Allow search and replace on comments custom columns. Add a new action 'Quick View' to show the books in your library by the author(s) of the currently selected book, in a separate window. You can add it to your toolbar or right click menu by going to Preferences->Toolbars.

src/calibre/customize/builtins.py

@@ -799,6 +799,11 @@ class ActionFetchNews(InterfaceActionBase):
     actual_plugin = 'calibre.gui2.actions.fetch_news:FetchNewsAction'
     description = _('Download news from the internet in ebook form')
 
+class ActionQuickview(InterfaceActionBase):
+    name = 'Show Quickview'
+    actual_plugin = 'calibre.gui2.actions.show_quickview:ShowQuickviewAction'
+    description = _('Show a list of related books quickly')
+
 class ActionSaveToDisk(InterfaceActionBase):
     name = 'Save To Disk'
     actual_plugin = 'calibre.gui2.actions.save_to_disk:SaveToDiskAction'
@@ -903,8 +908,8 @@ class ActionPluginUpdater(InterfaceActionBase):
 
 plugins += [ActionAdd, ActionFetchAnnotations, ActionGenerateCatalog,
         ActionConvert, ActionDelete, ActionEditMetadata, ActionView,
-        ActionFetchNews, ActionSaveToDisk, ActionShowBookDetails,
+        ActionFetchNews, ActionSaveToDisk, ActionQuickview,
-        ActionRestart, ActionOpenFolder, ActionConnectShare,
+        ActionShowBookDetails,ActionRestart, ActionOpenFolder, ActionConnectShare,
         ActionSendToDevice, ActionHelp, ActionPreferences, ActionSimilarBooks,
         ActionAddToLibrary, ActionEditCollections, ActionChooseLibrary,
         ActionCopyToLibrary, ActionTweakEpub, ActionNextMatch, ActionStore,

src/calibre/gui2/actions/show_quickview.py

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=UTF-8:ts=4:sw=4:sta:et:sts=4:ai
+
+__license__   = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2010, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
+__docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
+
+
+from calibre.gui2.actions import InterfaceAction
+from calibre.gui2.dialogs.quickview import Quickview
+from calibre.gui2 import error_dialog
+
+class ShowQuickviewAction(InterfaceAction):
+
+    name = 'Show quickview'
+    action_spec = (_('Show quickview'), 'user_profile.png', None,
+            _('Q'))
+    dont_add_to = frozenset(['menubar-device', 'toolbar-device', 'context-menu-device'])
+    action_type = 'current'
+
+    current_instance = None
+
+    def genesis(self):
+        self.qaction.triggered.connect(self.show_quickview)
+
+    def show_quickview(self, *args):
+        if self.current_instance:
+            if not self.current_instance.is_closed:
+                return
+            self.current_instance = None
+        if self.gui.current_view() is not self.gui.library_view:
+            error_dialog(self.gui, _('No quickview available'),
+                _('Quickview is not available for books '
+                  'on the device.')).exec_()
+            return
+        index = self.gui.library_view.currentIndex()
+        if index.isValid():
+            self.current_instance = \
+                Quickview(self.gui, self.gui.library_view, index)
+            self.current_instance.show()
+

src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_bulk.py

@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ class MetadataBulkDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_MetadataBulkDialog):
         fm = self.db.field_metadata
         for f in fm:
             if (f in ['author_sort'] or
-                    (fm[f]['datatype'] in ['text', 'series', 'enumeration']
+                    (fm[f]['datatype'] in ['text', 'series', 'enumeration', 'comments']
                      and fm[f].get('search_terms', None)
                      and f not in ['formats', 'ondevice']) or
                     (fm[f]['datatype'] in ['int', 'float', 'bool'] and

