Bruji

After long searching for the perfect book cataloguing application, I'm really happy I found Bookpedia. I installed it yesterday and already migrated all my data from Books, which I used until now. There's just one thing that's missing and I'm surprised no one requested it yet. I want to use bookpedia to keep track of my hardcopy books but also all my e-books and PDF reports etc, so I really would love it if you could --

* Drag & Drop PDF files from Finder straight into Bookpedia Library (just like we all do with mp3s in iTunes)

This should create a new entry, automatically link the the dragged file to it, and ideally, ask if the file should be moved to /downloaded folder and set the PDF file's first page as cover art.

THANKS for the wonderful application!

Danko

Thank you for the suggestion. Although creating a new entry and linking the file would not be technically hard, creating the cover image and maintaining non-Tiger compatibility would be a tough one. Since creating the cover image would be the interesting step, I will add this suggestion for when Bookpedia is a Tiger only application.

In the meantime don't forget to use Bookpedia's flexibility to your advantage. You can turn off returning to the search window after adding in the preference so that it won't get in your way. Then with the shortcut command-shift-f you can add manually, type in a title and some information hit return and drag the PDF over the info view to link it. (Moving the files to the downloaded folder will still have to be done manually – consolidate library as in iTunes is another feature suggestion we have written down.)

Thanks for the quick reply and the hints. Yes, it's a lot quicker without returning to the search window after adding. But still, drag and drop like in iTunes will be great when you get around to do it.

Also, the "consolidate library" feature would be fantastic -- just consider giving the user more flexibility than iTunes does. Specifically, instead of consolidating by Author and some sub-parameter (as in Artist - Albun) by default, it would be great if you allow user to chose which field will be the basis of organizing files into folders. This is because most people will probably prefer to have their collection organized into "genre" or "custom" folders than countless "author" folders.
Thanks again for Bookpedia, I really love it.

You mention that this could be added when "Bookpedia is a Tiger only application". As a current Panther user, I'm afraid to ask when you're expecting this transition to occur. I would hate to lose out on all new features/versions just because I haven't upgraded to Tiger. While I do understand that certain features are only compatible with Tiger, I would hate for the entire program to become Tiger only.

Conor wrote:Thank you for the suggestion. Although creating a new entry and linking the file would not be technically hard, creating the cover image and maintaining non-Tiger compatibility would be a tough one. Since creating the cover image would be the interesting step, I will add this suggestion for when Bookpedia is a Tiger only application.

In the meantime don't forget to use Bookpedia's flexibility to your advantage. You can turn off returning to the search window after adding in the preference so that it won't get in your way. Then with the shortcut command-shift-f you can add manually, type in a title and some information hit return and drag the PDF over the info view to link it. (Moving the files to the downloaded folder will still have to be done manually – consolidate library as in iTunes is another feature suggestion we have written down.)

We try our hardest to keep backwards compatibility, actions speak more than words – the programs are still compatible with 10.2.6 (Jaguar). The one technology that would justify moving to Tiger is core data. When you reach 10,000 entries the program launches slowly, and smart collections take too long to populate and the sorting slows down. Core data could help these issues as it's built on years of database technology. However we haven't even started implementing this and testing and seeing if there really is a noticeable advantage; which translates to we are quite far from being Tiger only. However, it's better to think like an optimist: you won't lose out on all the new features forever (if we do up the requirements). At some point when you upgrade (maybe all the way to Leopard and skip Tiger) an upgraded Bookpedia will be waiting for you to enjoy.