[GUI Plugin] Goodreads Sync

[DooMWhite]

How does the columns works? The date and progress ones aren't being updated, both of them are "Undefined", this is how I set it up:
https://i.imgur.com/ZoFxoMQ.png (For some reason, the IMG tag doesn't work in the preview...)

[MrSorTyke]

Hello,

I read a lot of the messages here, but I still don't know what to do with this:

calibre, version 7.16.0

ERROR: Goodreads Failure: The request contacting Goodreads has failed.
If it reoccurs you may have exceeded a request limit imposed by Goodreads.
In which case wait an additional 5-10 minutes before retrying.

URL: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/add_to_shelf.xml
Response Code: 201
b'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<shelf>\n <id type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <review-id type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <updated-at type="dateTime" nil="true"/>\n <created-at type="dateTime" nil="true"/>\n <position type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <user-shelf-id type="integer">596858431</user-shelf-id>\n <name>calibre-library</name>\n <exclusive type="boolean">false</exclusive>\n</shelf>\n'

[alva]

As the message says the request limit to the goodreads api has exceeded the limit. There is nothing you can do besides waiting, it is just the goodreads api.

[Rellwood]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Have a read of the couple of posts above yours (#66-68) where Jesscat and I discuss potential syncing of the date read column - it relies on "reviews" which also are where ratings come in. So in direct answer to your question the answer is no you can't do it today, but at some point I will take a look at it.

I too would be interested to hear about the workflows of how people are using this plugin.

Ok, so I would assume that your book is on a "read" column and has a date read in Goodreads, otherwise how would they have the date read? If you are having trouble getting a date read to sync, then perhaps you could create a custom column for "goodreads date read" and when creating sync rules, create a specific rule to "add to column" #goodreads_date_read" Date Read. Personally, if I re-read a book or read a book for the first time, I have a shelf "recently-read" and "recently-reread" and just sync from that shelf instead of my entire read shelf. If it's a book or two then you don't have to wait forever to get those read dates. I sync them into my "goodreads Date Read"

For whatever reason if you have multiple read dates in Goodreads they are supposed to send down the LAST read date, but sometimes they just send down the first read date, or the last time you updated a read in your kindle. If you update your Goodreads when you finish a book on your kindle and do it from there, it will always show up in the sync. If you do it manually on the site, sometimes it won't show. This is for multiple instances of read dates.

I am not sure if I understand why you aren't getting the read dates, because I never had a problem. I just send them to a specific column in case they come out wonky. I also have individual read date columns for each instance (dr1, dr2, dr3, dr4, dr5, etc.) If the latest read date comes down from Goodreads, I copy it over to the appropriate date read column.

I hope this is not something that you are already knowing and that this isn't already solved. I just saw this while hunting around for the update reading progress since GR limits that to 10 books.

ALSO - Avoid using the plugin to sync or add to your reviews. It will only upload a certain amount of characters. If you attempt to upload your review it will only upload part of it, and then if you sync the review to your review column, you will lose it and only get a partial review. ALWAYS do the review manually online, copy it into your column manually and NEVER let the plugin sync.

I have moved my reviews to a long text column "gr_reviews". I do not have it listed in the column, I don't sync or add to it.

I lost a bunch of reviews in the past because the plugin cuts out after a certain number of characters, or Goodreads won't send down or upload a certain number of characters. If you do a review on Goodreads and it only sends down a partial of that review, and you have an add rule to upload the review you will just overwrite that full review on goodreads with the shortened review you ended up with because of the plugin. You will lose the review both on Goodreads and in Calibre. Also, don't use your comments column for the review, have a special review column. Your comments column holds whatever metadata comments (blurb, etc) from your metadata downloads.

Just do the review on the site, copy and paste it into your review column. If you get a library export, using the import list plugin, import the review column into a special "long_comments_for_copy" column to initially see that your reviews are correct, then copy them over to the "gr_review" and then clear the holding column. Use the Calibre Spy plugin to mass delete the long comments column.

[Rellwood]

Originally Posted by MrSorTyke

Hello,

I read a lot of the messages here, but I still don't know what to do with this:

calibre, version 7.16.0

ERROR: Goodreads Failure: The request contacting Goodreads has failed.
If it reoccurs you may have exceeded a request limit imposed by Goodreads.
In which case wait an additional 5-10 minutes before retrying.

URL: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/add_to_shelf.xml
Response Code: 201
b'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<shelf>\n <id type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <review-id type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <updated-at type="dateTime" nil="true"/>\n <created-at type="dateTime" nil="true"/>\n <position type="integer" nil="true"/>\n <user-shelf-id type="integer">596858431</user-shelf-id>\n <name>calibre-library</name>\n <exclusive type="boolean">false</exclusive>\n</shelf>\n'

Check to see if the book is still available in Goodreads. I noticed that I was unable to add older books that Goodreads has removed because they were blended into an omnibus.