Separate standalone books from series

[correoparaappzz]

hi, i want to divide my books between Stand-Alone and Series

[chaley]

Moderator Notice
Moved to separate thread. It isn't a template question.

[theducks]

True standalone does not have any (Series} entry. search series:false
or
Are you talking about books that are in a (Series) that do not have a specific place order?
For those, I set that to 0

[correoparaappzz]

Originally Posted by theducks

True standalone does not have any (Series} entry. search series:false
or
Are you talking about books that are in a (Series) that do not have a specific place order?
For those, I set that to 0

What I want is to create a template that uses the default Series column, for example:

if $series == '' then 'Stand-Alone'

[theducks]

simply run the series:false search, the select All (ctrl-A)
Use the bulk mode Metadata Editor to set that name in Series (and set index to 0 ) Series MUST have an index

But doing your way makes the DB larger as there are now MORE entries in the Series Table (this is internal)
My plan (stated with small disks and RAM) Not setting a value IMPLIES a condition. Not Read, No Series, (no formats) Placeholder, wish list

[JSWolf]

For those books in a series that are supposedly stand alone (but usually are not), just number them based on the order you will read the series. So if you want to read one of them between 1 & 2, number it 2 and 2 as 3 and so on.

[correoparaappzz]

i don't know a lot of code, all i ask is for someone to tell me what do i need to put in [ if $series == 'here' ] so that the template reads it as set

[HappyCalibreUser]

Originally Posted by correoparaappzz

hi, i want to divide my books between Stand-Alone and Series

You've already received some good advice. If I think I understand what you're looking to do- no code is needed.
The simplest for me would be one of 2 ways.

I would create a column whatever name you like.
Use SA for Stand-Alone or S for series in your column.
(S-A Brown Bear)
If that column makes you feel your screen looks too busy, hide/unhide that 1 column as needed.

But the easiest: in tags use 1 of 2 identifiers-
SA Brown Bear or S Brown Bear (or whatever) and pull whichever of the 2 tags from there.

And if all you want is to identify Stand-Alone or all those Series, use S-A or an S.

[JSWolf]

If the books are truly standalone and not part of a series, I would put standalone in the tags column.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the books are truly standalone and not part of a series, I would put standalone in the tags column.

How is this better than an empty series column and a series:false saved search? If the empty column isn't visual enough, add column icons for has/doesn't have a series.

[1ily]

I'm late, but I was able to achieve this by putting this into a template column:

program:

series = $series;

newTags = strcat(
if !(ifempty(series, "")) then "Standalone," fi,
if (ifempty(series, "")) then "Series," fi,
);

newTags;

[JSWolf]

Most books in a series that are called standalone really are not standalone.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Most books in a series that are called standalone really are not standalone.

Jon, nobody has talked about books in a series called standalone, but standalone books. I think we can agree that "The Process" from Kafka is a standalone book, but it will have the field Series in calibre as it's a mandatory field although empty.

[JSWolf]

One way to separate standalone from series is create a Y/N column to say if a book is standalone or not.