![]() |
#1 |
Member
![]() Posts: 11
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2013
Device: Galaxy S4 GT-I9500
|
Automatically sync new fanfiction chapters
I use Calibre and CC mostly for reading fanfiction with the FanFiction Downloader plugin. If a story gets updated in Calibre, I have to manually redownload the story to get it to update on my device. It's not much of a problem, but if there are a lot of stories, it's a hassle to redownload each one individually. Download all doesn't work because the stories are already there on my device.
I have a custom column in Calibre which shows the number of chapters. The column does appear on CC for each story. I was wondering if it would be possible to add a feature to check for any changes in a custom column like that and if there are, to re-sync the stories from Calibre automatically when it connects as content server and checks for metadata. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 | |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
However, the more general need, re-downloading books that have changed, is certainly there and has been requested several times. Having calibre + CC optionally cooperate to determine if a particular format has changed wouldn't be terribly difficult. Unfortunately it might be slow, costing the time to look up the changed date of the file both in calibre and in CC, which could total to around 10 milliseconds per book (100 books per second). That is faster than doing it by hand, but it would add visible delay to the connection process. Thinking about your request, it seems that you could get most of what you want using reading list. My assumption is that you maintain that chapter count column by hand. If when you change that column you add the book to a reading list that is synced with the device then you books would be transferred next time you connect as a wireless device. Ahh, I note that the fanfic downloader plugin already supports automatic maintenance of a reading list, eliminating that manual step (if you use the plugin). Another way to do the same thing more manually would be to have a yes/no column that you set to "Yes" when you change one of the books. When you connect as a wireless device you would search for ondevice:true and #col:yes, select all the books and send them to the device. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#3 | |
Calibre Companion Fanatic
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 873
Karma: 1088610
Join Date: Nov 2006
Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
I don't run "Books with missing files" very often, but its not to do once in a while. "Books with updated files" would get run more often, but still not on every connection. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 | |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
Another way to do it would be for the user to indicate that s/he wants the processing by choosing a different "Connect" in CC, something like "As WD and sync books" in addition to "As wireless device" and "To content server". The problem here is the ever-present support question. People would see that menu line, want to know what it does, and contact us. To avoid this we could potentially add an option that enables that menu setting, explaining the feature in the text of the preference. Hmmmm... I just realized that the performance of the feature wouldn't be as bad as I predicted. Unless you turn off the scan-on-connect option (and I suspect that very few people do) then CC is already in a position to get the book time stamps "for free" during the connection process. Calibre would need to check and compare the book format files but this would take less time than I predicted, probably around 200 to 300 books per second. Needs thought ... |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 | |
Calibre Companion Fanatic
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 873
Karma: 1088610
Join Date: Nov 2006
Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
If you do that, how about adding a toggle to the menu that says "refresh all changed books on next connect". You could even add an option to decide if that toggle would reset after the connect. People with small libraries might leave it on all the time, and people with large libraries would turn it on manually once in a while. Or would this be a support nightmare? |
|
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#6 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
My feeling is that people who want this would pay the penalty, and people who don't care don't want to pay. That sounds like a preferences setting to me. Quote:
Under the assumption that whoever is answering the emails is actually working for a living, then the economics are easy to analyze. We get approx $2.10 from Google for a CC sale in the US (much less in Europe because of VAT). If we assume that we are worth at least $40K/year in wages (low for experienced developers), then "salary" is approx $20/hour. After taxes, that $2 pays for 4 minutes, which is less than the time it takes to read, understand, and reply to one email message, and that leaves no money to pay for development. Bottom line: if anything we do increases the number of support requests without increasing the number of sales by 2 to 3 times the support increase, adding the feature is a losing proposition. We have learned over the last 21 months that *no CC development we do increases sales*, a fact that creates a conundrum. What we do might prevent decrease of sales, but that is unquantifiable. On the other hand, I am retired and CC is a hobby for me, meaning my time "costs" almost nothing other than reduction of the value of efforts of other young developers (and yes, that bothers me). I enjoy interacting with interesting people and I enjoy the challenges of development. My son and daughter-in-law aren't in the same situation. They need income to pay their mortgage, to eat, to save for starting a family, etc, meaning that they must be quite ruthless about how they spend their time. |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 | ||||
Member
![]() Posts: 11
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2013
Device: Galaxy S4 GT-I9500
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Well, I see you and Kaufman came up with some good ideas. Would you still get a lot of support emails about it if it was added to the FAQ? I don't see many people asking what it does if the name is kept straightforward like 'Check for ebook updates' or something. If it is not too much trouble, I would love to see an option for this. It could possibly help other people too because like I said, fanfiction is getting very popular. Thanks for your time. |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 | |||
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
