CC B4.0.X beta (all releases)

[chaley]

• Cloud support: browse your library in the cloud and download books to CC. Currently supported providers:
  • Dropbox: production status
  • OneDrive: production status (we think)
  • Box: apparently in development status where I am the only person who can use it. I have contacted Box to find out how to change this situation
  • Amazon Cloud Drive: development status, possibly rate/bandwidth limited although I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.
• New layout for preferences screen. Makes the screen more compact and improves readability on some e-ink devices
• File name templates in CC so names can be the same across all connection types. See the FAQ for details.
• "Help" dialogs that appear in certain cases. The user can check a box to make a given dialog no longer appear.
• Updated languages: Italian, Japanese, Spanish

There are no significant differences from alpha 4.0.0k

[eschwartz]

I don't believe the file name templates will work until calibre v2.32.0, which hasn't been released this week.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I don't believe the file name templates will work until calibre v2.32.0, which hasn't been released this week.

That is what the FAQ says and what CC will say if you try to use it when calibre won't support it. And in fact they work fine for the cloud connection and the content server connection. It is only the wireless device connection that needs calibre cooperation.

[nqk]

Last night (GMT+7) I got CC updated to 4.01 (beta I think, 'cause I can't see any alpha updates), I have the following comments and comparison with Calibre Box in regards of cloud services (Dropbox in particular).
- Picture/cover loading, database downloading: the two programs have similar/same rate.
- Searching: To my surprise, CC was extremely slow. It had to scan 2200+ titles and returned the ouputs, while Calibre Box brought it on the fly.
- Database checking: CC (re)download the database everytime. Of course the database file is changed when Calibre opens and closes, but it doesn't mean there is a need to redownload the file, I think. Manual download is better

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nqk

Last night (GMT+7) I got CC updated to 4.01 (beta I think, 'cause I can't see any alpha updates), I have the following comments and comparison with Calibre Box in regards of cloud services (Dropbox in particular).

First note: Calibre Box has a somewhat different purpose the CC's cloud connection. It is both the library organizer and the cloud downloader. CC separates those two functions. The consequence is that calibre box's behavior in the face of database changes etc is pushed to optimize startup because you start the cloud connect part every time you start the application. This is of course not true for CC. With CC you go to the cloud only when you want to download something into the local library.

- Picture/cover loading, database downloading: the two programs have similar/same rate.

Good

- Searching: To my surprise, CC was extremely slow. It had to scan 2200+ titles and returned the ouputs, while Calibre Box brought it on the fly.

Searching was the subject of much discussion when this project was started. Should the cloud connection use the calibre-like search syntax and semantics that CC and the content server connection use? Is searching even necessary given the hierarchical browsing? My compromise is the same as in CC base: support long-press searches that are database driven (and fast), and support the general calibre-style searches that require a scan. I have considered removing the general search mechanism, but came to the conclusion that there are times where it can really help such as with searches like "(#genre:vampire or #genrearanormal) and not #author:someone and #read:no"

Note that like in calibre, naked searches (searches without a column prefix) search all the columns. For example, searching for "foobar" will look in all of title, author, custom columns, comments, series, etc.

- Database checking: CC (re)download the database everytime. Of course the database file is changed when Calibre opens and closes, but it doesn't mean there is a need to redownload the file, I think. Manual download is better

I am not at all convinced. First, for me at least, starting and stopping calibre does not force CC to reload the database. I checked the dropbox logs and it did not upload the database. If you are seeing a download after calibre starts/stops then something in the database is really being changed.

If something in the db is really changed, then not downloading the db is simply asking for trouble. Seemingly small changes can make browsing produce the wrong answers, and even worse can prevent downloading covers or books. Making the user remember whether or not a change was "significant" is a recipe for bug reports like "CC failed to download my book".

I am willing to consider an option where CC informs you that the db has changed and allows you to accept or bypass the download. That at least tells the user that bets are off regarding accuracy, and gives me the answer to the inevitable bug reports.

[nqk]

Dear @chaley,

, maybe my English is not good enough to express what I wanted to say or what I saw. So I made two screenshots, hoping they can be more meaningful.

Very often, when I open CC (I'm testing so I do open it a lot - Calibre main program too), this happens and I have to wait. I'm sure the changes made in Calibre database is trivial - nothing special, one or two words in comment field of a book.

I think it is not convenient, as a user.
http://i.imgur.com/kNoVqqZ.png
My search is also quite simple, nothing fancy. Just one word "Marple" and the process looks like this
http://i.imgur.com/rDkXtAb.png

I'm not at a position to comment on how technical things should be made, just mere user experience. .

I will try Box, too. But I have problem with Box before because Box tended to keep a copy of the modified files (folders) which make the whole set of database bigger than needed.

Ooof. The pictures are so big

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by nqk

Dear @chaley,

, maybe my English is not good enough to express what I wanted to say or what I saw. So I made two screenshots, hoping they can be more meaningful.

Very often, when I open CC (I'm testing so I do open it a lot - Calibre main program too), this happens and I have to wait. I'm sure the changes made in Calibre database is trivial - nothing special, one or two words in comment field of a book.

