?

My understanding is, as the catalog template does not work with JavaScrip there is no solution with condition like "if".
But, thanks to @JimmXinu all custom fields can be used in the template.
So what about the following workaround:
- create a customer column showing descriptionn/comment only in case you added an own comment
- use that column instead of description in the template

I think it would still create the description file, just without comments. That's what I'd like to avoid - having thousands of description files with no meaningful (for me) content. But apparently there's no way to avoid it only for some books, it's all or nothing.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I think it would still create the description file, just without comments. That's what I'd like to avoid - having thousands of description files with no meaningful (for me) content. But apparently there's no way to avoid it only for some books, it's all or nothing.

You say FILE? A Calibre catalog is text and image.
Are you looking for cover Images and text listing
If you want just a CSV Calibredb --list <see man for options>

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by theducks

You say FILE? A Calibre catalog is text and image.
Are you looking for cover Images and text listing
If you want just a CSV Calibredb --list <see man for options>

I mean html files in the epub. There is a separate file for every book description.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I mean html files in the epub. There is a separate file for every book description.

I am assuming you mean that there is a separate HTML file (page) for every book in the EPUB catalogue… which appears to be true.

When I see the word 'description' in the context of metadata I think of the Dublin Core name for the element that calibre stores in the 'comments' column.

The Create EPUB catalogue feature uses the word 'Description' to refer to: Individual descriptions of books with cover thumbs, sorted by author - note the self referential referential use of the word.

Is this what you want: An EPUB catalogue that excludes books with nothing in the 'comments' column?

If the Create EPUB Catalogue is Virtual library aware, why not create VL with a search term that tests the comments column?

BR

[Sirtel]

No, I don't want the catalog to exclude books with no comments. That's of course entirely doable by using the search "comments:true". What I want is to have all my books in the catalog, but have the descriptions (they're separate from general listing, but linked to it) only for books with comments. The reason why I want this is to reduce the catalog size and the generation time (it takes hours to generate the catalog with all my books included and having descriptions for each one).

I've experimented with csv catalogs, but comments mess up the formatting there, as they're too long to fit neatly in the general listing. The epub solution is perfect for this, if only there was a way to create descriptions only for some books in the list.

For now I've been creating two catalogs, one for all my books with no descriptions, and another with descriptions only, for the books that have them. Then I merge the two catalogs. Which is far from ideal, as there is no linkage between listing and description anymore. But it's the best I've managed to come up with so far.

[BetterRed]

I decided early on that anything other than a CSV was beyond my pay-grade. I have, on a couple of occasions, converted a CSV catalogue to HTML with CSVFileView and hacked that.

Did you look in here ==>> Creating Catalogs (Archived) - MobileRead Forums

I've often wondered why Create catalogue isn't a plugin, perhaps it predates the existence of such.

BR

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I decided early on that anything other than a CSV was beyond my pay-grade. I have, on a couple of occasions, converted a CSV catalogue to HTML with CSVFileView and hacked that.

Did you look in here ==>> Creating Catalogs (Archived) - MobileRead Forums

I've often wondered why Create catalogue isn't a plugin, perhaps it predates the existence of such.

BR

Yes, I looked at that. There doesn't seem to be a way to create descriptions only for some books and not others.

If creating a catalog were a one-time job, it wouldn't matter how long it takes, but one needs to create the entire catalog from scratch every time there are new books and so the time quickly becomes a nuisance with large libraries.

For a while I went without any catalog at all, but occasionally I'd like to look something up on my phone - whether I already have a book, or to see the synopsis. An epub catalog is a handy way of doing this. Maybe I should look into some calibre-related apps instead. Which is a pain in itself, as I don't read books on my phone and the only use for the app would be to browse my library occasionally.

Oh well, life sucks and then you die.