Library Management: various questions not worth their own thread

[ownedbycats]

Ah yeah, I thought there might've been some way other than a template search. Thanks.

[ownedbycats]

This also works (I use list_re to extract the items, then count that list)

template:"""program: 

list = list_re($#admintags, ',', 'readinggoal:', '');

list_count(list, ',')#@#:n:>1"""

[ownedbycats]

When series_index_auto_increment = 'const', changing the series name in single-book MDE also resets the index to '1'. Its a little annoying when fixing minor inconsistencies in series names. Is this intended and is there a way to stop this?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

When series_index_auto_increment = 'const', changing the series name in single-book MDE also resets the index to '1'. Its a little annoying when fixing minor inconsistencies in series names. Is this intended and is there a way to stop this?

Yes, it is intended.

The way to stop the number from changing is to set the tweak to "no_change" or to use the tag browser to edit the series name.

[ownedbycats]

I'll set it to no_change and see how that works.

[Isathien]

Hi, could you please help me?

Can I store more than one version of a book in my library? For example, I have two versions of a book in pdf format and I want to save both. However, Calibre overwrites them as one pdf. When I simply place two files in the folder, Calibre doesn't recognize the other one. How can I solve this issue?

Thank you!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Isathien

Hi, could you please help me?

Can I store more than one version of a book in my library? For example, I have two versions of a book in pdf format and I want to save both. However, Calibre overwrites them as one pdf. When I simply place two files in the folder, Calibre doesn't recognize the other one. How can I solve this issue?

Thank you!

Place the second copy in the data folder?

[Isathien]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Place the second copy in the data folder?

Yes, but then the Calibre doesn't understand it and I cannot use search, for example.

[georgemk]

In Preferences - Import - Adding Books - Adding Actions, what value is selected for "Auto-merge added books if they already exists" and have you enabled this option? The tool tip explains the options.

[Isathien]

Originally Posted by georgemk

In Preferences - Import - Adding Books - Adding Actions, what value is selected for "Auto-merge added books if they already exists" and have you enabled this option? The tool tip explains the options.

Oh, now I see, thank you very much!!!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Isathien

Yes, but then the Calibre doesn't understand it and I cannot use search, for example.

You can have two book records with the identical Author and Title, calibre will differentiate via the unique book IDs, example:



BE

[JVGen]

In search of a tutorial/guide/video on how to standardize Metadata in a collection.

I have many eBooks (ePub) files that I've imported into Calibre. The organization of metadata is not consistent, likely because I've purchased eBooks from different sources and over the past 10 years. There are quite a lot of books, and manually curating the Metadata would take days and likely lead to error. I figured I'd check here to see if there is a way to automate Metadata changes? For instance if the the ISBN is provided in the ID field, can it pull Book information from a database?

I would like to standardize the Metadata of my collection, ideally in a way works well with Kindle Paperwhite, which is the eReader I use. Importantly, after standardizing the Metadata, I would like to export each eBook as an ePub file so that the changes are incorporated into the ePub.

A few obvious errors that I frequently see:
1) Author: First/Last name incorrectly ordered, issues in author order when multiple authors.
2) Titles: Inconsistent sorting. Sometimes articles (A, The, etc) are skipped, other times not
3) Titles: Series name present/absent. Book number in series present/absent.
3) Series: Sometimes series information is missing or inconsistent.

TYIA!

[theducks]

Step 1: Install the Quality Check Plugin
Step 2: Use it to identify some of the issues
Your problem 1 is easy. There is a check to find the backwards Authors, Select all (results), the use Fix to flip those

The PI can fix initials AFTER you configure what you want (That setting also affects the FIND

The rest, just run those and see what you have. There is no magic bullet

[ownedbycats]

Is there any speed difference basing a virtual library query on a composite column, or on a direct template?

Example:

#readstatus

program:
	status = readstatus();
	times = $$#timesread;

	switch_if(
		status=='currentlyreading' && times>#0, 'Currently Rereading',
		status=='currentlyreading', 'Currently Reading',
		status=='toberead' && times>#0, 'To Be Reread',
		status=='toberead', 'To Be Read',
		status=='read', 'Read',
		status=='unread' && 'readinggoal:' in $#admintags, 'Backlog',
		status=='unread', 'Unread',
		status=='didnotfinish', 'Did Not Finish',
		''
	)

Either I can use
#readstatus:"=Backlog"
or
a template search with program: readstatus()=='unread' && 'readinggoal:' in $#admintags

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Is there any speed difference basing a virtual library query on a composite column, or on a direct template?

Example:
[...]
Either I can use
#readstatus:"=Backlog"
or
a template search with program: readstatus()=='unread' && 'readinggoal:' in $#admintags

This is very hard to answer without doing timings. Reasons:

• Composite column values are cached. If the cache is valid then getting the value of a composite by lookup name is extremely fast.
• The cache is invalided by changes to the database, which can force a recalculation of the value for all the books. Or only affected books. Speed thus depends on the context.
• Search templates don't use the cache, but do calculate values only when required by the logical expression.
• In your case the search template is much simpler so in cases where the composite must be recalculated the search will be faster.

So the answer depends on how and where you use it.

Virtual libraries are frequently recomputed even when the db hasn't changed so I expect the composite cache would win.

FWIW: your template can faster by embedding if/then/else instead of duplicating the switch_if condition.

program:
	status = readstatus();
	times = $$#timesread;

	switch_if(
		status=='currentlyreading', if times ># 0 then 'Currently Rereading' else 'Currently Reading' fi,
		status=='toberead', if times ># 0 then 'To Be Reread' else 'To Be Read' fi,
		status=='read', 'Read',
		status=='unread', if 'readinggoal:' in $#admintags then 'Backlog' else 'Unread' fi,
		status=='didnotfinish', 'Did Not Finish',
		''
	)

I can't test this. I might have made some transcription errors.

If you rather you could use secondary switch_if()s instead of if/then/else. The performance is equivalent given the secondary switch_if()s have only one test expression. As in

		status=='currentlyreading', switch_if(times ># 0, 'Currently Rereading', 'Currently Reading'),