I think it is not convenient, as a user.
http://i.imgur.com/kNoVqqZ.png
My search is also quite simple, nothing fancy. Just one word "Marple" and the process looks like this
http://i.imgur.com/rDkXtAb.png

I'm not at a position to comment on how technical things should be made, just mere user experience. .

I will try Box, too. But I have problem with Box before because Box tended to keep a copy of the modified files (folders) which make the whole set of database bigger than needed.

Ooof. The pictures are so big

I disagree with you, I prefer an automatic process. I don't want to remember if I've changed important or not... and I want the comments and other changes to be included.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nqk

Dear @chaley,

, maybe my English is not good enough to express what I wanted to say or what I saw. So I made two screenshots, hoping they can be more meaningful.

Your English is excellent. And I think I did understand what you want.

Very often, when I open CC (I'm testing so I do open it a lot - Calibre main program too), this happens and I have to wait. I'm sure the changes made in Calibre database is trivial - nothing special, one or two words in comment field of a book.

I think it is not convenient, as a user.
http://i.imgur.com/kNoVqqZ.png

The problem is that this forces the user to remember what they did and whether it was an "important" change, where important is defined by what they are doing. If someone doesn't update the database, downloads a book and then discovers that the downloaded metadata is wrong, that user will not be happy and will blame CC. The same thing is true if the user cannot download a book or a cover because they made a minor one-character change in an author's name that renames the folders, making the book path in the non-downloaded database wrong.

I am considering adding an option where CC will tell you that the local database is incorrect and allow you to skip the download. That way the user must proactively ignore the download. I am not yet convinced that this change is worth the added complexity because the user must still remember what they did and not ignore the download when they shouldn't.

My search is also quite simple, nothing fancy. Just one word "Marple" and the process looks like this
http://i.imgur.com/rDkXtAb.png

What columns should CC look into for the word "Marple"? Title? Authors? Series? Author_sort? Comments? Tags? Custom columns? If the answer is "all of the above" then significant improvements are probably not possible at reasonable cost. If the answer is "title", "author", "series"; and if no calibre-like syntax is allowed (only simple words. no parentheses, no column indicators, no "and" "or" and "not") then I might be able to do something. I would need to do "it" for both base CC and the cloud connection.

I'm not at a position to comment on how technical things should be made, just mere user experience. .

This isn't a technical discussion except to the extent that something is or is not implementable with reasonable effort. It is really a discussion about whether searches should work like CC and calibre searches (good for the user because they are consistent), and what kinds of searches are really necessary given the hierarchy.

It is true that the hierarchy does not help much with searches like "find me titles containing X". The hierarchy does deal with "find me books in series X" or "find me books by author X". Your search term sounds like a series. I guess I am asking: why did you choose to search instead of using the hierarchy?

I will try Box, too. But I have problem with Box before because Box tended to keep a copy of the modified files (folders) which make the whole set of database bigger than needed.

Thanks for trying box. We are definitely having a mixed experience. I cannot make it fail and another user cannot make it work.

[Purple Lady]

I have a Box account, but no libraries in Box. I tried to login anyway and got the same error message as others. One thing I didn't like was that when logging in again the login screen shows my email address as soon as I type the first letter. This doesn't happen with Dropbox. Is there anything you can do about this, or is it a Box thing?

I will copy a library to Box later and try it.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I have a Box account, but no libraries in Box. I tried to login anyway and got the same error message as others. One thing I didn't like was that when logging in again the login screen shows my email address as soon as I type the first letter. This doesn't happen with Dropbox. Is there anything you can do about this, or is it a Box thing?

I assume that it is filling in the form with the correct information.

It apparently is an Android thing. The internal browser (a WebView) keeps form data. If a site does not disallow using saved data then the webview will fill in the field with the info from the last time the page was opened. The same thing happens with the prompt to save the password, a prompt that was removed in (I think) KitKat.

I can force the webview to delete the saved form data, but that would affect everyone, and I am sure that some people like it.

I will copy a library to Box later and try it.

Having a library won't change anything. The problem is arising reading the contents of "/". Unfortunately I don't know why.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I have a Box account, but no libraries in Box. I tried to login anyway and got the same error message as others.

I was able to make it fail, but in a way that I doubt you are using. With Box, after logging in I get a screen (attached) asking me to grant CC access to my account. If I press the "Grant" button everything works. If I press the "Deny" text I get the error.

Are you seeing this screen? If so, are you sure you are pressing the Grant button?

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by chaley

I was able to make it fail, but in a way that I doubt you are using. With Box, after logging in I get a screen (attached) asking me to grant CC access to my account. If I press the "Grant" button everything works. If I press the "Deny" text I get the error.

Are you seeing this screen? If so, are you sure you are pressing the Grant button?

I just went thru again to make sure I wasn't fat fingering, and I get the error after pressing grant. I also tried both authorize and use single sign on on the previous screen.

[chaley]

V4.0.2:

• Sorting booklists in the cloud connection
• Capture much more debug information for Box connections

Could people having trouble with Box try it with this release then send me a debug log? Thanks.

[nqk]

Dear chaley, can't start with Box. Debug file is below

https://mega.nz/#!0olRTZoD!Pgq0WzYs0...iF-esTmnURjcqU

[Terisa de morgan]

I've sent a debug