src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/quickview.py

@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env  python
+__license__   = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2008, Kovid Goyal kovid@kovidgoyal.net'
+__docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
+
+
+from PyQt4.Qt import (Qt, QDialog, QAbstractItemView, QTableWidgetItem,
+                      QListWidgetItem, QByteArray, QModelIndex)
+
+from calibre.gui2.dialogs.quickview_ui import Ui_Quickview
+from calibre.utils.icu import sort_key
+from calibre.gui2 import gprefs
+
+class tableItem(QTableWidgetItem):
+
+    def __init__(self, val):
+        QTableWidgetItem.__init__(self, val)
+        self.setFlags(Qt.ItemIsEnabled|Qt.ItemIsSelectable)
+
+    def __ge__(self, other):
+        return sort_key(unicode(self.text())) >= sort_key(unicode(other.text()))
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return sort_key(unicode(self.text())) < sort_key(unicode(other.text()))
+
+class Quickview(QDialog, Ui_Quickview):
+
+    def __init__(self, gui, view, row):
+        QDialog.__init__(self, gui, flags=Qt.Window)
+        Ui_Quickview.__init__(self)
+        self.setupUi(self)
+        self.isClosed = False
+
+        try:
+            geom = gprefs.get('quickview_dialog_geometry', bytearray(''))
+            self.restoreGeometry(QByteArray(geom))
+        except:
+            pass
+
+        icon = self.windowIcon()
+        self.setWindowFlags(self.windowFlags()&(~Qt.WindowContextHelpButtonHint))
+        self.setWindowIcon(icon)
+
+        self.db = view.model().db
+        self.view = view
+        self.gui = gui
+
+        self.items.setSelectionMode(QAbstractItemView.SingleSelection)
+        self.items.currentTextChanged.connect(self.item_selected)
+#        self.items.setFixedWidth(150)
+
+        self.books_table.setSelectionBehavior(QAbstractItemView.SelectRows)
+        self.books_table.setSelectionMode(QAbstractItemView.SingleSelection)
+        self.books_table.setColumnCount(3)
+        t = QTableWidgetItem(_('Title'))
+        self.books_table.setHorizontalHeaderItem(0, t)
+        t = QTableWidgetItem(_('Authors'))
+        self.books_table.setHorizontalHeaderItem(1, t)
+        t = QTableWidgetItem(_('Series'))
+        self.books_table.setHorizontalHeaderItem(2, t)
+        self.books_table_header_height = self.books_table.height()
+        self.books_table.cellDoubleClicked.connect(self.book_doubleclicked)
+
+        self.is_closed = False
+        self.current_book_id = None
+        self.current_key = None
+        self.use_current_key_for_next_refresh = False
+        self.last_search = None
+
+        self.refresh(row)
+#        self.connect(self.view.selectionModel(), SIGNAL('currentChanged(QModelIndex,QModelIndex)'), self.slave)
+        self.view.selectionModel().currentChanged[QModelIndex,QModelIndex].connect(self.slave)
+        self.search_button.clicked.connect(self.do_search)
+
+    def do_search(self):
+        if self.last_search is not None:
+            self.use_current_key_for_next_refresh = True
+            self.gui.search.set_search_string(self.last_search)
+
+    def item_selected(self, txt):
+        self.fill_in_books_box(unicode(txt))
+
+    def refresh(self, idx):
