KoboTouch driver & SeriesID

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by chaley

Is the book in calibre as well as sideloaded on the device? If so:

• Does it show as "On Device" when you connect the Kobo to calibre?
• Did you use the calibre 2-step method to set the series or something else like Nickle Series?

Kobo Utilities has a "Manage Series Information in device library" action. Does this fix the SeriesID?

If I am understanding the code correctly, the SeriesID on sideloaded books is updated only if the series changes. It also tries to use the existing UUID-style seriesID if some non-sideloaded book on the device has one like that. The driver goes to some lengths to ensure this is true. My changes undid some of those efforts but not all.

I'm tempted to always set the SeriesID to the series name, but as before I don't know what that might break. I'm fairly sure that for a purchased set of books in a series, if some are in calibre and some aren't then the seriesID will be changed in only some of them. This is also probably true with the current changes.

The books were loaded into calibre, covers updated/resized, metadata edited, CSS edited and then sent to my Kobo. I tried modifying the Series name and resending but the SeriesID remained looking like a UUID. I did not record the original SeriesID so not sure if it changed.

They do show as On Device and the series was set using the 2nd connection to calibre.

I haven't checked the Manage Series Information option yet. I'll give it a try and report back.

It sounds as if what @ownedbycats is doing is setting the SeriesID to the Series.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DNSB

It sounds as if what @ownedbycats is doing is setting the SeriesID to the Series.

That is what the new option I implemented does as well. The Kobo driver does this for sideloaded books so it seems to be a very safe option for all books.

One discovery I made while testing: there are a lot of book records in my Kobo db for books that no longer exist. The Kobo driver seems to ignore these. I didn't chase it far enough to work out exactly how it knows. I suspect it is checking for file existence but this doesn't work for purchased books that seem to have a UUID-like contentID. There is also a column "Accessibility" which seems to relate to the state of the book and not something to do with accessibility features (contrast, font, etc).

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by chaley

These changes make me nervous because I don't know why @davidfor did it the way he did. There might be some very good underlying reason for it.

Instead of making these changes I will add a new option to the driver that tells it to set SeriesID to Series if series data is being managed.

I was thinking about whether it should be an option - some users might prefer to keep the legacy behaviour for some reason or another.

When looking at the database myself, I also noticed a lot of books I don't have (some wishlisted, but others I've not even heard of). I assume these are related/recommended books that pop up in the menu after finishing a Store book.

[DNSB]

I can't find the "Manage Series Information in device library" option in KoboUtilities. The only item I can find is the "Order Series shelves" which is for collections.

I have found after a factory reset for example, I find archived and previewed books show up in the database complete with the UUID kepub ebook name. I can clean them out but a Repair Account for instance brings them back.

[ownedbycats]

Some KU options are only available when you're in Device view, switch that and then check the menu.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Some KU options are only available when you're in Device view, switch that and then check the menu.

That's the one. I completely forget to check the menu in Device view.

[chaley]

The changes in post #29 are now in calibre source.