Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Information and Tutorials on features in Mylar and how to use it
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goin3d
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Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:34 am

Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Post by goin3d »

I’m loving the story arc functionality and it’s ability to create a separate, numbered list of comics to read. Ty for that! Is there any current way to manually import a list that acts in the same way? IE for a recommended reading list that I would create from someplace like comicbookherald but isn’t an actual arc that exists on CV. I’m assuming based on previous posts the import .CBL no longer works but wasn’t sure if there was any other way to import the data?

Thanks!
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evilhero
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Re: Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Post by evilhero »

Wow, sorry about the delay in responding - I never got notification of the post and it disappeared from my notices for some reason.

Long story short, no at this point in time, you can't manually create a story-arc. However, there is a complete over-haul of the story arcs coming soon hopefully. The problem with CV and arcs is that as it's a public wiki, anyone can add any titles to a given arc, damn be the order. So in any particular arc you can get normal issues that pertain to an arc, but also collected editions and TPB's that shouldn't be included since their individual print editions are already there - it's a mess basically from a management / organizational standpoint.

The new system uses a completely different site than CV, but still links up to the CV data so while behind the scenes it's all different, the user see's things as per normal (with some slight additions). In this process will be the ability to create your own storyarcs, as well as modify them (in addition to being able to re-order/delete reading sequences - but that's already exists currently).

The new system will be in the python3 branch when it's finished, but we still have to complete the migration to the python3 branch as we're currently doing that now. I'm not sure about including the new arc functionality in the python2 branch however since maintaining 2 separate versions is a nightmare for code maintenance.
ben
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Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 6:56 pm

Re: Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Post by ben »

I just discovered the Story Arc feature, still playing around with it.

Can you explain how the comics get processed if you do/don't allow them to go to the "story Arc' folder?

I'm too OCD to allow comics of a series to be split out to a different folder, but I like the idea of having a reading list for Story Arcs.

I would almost prefer to have two copies of the books then have to choose or maybe mylar could create symbolic links or something?



Currently this is my system (if anyone cares):
FreeNAS 11.3U2.1
Mylar3 iocage (manual install)
Komga iocage (manual install) (OPDS connection)
Perfect Viewer app (SMB connection)
goin3d
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Re: Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Post by goin3d »

For what it's worth after playing around with the various options I've gone with a setup of copying the storyarc issues to their own folder and having the files renamed based on the reading order. For me the big benefit to creating the renamed copies is it has been much easier to access and navigate via Komga or Ubooquity (which i'm currently using). Your mileage may vary!!
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evilhero
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Re: Manually create a ‘story arc’?

Post by evilhero »

If you have the arc folder option enabled, all storyarc issues that are either 'discovered' during a scan, and/or during post-processing will have the stated action performed into that arc folder. However it's dependent on how it's discovered.

So here's the long-winded breakdown:

THE SERIES THE ISSUE BELONGS TO DOES NOT EXIST ON YOUR WATCHLIST, BUT IS IN AN ARC
(can only be done via post-processing either auto or manual - doesn't matter how it was attained)
The actions available are copy, move, and symlink - so whichever method is chosen that's the stated action provided the series DOES NOT exist on your watchlist and will apply to the location it is scanned in from. The default post-processing action is used in this case, since they are not watchlisted series.

THE SERIES THE ISSUE BELONGS TO EXISTS ON YOUR WATCHLIST & IS IN AN ARC
If the series exists on your watchilst, and is also present in an arc, then the normal post-processing actions will take place (ie. move/copy during post-processing), and then dependent on what your arc action is (move/copy/symlink) that will take place from the series directory that now has the issue located in it after post-processing. As an example, if you're post-processing Superhero 001.cbr from /incoming/comics, it will get post-processed into your series folder /comics/Superhero-(2020)/Superhero 001.cbr. Because the issue also exists within an arc on your 'arc watchlist', it gets copied (assuming the arc action is set to copy) into your arc folder /storyarcs/The Big One (2019-2020)/005-Superhero 001.cbr.

YOU DID A REFRESH ARC / SEARCH FOR WATCHLIST MATCHES FROM WITHIN THE ARC DETAIL PAGE
Since you're searching against your watchlist for any given matches to the existing arc, if any are found - and they don't currently exist in the arc folder, then the arc action (copy/move/symlink) will be performed from the given series directory (ie. if you select 'move', it will move the files from the series folder to your arc folder, so your series will then be missing that issue).

Now if you don't want to use the Story Arc Folder, then it will perform the arc action into a given 'grabbag directory' (which can be set within the config.ini as grabbag_dir, but will default to your Comic Location path/grabbag_dir). So any matching issues, whether they are watchlisted series or not, will be placed into the grabbag_directory based on the story arc action option.

And if you don't specify an action AND you don't enable the Story Arc Folder option? Issues for series that exist on your watchlist will stay in their existing location, but the status should update within the arc to signify that it's either Archived or Downloaded (can't recall which - but it's taken directly from the issue itself, so odds are Downloaded). And if you're performing post-processing on issues that don't exist on your watchlist but do exist on an arc (can only be initiated via the individual issue search from within the specific arc screen), and you don't have an arc action & arc folder enabled - the issues will get dumped into the grabbag_directory by default since it has to place them somewhere, but the status 'should' update to show that it's no longer searching for it.

Short-winded breakdown:

In an Arc Folder: watchlisted series will respect the Arc Options. Non-watchlisted series assume the arc folder is their series folder and get dropped in there only as per the default Post-Processing action.

No Arc Folder: watchlisted series will respect the Arc Options but into a grabbag_directory location. Non-watchlisted series will get dumped into the arc folder as if they were their series folder as per the default Post-Processing action.
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