+        bv_row = idx.row()
+        key = self.view.model().column_map[idx.column()]
+
+        book_id = self.view.model().id(bv_row)
+
+        if self.use_current_key_for_next_refresh:
+            key = self.current_key
+            self.use_current_key_for_next_refresh = False
+        else:
+            if not self.db.field_metadata[key]['is_category']:
+                if self.current_key is None:
+                    return
+                key = self.current_key
+        self.items_label.setText('{0} ({1})'.format(
+                                    self.db.field_metadata[key]['name'], key))
+        self.items.clear()
+        self.books_table.setRowCount(0)
+
+        mi = self.db.get_metadata(book_id, index_is_id=True, get_user_categories=False)
+        vals = mi.get(key, None)
+        if not vals:
+            return
+
+        if not isinstance(vals, list):
+            vals = [vals]
+        vals.sort(key=sort_key)
+
+        self.items.blockSignals(True)
+        for v in vals:
+            a = QListWidgetItem(v)
+            self.items.addItem(a)
+        self.items.setCurrentRow(0)
+        self.items.blockSignals(False)
+
+        self.current_book_id = book_id
+        self.current_key = key
+
+        self.fill_in_books_box(vals[0])
+
+    def fill_in_books_box(self, selected_item):
+        if selected_item.startswith('.'):
+            sv = '.' + selected_item
+        else:
+            sv = selected_item
+        sv = sv.replace('"', r'\"')
+        self.last_search = self.current_key+':"=' + sv + '"'
+        books = self.db.search_getting_ids(self.last_search,
+                                           self.db.data.search_restriction)
+        self.books_table.setRowCount(len(books))
+        self.books_label.setText(_('Books with selected item: {0}').format(len(books)))
+
+        select_row = None
+        self.books_table.setSortingEnabled(False)
+        for row, b in enumerate(books):
+            mi = self.db.get_metadata(b, index_is_id=True, get_user_categories=False)
+            a = tableItem(mi.title)
+            a.setData(Qt.UserRole, b)
+            self.books_table.setItem(row, 0, a)
+            a = tableItem(' & '.join(mi.authors))
+            self.books_table.setItem(row, 1, a)
+            series = mi.format_field('series')[1]
+            if series is None:
+                series = ''
+            a = tableItem(series)
+            self.books_table.setItem(row, 2, a)
+            if b == self.current_book_id:
+                select_row = row
+
+        self.books_table.resizeColumnsToContents()
+#        self.books_table.resizeRowsToContents()
+
+        if select_row is not None:
+            self.books_table.selectRow(select_row)
+        self.books_table.setSortingEnabled(True)
+
+    def book_doubleclicked(self, row, column):
+        self.use_current_key_for_next_refresh = True
+        self.view.select_rows([self.books_table.item(row, 0).data(Qt.UserRole).toInt()[0]])
+
+    def slave(self, current, previous):
+        self.refresh(current)
+        self.view.activateWindow()
+
+    def done(self, r):
+        geom = bytearray(self.saveGeometry())
+        gprefs['quickview_dialog_geometry'] = geom
+        self.is_closed = True
+        QDialog.done(self, r)

