[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[meme]

I don't know if the K2 and K3 use the same sort order or not, or what the differences are. The plugin will use the new sort order for any Kindle attached since it can't tell what type of Kindle it is. Since its unlikely the plugin currently sorts the same as the K2 it may not matter.

[mizubyte]

I've tried using the plug-in but when I run it I keep getting this error:


calibre, version 0.7.47
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>error</b>:unpack_from requires a buffer of at least 8 bytes

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 1470, in preview_activated
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 1211, in create_kindle_collections_gui_preview
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 666, in create_kindle_collections_main
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 319, in process_book
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 697, in __init__
File "C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Cr eate Kindle Collections.zip\create_kindle_collections_code.py" , line 788, in __init__
error: unpack_from requires a buffer of at least 8 bytes


... and I have no idea what any of that means. help?

[meme]

It means that there is a problem with the format of one of your books. Are you using version 1.3.3 from the first post in this thread? That version should catch this error. If not, then you either need to determine which book has an error and fix it/reconvert it, or wait until I release a new version and test again.

[mizubyte]

Running in debug and checking the summary let me know which book was corrupted. Got it fixed (well, deleted anyway)

[pchrist7]

Originally Posted by meme

Actually that was an easy 1 line to add, so you'll see it whenever I get finished tinkering with the next release.

So it will soon set the last access time to something old only for collections managed by Calibre - it will leave the current last access time for any Kindle managed collections, and given the timestamp I'm using the Kindle managed collections will always be the most recent.

Now, the sort order for titles is another matter. I've been just sorting basically alphabetically. But I think I've finally got a handle on how the Kindle 3 is sorting and so I'm changing the sort to match what the Kindle shows (mostly - its a strange algorithm).

Hi meme
Sounds great.
Aparently a lot of things with K3 are "strange"
However, I LOVE MY K3 - never read so much in my life, and before my K3 I always logged several pbooks along, just in case.
Will get back to you once new version is out.
Keep it up

[chilady1]

So I am back. Not to drag a long story out but I started my Kindle out from scratch and this actually turned out to be a good thing because now I can really play with this plug-in. Couple of things:

I would like my Collections to order the books in the series order. Right now, I have the most current book showing up first and the first book showing up last. This is what I have:

COLLECTION TITLE
Book 19
Book 18, etc

What I want is:

COLLECTION TITLE
Book 1
Book 2, etc..

I am using the following when i SEND TO DEVICE:

{author[0]}/{authors}/{series}/{series_index:0>2s}. {title}

The books are not appearing in series order within the Collection - What am I missing?

[kiwidude]

I believe that was your "save template" you posted? That is not relevant to the sorting that gets applied on the Kindle, as the Kindle does not care about the directory structure of your books.

Instead what is important is the metadata for the book, so you need to setup a metadata plugboard for your kindle so that the title field gets adjusted when sent to the Kindle to prefix the title with the series.

[chilady1]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

I believe that was your "save template" you posted? That is not relevant to the sorting that gets applied on the Kindle, as the Kindle does not care about the directory structure of your books.

Instead what is important is the metadata for the book, so you need to setup a metadata plugboard for your kindle so that the title field gets adjusted when sent to the Kindle to prefix the title with the series.

So to be clear - the template I listed should be in the metadata plug board not the save template. That makes sense, thanks kiwi. I will try this later.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by chilady1

So to be clear - the template I listed should be in the metadata plug board not the save template. That makes sense, thanks kiwi. I will try this later.

Close but not quite You won't be able to use the exact same value you put in the save template, they have different syntax/purposes. The save template is just about file directory paths, that is why having / characters representing subfolders makes sense. However for a metadata plugboard it is about substituting the value in a field of the book metadata. In this case the Kindle uses the title metadata field for its display/sorting. So you want to setup a plugboard to modify the title field, so that series (where available) is prefixed before the actual title of the book.

Your book will appear unchanged in Calibre, but the internal metadata for the book that is loaded onto the Kindle will have been changed which will impact both the title it displays and hence the way it sorts your books when you choose to sort by title.

For how to setup your metadata plugboard, see this thread.

[nynaevelan]

If it helps, mine uses title - series - series number

{title} - {series} - {series_index:0>2s| - | - }

Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to get it to not add the two dashes if the book is not in a series.

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

If it helps, mine uses title - series - series number

{title} - {series} - {series_index:0>2s| - | - }

Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to get it to not add the two dashes if the book is not in a series.

That won't help the OP as they want to sort by series.

This is mine, but there are others on that thread I linked to above. This will display titles with a series like "SeriesName [1] - SomeTitle" and those without a series as "SomeTitle".

{series:|| }{series_index:0>2s|[|] - }{title}

[chilady1]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

That won't help the OP as they want to sort by series.

This is mine, but there are others on that thread I linked to above. This will display titles with a series like "SeriesName [1] - SomeTitle" and those without a series as "SomeTitle".

{series:|| }{series_index:0>2s|[|] - }{title}

Kiwi - this is what I want

Anita Blake (1) - Guilty Pleasures
Anita Blake (2) - Title (can't remember it now)

So I will try your template because it appears that is what will produce the above. I have tested my Collections and that works just fine, the issue was the books were not appearing in order so if the above template can do that - then all will be good.

I wish I could understand the syntax a little better then I wouldn't have to bug people about it, so I appreciate your help.

[chilady1]

So I added the metaboard plugin as instructed, close but not quite there. The below screen shot is what I am getting, this is good, but I would really like the order within my Collection to be reversed with in this example Book #11 appearing first.

This is what I have in the metaboard plugin:

{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}

Thoughts!

[chaley]

@chilady: if you want the it ordered by series index (11 before 12 etc) instead of series, then try

{series_index:0>2s}{series| - | - }{title}

[chilady1]

So I added the metaboard plugin as instructed, close but not quite there. The below screen shot is what I am getting, this is good, but I would really like the order within my Collection to be reversed with in this example Book #11 appearing first.

This is what I have in the metaboard plugin:

{series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}

Thoughts!

SORRY FOR POSTING TWICE!