[Alexandria-list] CSV import

[Cathal Mc Ginley]

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On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:46:42 -0500
Timothy Malone <timothy.malone at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've been working on an import filter for CSV files and had a few
> questions. The primary focus of my filter is the CSV format used by
> goodreads.com (sorta like librarything).

Neat. LibraryThing import is also somewhere on our list of things to do.

>  I've got it working but was
> wondering what the status of adding a "date read" entry to Alexandria
> was. I searched the archives and noticed that it was mentioned a
> little while ago but wanted to check and see if it was planned for a
> future version, or if it was waiting for a bigger overhaul of the
> book storage format.

The "date-read" issues was recently requested as a feature on the
tracker [#17563]. This was my comment:

"This is a fairly common request on the mailing-list. It is one
of the features planned as part of a new design for Alexandria
which will support more complex data storage. We don't want to
simply bolt-on support for this, we are instead trying to ensure
that the redesigned system supports it properly. So it won't
be added in the near future, unfortunately."

The thing is, adding a "date-read" field would change the data format
again, without fully satisfying the requirements of people who want
"Reading Management" capabilities - like the date you started reading,
number of pages read... I think we need to do a bit of analysis first,
so I put up a page on the wiki for users to add their requirements:

http://wiki.alexandria-projects.org/wiki/ReadingManagementRequirements

In the mean time, if you don't want to lose the "date-read" data you're
importing, you can save it *informally* as a Note or Tag (this kind of
thing is also mentioned on the wiki page).

> Also, I am considering changing the way Alexandria exports CSV to make
> it more user friendly by adding labels at the top of the columns. Any
> thoughts on that idea?
> 
Yes, this should make the CSV file more useful to users. I wonder
though, should we translate the headings to the current LANG or leave
them in English? There are two forces here: 

 * leaving them in English would make scripting easier, even if the
CSV format were to change.
 * translating them would make it easy for users to import an exported
CSV directly as a spreadsheet.

Leaving them in English works for now anyway.

   -   C.
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