src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/quickview.ui

@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<ui version="4.0">
+ <class>Quickview</class>
+ <widget class="QDialog" name="Quickview">
+  <property name="geometry">
+   <rect>
+    <x>0</x>
+    <y>0</y>
+    <width>768</width>
+    <height>342</height>
+   </rect>
+  </property>
+  <property name="sizePolicy">
+   <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="MinimumExpanding">
+    <horstretch>0</horstretch>
+    <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+   </sizepolicy>
+  </property>
+  <property name="windowTitle">
+   <string>Quickview</string>
+  </property>
+  <layout class="QGridLayout">
+   <item row="0" column="0">
+    <widget class="QLabel" name="items_label">
+     <property name="text">
+      <string>Items</string>
+     </property>
+    </widget>
+   </item>
+   <item row="1" column="0">
+    <widget class="QListWidget" name="items">
+     <property name="sizePolicy">
+      <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="Expanding" >
+       <horstretch>1</horstretch>
+       <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+      </sizepolicy>
+     </property>
+    </widget>
+   </item>
+   <item row="0" column="1">
+    <widget class="QLabel" name="books_label">
+    </widget>
+   </item>
+   <item row="1" column="1">
+    <widget class="QTableWidget" name="books_table">
+     <property name="sizePolicy">
+      <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="Expanding" >
+       <horstretch>4</horstretch>
+       <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+      </sizepolicy>
+     </property>
+     <property name="columnCount">
+      <number>0</number>
+     </property>
+     <property name="rowCount">
+      <number>0</number>
+     </property>
+    </widget>
+   </item>
+   <item row="2" column="1">
+    <spacer>
+     <property name="orientation">
+      <enum>Qt::Vertical</enum>
+     </property>
+     <property name="sizeHint" stdset="0">
+      <size>
+       <width>0</width>
+       <height>0</height>
+      </size>
+     </property>
+    </spacer>
+   </item>
+   <item row="3" column="0" colspan="2">
+    <layout class="QHBoxLayout">
+     <item>
+      <widget class="QPushButton" name="search_button">
+       <property name="text">
+        <string>Search</string>
+       </property>
+       <property name="toolTip">
+        <string>Search in the library view for the selected item</string>
+       </property>
+      </widget>
+     </item>
+     <item>
+      <spacer>
+       <property name="orientation">
+        <enum>Qt::Horizontal</enum>
+       </property>
+       <property name="sizeHint" stdset="0">
+        <size>
+         <width>0</width>
+         <height>0</height>
+        </size>
+       </property>
+      </spacer>
+     </item>
+     <item>
+      <widget class="QDialogButtonBox" name="buttonBox">
+       <property name="standardButtons">
+        <set>QDialogButtonBox::Close</set>
+       </property>
+       <property name="centerButtons">
+        <bool>false</bool>
+       </property>
+      </widget>
+     </item>
+    </layout>
+   </item>
+  </layout>
+ </widget>
+ <resources/>
+ <connections>
+  <connection>
+   <sender>buttonBox</sender>
+   <signal>rejected()</signal>
+   <receiver>Quickview</receiver>
+   <slot>reject()</slot>
+   <hints>
+    <hint type="sourcelabel">
+     <x>297</x>
+     <y>217</y>
+    </hint>
+    <hint type="destinationlabel">
+     <x>286</x>
+     <y>234</y>
+    </hint>
+   </hints>
+  </connection>
+ </connections>
+</ui>

src/calibre/library/database2.py

@@ -1929,13 +1929,13 @@ class LibraryDatabase2(LibraryDatabase, SchemaUpgrade, CustomColumns):
     def authors_with_sort_strings(self, id, index_is_id=False):
         id = id if index_is_id else self.id(id)
         aut_strings = self.conn.get('''
-                        SELECT authors.name, authors.sort
+                        SELECT authors.id, authors.name, authors.sort
                         FROM authors, books_authors_link as bl
                         WHERE bl.book=? and authors.id=bl.author
                         ORDER BY bl.id''', (id,))
         result = []
-        for (author, sort,) in aut_strings:
+        for (id_, author, sort,) in aut_strings:
-            result.append((author.replace('|', ','), sort))
+            result.append((id_, author.replace('|', ','), sort))
         return result
 
     # Given a book, return the author_sort string for authors of the book
@@ -1943,6 +1943,15 @@ class LibraryDatabase2(LibraryDatabase, SchemaUpgrade, CustomColumns):
         auts = self.authors_sort_strings(id, index_is_id)
         return ' & '.join(auts).replace('|', ',')
 
+    # Given an author, return a list of books with that author
+    def books_for_author(self, id_, index_is_id=False):
+        id_ = id_ if index_is_id else self.id(id_)
+        books = self.conn.get('''
+                        SELECT bl.book
+                        FROM books_authors_link as bl
+                        WHERE bl.author=?''', (id_,))
+        return [b[0] for b in books]
+
     # Given a list of authors, return the author_sort string for the authors,
     # preferring the author sort associated with the author over the computed
     # string
@@ -1966,7 +1975,7 @@ class LibraryDatabase2(LibraryDatabase, SchemaUpgrade, CustomColumns):
 
         aum = self.authors_with_sort_strings(id_, index_is_id=True)
         self.data.set(id_, self.FIELD_MAP['au_map'],
-            ':#:'.join([':::'.join((au.replace(',', '|'), aus)) for (au, aus) in aum]),
+            ':#:'.join([':::'.join((au.replace(',', '|'), aus)) for (_, au, aus) in aum]),
             row_is_id=True)
 
     def _set_authors(self, id, authors, allow_case_change=False):