[chaley]

Thanks for the "kobo newbie" help.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Kobo only reads the first dc:creator tag it finds. And assumes the authors are "FN LN" and that multiple authors "FN1 LN1, FN2, LN2, ...". I usually recommend:

program: raw_list('authors', ', ')

But, what you have looks like it should work.

I had seen your recommendation but it only works if the authors are already "FN LN". Mine are "LN, FN" and I don't want to change it. I considered using the following to change the individual authors then change the separator, but decided that the "more traditional" program was easier to read.

program:
	a = list_re_group($authors, '&', '.', '(^.*$)', 'program: swap_around_comma($)');
	re(a, '&', ', ')

No, there isn't. I remember looking at that when I was writing the collections code, but, decided not to use it. You should be able to do it in a custom column. I have been thinking about allowing the use of a template instead of the list of columns. I am already using them elsewhere, so it would make sense to use them here as well. The main thing is to make sure it is backwardly compatible.

Using a template is a great idea. As for compatibility and assuming you don't want to add a checkbox "Columns box contains a template", you can assume it is a template if it starts with "program:" or contains a '{'. No list of lookup names can match that.

Using a template and setting the device name (below) solves another problem, using different collection columns for different devices. The template could condition its output on the value of current_device_name().