Request: Match Calibre Filename template recipe

[cbook7]

Hi,

I need to ensure that 'Save to disk' and 'Send To Device' use the same filename that Calibre assigns to books in the library.

The format seems to be:

book_title (up to X chars max) - 1st_author (up to Y chars max)

and characters '?' and ':' (possibly others?) are replaced by an underscore

From what I can tell this could be via a Template, but is sadly way over my head. I'd be very grateful if anyone could provide a recipe for this. If X and Y are not known leave them as x an y. I'll have a play around to figure them out.

Many thanks,

Cal

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cbook7

Hi,

I need to ensure that 'Save to disk' and 'Send To Device' use the same filename that Calibre assigns to books in the library.

The format seems to be:

book_title (up to X chars max) - 1st_author (up to Y chars max)

and characters '?' and ':' (possibly others?) are replaced by an underscore

From what I can tell this could be via a Template, but is sadly way over my head. I'd be very grateful if anyone could provide a recipe for this. If X and Y are not known leave them as x an y. I'll have a play around to figure them out.

As far as I know the rules for formulating folder and file names within calibre libraries are embedded in the code, they're also platform, file system, and language dependent. And those rules are subject to change, as they have done in the past.

An example of when they might change is when 32Kb file and folder names become commonplace in Windows.

BR

[ilovejedd]

I'm pretty sure @chaley gave me a template for extracting Calibre filenames. I think it uses {formats}? Let me try searching for that post.

[ilovejedd]

Found it. It relies on a file with the selected format existing, though (e.g. MOBI in the example below).

Originally Posted by chaley

Clearly the lexical analyser is broken. That doesn't really surprise me, given I used regexps to parse strings.

The problem is that the \" is recognized before the \\. This formulation gets rid of the \" by using a character class to change the backslashes into colons, so the problem goes away.

{:'sublist(re(select(formats_paths(),"MOBI"), '[\\]', ':'), -1,0,":")'}

This formulation gets rid of the sublist, depending on greedy regular expressions

{:'re(select(formats_paths(),"MOBI"), '.*[\\]', '')'}

[cbook7]

Thanks @ilovejedd!

Hmmm, though if it's the case that "they're also platform, file system, and language dependent. And those rules are subject to change, as they have done in the past" as @BetterRed says, I may need to rethink this.

[BetterRed]

@cbook7 - why don't you tell us what you're trying to achieve.

BR

[cbook7]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@cbook7 - why don't you tell us what you're trying to achieve.

BR

I want to sync bookmarks (and page position) across devices using Moon+ consistently, regardless of import method in a futureproof way.

I use CC to add books to the device using either 'Wireless Device' or 'Content Server' methods. I use CC's option to always override filenames, so the books have the same name regardless of which import method used.

This is fine when I know I want a book ahead of time. However, I use pCloud for cloud storage which is not supported by CC. CC doesn't support the Webdav protocol either.

I can still remotely (when away from home/my laptop) download a book from Calibre to my android device, by finding the file in my cloud based Calibre library using my pCloud app to export it to the device storage. However, this bypases CC so it no longer gets renamed. Instead it retains its Calibre library filename.

My idea was to make Calibre use it's own filename for the book when sending to a device (hence my original question). Then in CC using the setting that requests Calibre also use the 'Wireless Device' import filename for 'Content Server' imports. Thus all 3 methods of import have a consistent filename - that assigned by Calibre in it's library structure.

However, if in the future (or on a different OS) Calibre changes its internal file-naming of books it would break.

Options (As I see them)
================

• Hope CC implements Webdav support
  Doesn't see likely from previous comments made by the CC dev
• Manually rename files import through my pCloud app to match the CC name convention
  (my current plan) Obviously not ideal but maybe manageable given I don't anticipate requiring that many books (that I expect to bookmark) via the cloud route (i.e. unexpectedly). Also helped by the fact that CC allows a {title} - {first_author} naming convention, matching what my Calibre (Linux) currently uses. So some files wouldn't need renaming (a number would however, due to Calibre truncating long titles names which CC doesn't.)
• Find some Android app which books can be sent/shared to (from cloud app) which then automatically renames them from metadata (using a customized format to match CC), and saves them to the desired location automatically.
  This would work fine, I'm just don't think such an app exists. I've not been able to find one at least.

If you've any comments or suggestions I'd gladly hear them

[BetterRed]

The only tentative suggestion I can make would be to use a cloud storage service that CC does support rather than pcloud. Tentative a) because you maybe locked in to pcloud, b) I don't use CC nor anything similar so I'm not entirely sure that would solve your problem anyway.

Maybe ilovejedd will have some ideas

BR

[ilovejedd]

I think easiest way (apart from using CC supported cloud service) is to use the same filename template for CC and pCloud copies.

Personally, I actually have 2 sets of my books on Dropbox:
One is a complete/direct mirror of my Calibre library (my offsite backup)
The other uses {genre}/{author}/{author} - {series} {series_index} - {title} (for easy browsing on Marvin for iOS).

[cbook7]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I think easiest way (apart from using CC supported cloud service) is to use the same filename template for CC and pCloud copies.

Yes, I'll see how I get on doing this (manually) when required.

While I'm not locked into pCloud I'm not looking to change because it fits very with my wider data/cloud needs and my wallet ;-). I actually switched to pCloud after 5 years with a paid Dropbox account and am quite satisfied with it so far (inconveniences like this aside!).

Thanks for the feedback

[mathissimo]

Originally Posted by cbook7

I want to sync bookmarks (and page position) across devices using Moon+ consistently, regardless of import method in a futureproof way.

I have almost the same use-case, as I am not using CC for syncing, but a folder device and a sync-service (eg Dropbox). My approach was simply to change the filename-format of the folder device according to the (hard-coded) Calibre Server format.

For those, who like to go down this road. The appropriate format was:

{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}_{title}

You also need to change the {title} behaviour in Prefrences/Tweaks/Control formatting of title and series when used in templates to

save_template_title_series_sorting = u'strictly_alphabetic'

as described here.