Possible oversight in Book Details: Missing copy options on composite columns

[ownedbycats]

Calibre 5.31.1 (x64)

When right-clicking on a composite column link in book details, some of the copy options are missing.

Steps to replicate:

1. Have a composite text-based column, not shown as HTML. {identifiers:select(isbn)} works - I've also tested it on a tag-like column.
2. In book details, right-click on a clickable item from an inbuilt column (tags, authors, etc). Under copy, there's several additional options, such as copying the text or creating a search link.
3. Now right-click the composite column. The options are missing.

Thank you!

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Yes, those extra actions use information present about the column that
is absent from a composite column, which is basically a string that is
the result of running an arbitrary computation. There is no way to know
how to construct a search or similar from it.

 status wontfix

[ownedbycats (ownedbycats)]

Could it be difficult to have "copy the text: [text]" at least? That's the reason I noticed the missing options. Thank you.

[Charles Haley (cbhaley)]

@kovid: I have an implementation that adds a context action to copy the value of the field when there are no other semantics.

Possible problem: some fields were not links so there was no way to identify the field name, for example numbers and dates. I solved that problem by creating a link type that when clicked copies the text to the clipboard. This means a simple click copies the text, and it also gives a handle for the context menu. Are you OK with this? If so then I will submit a PR for evaluation.

The first attachment shows the new "copy" link. The second shows the context menu.

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

It's OK by me, but maybe have the link do a search instead keep the copy action in the context menu.

[Charles Haley (cbhaley)]

I tried doing a search but was foiled by formatting in date and numeric columns. I will look at extracting the base information and not the formatted value when searching.

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Fixed in branch master. The fix will be in the next release. calibre is usually released every alternate Friday.

 status fixreleased