Bookpedia suggestions

[lostinthepages]

Hello, just a couple of suggestions for features in Bookpedia - if, in fact, they don't already exist. (Apologies in advance if they do, I'm still very new to the software).

1) Make it easier to distinguish between author/editor. My library has a lot of academic works, including many edited volumes, so it would nice to be able to make clear in the entry that the volume has editor(s) not author(s). At present, if I leave the author blank and put in the editor's names, I can't sort by author because they all come up as blank.

2) Create the ability to temporarily add a borrowed book to the library. For instance, if I borrow a book from a friend, it would be neat to be able to add it in to my library so I remember who I borrowed it from and when I should return it.

3) Easily edit information on a number of books. For instance, if...a friend...accidentally filled in "Price" for his entire collection and then later found out that there was an entry for price "Paid", which is what he should have put that value in, it would be nice to be able to easily transfer all the values from one column to another.

Still getting used to the program, but enjoy it. Cheers!

[Conor]

Thank you for taking the time to give us feedback on the program.

1. As you know there is an editor and a author field. Bookpedia will sub sort up to 6 fields deep, so clicking on editor and then author will keep the editors sorted alphabetically were there is no author. But indeed it will group all those books without authors together at the top, instead of merging the sort from editor and authors.

With the academic books it a tricky one, but do play around with the fields and see what works best for you. For example you could use a third custom column that has the author/editor, so that you can sort by that column, yet keep the editor and author separate in their respective fields.

3. There is a multiple edit when choosing edit on a selection. Allows for a more basic editing, where you can replace, remove and add values. Wide field find/replace and moving columns not yet possible. Although the database is SQL and open. So it can be done from the Terminal when needed.

I answered question 3 before 2, as releasing to question 1. You could use the Terminal to merge the author editor information without having to do 100 of books by hand, using the Terminal.

Code: Select all

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Bookpedia/Database.bookpd
update zEntry set zCustom1 = zAuthor || zEditor;
.exit

2. You can turn any collection into a Library excluded collection under "File -> Exclude Collection from Library". So you can create a new collection called "Bob's Books" or "To Return" and then exclude it. You might have to use another custom field instead of the borrowed by field for the name of the original owner, to avoid confusing the program, as otherwise it might want to add them to the borrowed collection.

[lostinthepages]

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply Conor!