KoboTouch driver & SeriesID

[ownedbycats]

Calibre just silently fails to start if I install the code from #15. Works if I revert to the original. Odd.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Calibre just silently fails to start if I install the code from #15. Works if I revert to the original. Odd.

If you run in debug mode it should tell you what the problem is. I suspect tabs vs spaces for the indents.

[chaley]

Here is the entire driver.py file. It runs for me. It is calibre/devices/kobo/driver.py.

[ownedbycats]

I got it working - I left in an accidental extra space I think. And the SeriesID changed!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I got it working - I left in an accidental extra space I think. And the SeriesID changed!

Good!

Could you (and anyone else willing to check) run this for a while to check for unintended consequences? If nothing bad is reported over the next few days I will submit it to Kovid.

[DNSB]

After installing the updated driver.py, in the limited testing I've done, I haven't seen any issues. OTOH, the SeriesID for books from Kobo that I have not imported to calibre will still have the GUID looking SeriesID even after metadata update plus one series that I just sideloaded shows the GUID SeriesID field. This is not the same as the series/series number field.

The only way I got rid of the GUID SeriesIDs was to copy the Series field to the SeriesID field.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DNSB

After installing the updated driver.py, in the limited testing I've done, I haven't seen any issues.

Thanks for testing.

OTOH, the SeriesID for books from Kobo that I have not imported to calibre will still have the GUID looking SeriesID even after metadata update plus one series that I just sideloaded shows the GUID SeriesID field. This is not the same as the series/series number field.

The only way I got rid of the GUID SeriesIDs was to copy the Series field to the SeriesID field.

Metadata update happens only for books in your calibre library. Books on the device but not in the library don't have any metadata updated.

[ownedbycats]

FWIW, if it's the Kobo Plus books you've mentioned earlier, you can create dummy entries with the metadata but not actual format and match to the book on device. I do this for Overdrive loans.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by DNSB

plus one series that I just sideloaded shows the GUID SeriesID field. This is not the same as the series/series number field.

The only way I got rid of the GUID SeriesIDs was to copy the Series field to the SeriesID field.

Originally Posted by chaley

Thanks for testing.
Metadata update happens only for books in your calibre library. Books on the device but not in the library don't have any metadata updated.

The series that showed up with the GUID was sideloaded since it was purchased from the author's site when they had a sale on.

[ownedbycats]

Did you sideload with Calibre or another method?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The series that showed up with the GUID was sideloaded since it was purchased from the author's site when they had a sale on.

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.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by chaley

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.

For what it matters, that's what I'd been doing with the SQLite query. I haven't noticed any detrimental effects, but I've been using it only around a month.

[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.

[chaley]

Attached are files driver.py and kobotouch_config.py. These together implement the new option I discussed in the previous post. These files go in calibre/devices/kobo/

I tested it with the following steps:

• Leave the option unchecked (the default), connecting, and disconnecting. Nothing broke as far as I can tell.
• Connect, then change database on the device so that the SeriesID for one book in a series is different. Disconnect. My Libra 2 now shows the series twice.
• Check the "force" option.
• Connect and disconnect.
• Looking at the database on the device, the SeriesID for the book changed above was changed back.
• My Libra 2 now shows the series once.

Please let me know if you try these. If you try them, check the option tooltip and how checking/unchecking behaves. Also (of course) check if it works, changing the SeriesID as desired.

I will submit them to Kovid in a few days unless I hear that I shouldn't.

EDIT: @ownedbycats: these changes do what your SQL query does, albeit somewhat differently for technical reasons.

[Terisa de morgan]

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.

In some cases, David did in some way and he didn't change it because he wasn't interested in the changes (I know, I asked for a couple of them )