I used to use ComicRack, but switched over to YACLibrary a while ago. I had downloaded ComicVine information for almost all of my comics and had curated it in ComicRack, embedding a ComicInfo.xml file in each converted CBZ.

When I switched from ComicRack to YACLibrary, embedded data in a ComicInfo.xml was not supported, but that was OK, as I wanted to re-do my comics organization into new folders and such... so I renamed my entire comic book collection as I imported it into YACLibrary, making sure the CBZ names were what I wanted them to be for the purposes of sorting and organization.

So, fast-forward to the present, and YACLibrary can now read the metadata embedded in ComicInfo.xml when scanning comics. However, I did not initially know this, as my YACLibrary had been created before embedded metadata was supported. YACLibrary does not "rescan" a comic and pull the embedded info, so I was none the wiser that embedded metadata was now supported.

But, I got a wild hair the other day, and decided that I was going to re-organize one of my very large YACLibraries into a few smaller libraries. I decided to split my one large Comics library into a DC Library a Marvel Library and an Indie Library.

I moved the CBZ files around in Windows, created new folders, renamed a few, etc. I then removed the existing Library in YACLibrary and created three new ones and began re-importing ... imagine my surprise when all of those thousands of comics were now getting sorted by their embedded ComicInfo.xml embedded files instead of their folder names!

For some straight issue runs, it was no problem, as I had complete metadata for them in the ComicInfo.xml files, but for any comics where I had changed the file names to sort them a certain way, like a Civil War reading order... those comics now did not sort by filename in YACLibrary. I also did not have complete embedded info for many titles, so the ones without embedded data were getting sorted to the bottom of any list.

YACLibrary does not fully support all of the embedded data that ComicRack used, so things like Alternate Series and Numbering was ignored, and YACLibrary also does not deal with fractional issue numbers very well, like 532.1.

Bottom line, it was a hot mess after my re-import. My beautifully sorted and organized comics were no longer displaying as such in YACLibrary.

No problem, I said ... I will simply turn off the reading of the embedded metadata when importing comics and go back exlusively to my previous system of perfectly named and sorted comic books being what I see in YACLibrary.

No dice. You can't turn off YACLibrary reading the embedded ComicInfo.xml file. DRATS!

Sure you can "edit" the comic and update the YACLibrary DB, but that info does not get written out to the embedded ComicInfo.xml. So, if I ever want to create/move a Library, all of my changes will get lost. Plus, we're talking about A LOT of comics that needed updating.

My only solution left was to open the CBZ file, delete the ComicInfo.xml file and then rescan it into YACLibrary. Well, doing that for tens of thousands of comics manually is not in the cards.

Some suggestions for future YACLibrary releases... PLEASE.

1. Allow for the reading of embedded ComicInfo.xml files to be turned OFF when scanning new books or creating new libraries.
2. Allow for YACLibrary to write its DB info to ComicInfo.xml files, updating one if it is there. (CBR files exempted, of course.)
3. Allow for YACLibrary to delete the embedded ComicInfo.xml file in bulk or individually for comics, and then...
4. Allow for YACLibrary to "rescan" a comic or a bunch of comics for the presence or lack thereof of embedded data. Or, allow YACLibrary to "delete" a comic book from the database without actually deleting the physical comic book... and then being able to "update" the Library or Folder and rescan the deleted book.

I hope that my suggestions make sense from a pure library management perspective. Its really not terribly useful to have the ability for YACLibrary to read the ComicInfo.xml if it is not able to write back to it, or be able to ignore it.

Thanks for a fantastic library and reader program. This is the very top shelf of comic book programs for Windows, mac, iOS... you name it. You're the best.

salasnet wrote:
If you do a right click on a library name, you'll get a context menu that lets you force rescaning the ComicInfo.xml data for all the comics in the library.

salasnet wrote:
All the metadata you had in your previous library can be exported, there is an option in the context menu, and then you can import it in new libraries. Do you keep your old library folder? .yacreaderlibrary?

salasnet wrote:
Already in my TODO list.

salasnet wrote:
I am not a big fan of this, but I will think about it.

salasnet wrote:
Latest dev versions can do this for all the selected comics in a folder.

salasnet wrote:
It is there but only works at library level.


BTW, it seems that you have used ComicInfo.xml a lot, so please, contact me whenever you see a field or some data that should be treated differently or that YACReaderLibrary should support.

The issue number is going to be refactored to support fractional issue numbers and ranges, 11.2, 13-15, etc. But it is something I need to do at the same time for both the iOS app and the desktops one.

Downloaded the latest version 9.10 with the latest changes and it takes care of many of the issues that I mentioned. Thanks a ton. Your program, and your responsiveness as a developer is TOP SHELF!

Eres un campeon! Gracias por todo tu trabajo!