[GUI Plugin] Action Chains

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

EDIT: The settings are still showing in action_chains.json, they just aren't loading properly. I think I may have found something relevant though:

              "action_name": "Calibre Actions",
              "action_settings": [
                {
                  "display": "Show marked books (2)",
                  "path": [
                    "Mark Books",
                    "Show marked books (2)"
                  ]

Yes, that part highlighted in red is the culprit. I don't know yet where that extra part came from.

Update: Apparently menu action for show marked books changes based on the number of the currently marked books, making the saved value in the chain invalid whenever the number of marked books change. I will see how to fix this tomorrow.

[capink]

Here is a list of custom actions posted on this thread:

• Custom action to prompt for confirmation for more, with configurable message. Useful for destructive actions.
• Re-sort book list
• Launch tag editor directly for selected books. Comes with a configuration dialog to choose the column name
• Construct (and run) calibre searches with templates
• Action to set covers from books
• Generate Cover
• Trim Cover
• Remove format(s)
• Add format from predefined path
• Add books
• Convert Books

Here is a list of custom events posted on this thread:

• Books Added

[ownedbycats]

Yes. More oddities: When first starting a Calibre session, it's "Show marked books" with no number. The (0) appears after marking then unmarking. A single marked book shows up as "Show marked book" (no number).

[ownedbycats]

Also, new version fixed the broken configs. Thank you.

[capink]

• You can have nested sub-menus by using ::: as a separator in the submenus field e.g. submenu1:::submenu2:::submenu3
• You can hide chain menu entries by putting the chain in a submenu called "Invisible".
• If you don't want the submenu to have the same icon as the first child entry, set the following tweak in calibre preferences > tweaks > plugin tweaks.
  

  action_chains_default_sub_menu_icon = False

• If you want to change the submenu for multiple chains at once, select the entries to the chains in the Add/Modify chains dialog > make sure the active cell is the submenu cell (on any of the selected entries) > press F2 > a pop-up input dialog will appear where you can enter the new submenu name.
• Increment numerical column using a template.
• Conditionaly update a tag-like column using a template.
• Change calibre double click behavior using the event: Library View Double Clicked
• Save and restore book selection during any point in the lifetime of the chain

[ownedbycats]

Also, Reading List's Calibre Action has a different name entirely from the menu (View Fanfiction list (x)), which is why it worked when Mark Books failed:

        "active": true,
        "chain_settings": {
          "chain_links": [
            {
              "action_name": "Calibre Actions",
              "action_settings": [
                {
                  "display": "View list: Fanfiction",
                  "path": [
                    "Reading List",
                    "View list: Fanfiction"
                  ]
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        },
        "image": "",
        "menuText": "Reading List Test",
        "subMenu": ""

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Also, Reading List's Calibre Action has a different name entirely from the menu (View Fanfiction list (x)), which is why it worked when Mark Books failed:

        "active": true,
        "chain_settings": {
          "chain_links": [
            {
              "action_name": "Calibre Actions",
              "action_settings": [
                {
                  "display": "View list: Fanfiction",
                  "path": [
                    "Reading List",
                    "View list: Fanfiction"
                  ]
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        },
        "image": "",
        "menuText": "Reading List Test",
        "subMenu": ""

I don't use the RL plugin. But since it was made by kiwidude, it is probably integrated into the favourites menu plugin (which cailbre actions is based on), by providing a constant unique name per menu item regardless of the display name.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by capink

Problem is, if you run the chain multiple times, you will have leftover marks from the previous run. My plan was to recommend using calibre's clear all marked books at the start of every chain that might use marks, but if that is causing troubles as you are reporting, I will need an alternative solution.

You shouldn't need to find the plugin to clear the tags.
You can manipulate the marked books hash directly in your plugin.

Options I would suggest

• reset the hash to {} in an optional first item in the chain
• if you have an option to set a named mark for affected books, also have an option to clear previous marks by that name, and delete them from the hash directly

[capink]

Originally Posted by compurandom

You shouldn't need to find the plugin to clear the tags.
You can manipulate the marked books hash directly in your plugin.

Options I would suggest

• reset the hash to {} in an optional first item in the chain
• if you have an option to set a named mark for affected books, also have an option to clear previous marks by that name, and delete them from the hash directly

I specifically made it in a way that enables the user to set more than one mark per book for whatever purpose he wants, without overwriting any pre-existing marks from other plugins for example.

In light of this, deleting all marks (from all sources) is something that I'd like to leave to the user to decide according to his needs.

Originally Posted by compurandom

if you have an option to set a named mark for affected books, also have an option to clear previous marks by that name

That option is already there.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by capink

I don't use the RL plugin. But since it was made by kiwidude, it is probably integrated into the favourites menu plugin (which cailbre actions is based on), by providing a constant unique name per menu item regardless of the display name.

Hmm, adding Show Marked Books to the Favourites menu and then changing the number of marked books greys it out.

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Hmm, adding Show Marked Books to the Favourites menu and then changing the number of marked books greys it out.

Yes, I tested that and got the same result. I had a fix that should be part of the next release.

[capink]

Version 0.1.2

• Update: Add marked column to single field edit action.
• Fix: Error when changing action because settings of the old action linger and cause validation error with the new action.
• Fix: Turn off the wait cursor temporarily while single edit field dialog are on.
• Fix: Refresh gui after running chain.
• Fix: Error with calibre show marked books.

Notes about the using the marked field:

• The marked field is a multiple value field that can used to add more than one text mark per book. The comma is used as a separator.
• The marked field gives you the ability to delete specific mark text, in the same way you can remove certain tags.
• The marked field does not overwrite old marks by other plugins, it add the extra marks alongside the old ones.
• when using marks in a chain, take into account that you might have leftover marks from previous runs of the same chain. So it is advised to clear all the marks using a Calibre action that uses calibre's clear all marked books. (use it as the first action in the chain)

Note

• Calibre actions containing "show all marked books" needs to be destroyed (by changing the action temporarily) and re-added for the fix to work.

[ownedbycats]

I ran into a very silly bug. If you make an action chain with no actions and then try to run it, you get an error instead of a message box saying "add some actions to this, you dimwit."

[capink]

Here is a new test version of this plugin:

• The main change is that the add actions dialog is re-written as a table dialog. This makes it more compact and allows for moving actions up and down to change the order. Also a new comment field is added which can be used as an identifier to differentiate actions.
• The config dialog was also re-written to allow for more flexibility when adding features in the future.

On the surface, this might not look like a major update, but a lot of the underlying code has been re-written. So, you are advised to backup your "Action Chains.json" file, just in case something goes wrong. The file can be found in calibre's plugin directory.

[ownedbycats]

I updated with no harm to my prior action chains.

The main thing I noticed is that the "Add Actions" window is initially very tiny and I had to widen it to even be able to see the comments and error columns, but that might be because the settings carried over from the old version.

Personally I'd put "Settings" to the right of "Comment," but that's personal preference. (Making the columns movable would work.)

Column widths reset every time I re-open the dialog. Default width for "Action" column is a bit wide too.

Adding comments to all my actions now. It'll be nice to not have to guess which one I need to open.