- What is an ebook update? Is it metadata? Is it manual editing? Is it something like FFDL? - What happens if an update is found? - When is the check done? and so on. I realize that I am sounding very negative, which I regret. The idea of offering a way to update book formats under some conditions is a very good one. What we need to find are rules that are extremely easy to understand, a place to enable/explain those rules, a way to avoid increasing confusion (ergo frustration) when people are just starting with CC, and a way for people to discover the feature when they are ready for it. My guess is that options in the Wireless Device Connection section would work: something like "Update book file in CC if the book file has changed in calibre" and "Update book file in CC if the metadata has changed in calibre". I am not yet convinced that the second is a good idea, although we have been asked for that more often than the first. People want the covers and the jackets in the book to be correct so they see latest info in their reading app, and resending the book on metadata change has the chance of doing that. |
|||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#9 | |
Calibre Companion Fanatic
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 873
Karma: 1088610
Join Date: Nov 2006
Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
Count me in with the people who want the book resent if the metadata changes. I have been e-reading for about 15 years, and I have never once updated a book's content. Covers and other metadata all the time, but I figure the original author's did a better job with the content then I ever could. ![]() Having said that, why would you split this into two options? Couldn't you just have one update command if the metadata or the book has changed? |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#10 | |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
Your question about splitting the two options is related. I actively do not want to resend books when metadata changes. I change metadata all the time for my own record keeping. I don't care if the metadata in the book is correct. I never look at it there, so resending the book is a waste of my time. On the other hand, I have been known to run "polish" on a book to update the jacket (very infrequently, usually for my wife), or to reconvert the book to get better handling of scene breaks, spacing, or paragraph handling (rather more often). In this case the format itself has changed and I want the changes, which I know because I made them. Which leads to the "isn't the best way to solve the problem" assertion. If the user wants to change a book, the best place to do that is in calibre. There are so many tools to do so many things, some of which don't touch metadata. We got here by discussing one of them, the fanfiction downloader, which I think isn't required to change metadata. Triggering the refresh by a change in the format puts the process under the user's control while eliminating the need to remember to transfer the book at next connect. It is the "remembering" that is the real problem. Bottom line: sending on format change is easier to explain, provides for user control over the update process, and doesn't create an immediate need for feature extension (the criteria). |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#11 |
Calibre Companion Fanatic
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 873
Karma: 1088610
Join Date: Nov 2006
Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kindle Voyage
|
I think I have figured out why you and I have differing views on this.
I keep my entire library in CC. I want the CC view to be exactly the same as the Calibre view. For me, my books in CC are "My library" and I always want all the updates. If a change was worth making in Calibre, its worth seeing it in CC too. I think you have said that you only keep a small part of your library online. Since you are seeing a subset that might change to a different subset, you don't really care if all the metadata always matches you Calibre library. In any case, while I wouldn't mind if books always got updated on any change, I'm pretty good about doing this myself, so this is more of an academic discussion for me. I've got a couple of things I would much rather see you do first anyhow. ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#12 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
![]() I care a *lot* that the metadata is right in CC. What I don't care about is that it is right inside the book files. Quote:
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#13 | |
Calibre Companion Fanatic
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 873
Karma: 1088610
Join Date: Nov 2006
Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
Exactly. How did you guess? ![]() It's funny, but now that we have discussed the auto-sorting thing, it sticks at me every time I have to manually sort. I'll be very happy if/when you decide to make that addition. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#14 | |||
US Navy, Retired
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 9,865
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
On the other hand if I actually choose to update the metadata in a book using the Polish or Modify Epub plugin the actual book will have changed (not just calibre's metadata and possibly under those circumstances I might wish to have the option to update the book on my device. Chaley thanks for all of the work you do on this and kaufman thanks for providing well thought out input into CC's operation. Last edited by DoctorOhh; 04-08-2014 at 11:05 PM. |
|||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#15 | |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,911
Karma: 7076137
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
I don't see any pros for you in leaving it on. For most people it adds a bit of time to the connection cycle for little gain. We originally had it off and asked users if they wanted to turn it on, but changed that after we saw we were getting the dreaded support emails about "what is this?" |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Tags |
fanfiction, fanfiction downloader, sync epub, update books |
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
automatically sync remote directory to kindle on wlan0 up | dent | Kindle Developer's Corner | 10 | 05-20-2011 09:26 AM |
azw to mobi: Not detecting chapters/page break at chapters and no TOC | RachDvn | Calibre | 3 | 01-16-2011 09:53 AM |
Is there a way to have Calibre automatically sync my library with my Kindle DX? | St-Ambroise | Calibre | 1 | 09-05-2010 12:20 AM |
Fanfiction, anybody? | Lady_3Jane | Lounge | 17 | 06-19-2010 06:48 AM |
ePub Chapters vs. Stanza Chapters | kjk | Sigil | 4 | 09-14-2009 10:50 AM |