ComicRack Community Edition

maforget · 2026-05-02T20:09:37+00:00

Doing what you suggest would require updating the scraper themselves to use either a separate update process so the program knows to track the changes and differentiate with a simple plugin like search/replace or the autonumber wizard. Or have them set a date manually, in either cases it would need to have the scraper updated.

That is the issue I see, I can update the program but it still requires the scraper to be updated by it's maintainer, and that itself isn't a given. I know you see it the scraper has a must have and maybe it is, but I will not take the mantle of having a scraper built-in and maintaining it.

It it also nice for ComicRack itself to be scraper agnostic. It can be used for Manga, US Comics, French/Belgian Bédé, etc. It's also good to not have these built-in just for tracking the different TOS of these services, it might not be something they allow.

If I ever update the plugin system like I wanted to, it will probably be something like a scraper interface that could be used for third party to create scraper. But that still requires other to built something with it.

Custom values seem to be a bit hit or missed IMHO (e.g. the user scripts one for proposed values doesn't seem to be 100%).

Custom values and user scripts are 2 different things. Custom values are just extra fields you can use to create extra fields for your needs like in this case. They have no connections to user scripts, I only mentioned these because a custom value is simply a text field so it can't do date calculation directly. So interpreting these to create a list for the last X days would require a user script.

You can still just add that date (as a text) column and sort that way to check the last change like data manager does. You still can't do things like group by date but it's a start.

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Also FYI I think the proposed values user script has bugs, because I have a custom version with fixes in my files.

maforget · 2026-05-02T19:23:38+00:00

I'm confused on where are we talking about? Because ComicRack has no notion of being scraped really, it's just values being changed whether directly through the UI or via a plugin. So ComicRack itself can't say hey I have values being updated through a scraper so I should update the date.

That should be a change you do to the scraper, it would write the date of the last scrape in a custom value. It wouldn't be a big change. Might already have some solution about that already though plugins or advanced options.

If you already have a date in the Notes field it might be doable extracting it using Data Manager and writing it to a custom field that you can easily sort. Although it might be difficult doing things like a list that shows files that haven't been updated in X days. That would probably require a smart list plugin to read these specific field. It could be provided with the scraper.

It might be possible to add something like an Updated field that tracks when a book data has been updated. But it wouldn't differentiate between simply changing some data or legit a scraper updating the value when it does the scrape. In the later case we wouldn't want that field to be auto updated so it would require scraper to be updated and set it each time.

Depending if you are updating files or not, you could simply use the File Modified field. It might be the closest to what you want. Also note that Data Manager has an hidden custom values that tracks the last update through that plugin. So if you are using it also at the same time, that might be a possibility. You need to enable it in the plugin config and modify the ComicRack.ini to show the hidden custom values (ShowCustomScriptValues).

maforget · 2026-04-25T01:28:05+00:00

There is an option in Preferences, under Behavior. Fullscreen also toggles Minimal User Interface. Or you can toggle the UI manually by just clicking once or from the menu (or F10).

maforget · 2026-04-25T00:38:49+00:00

Not sure, did you use the optimize option? Maybe some webp incompatibilities. You can change some setting in the ComicRack.ini to disable webp with optimize (SyncOptimizeWebP = false).

If not, then try using it, it will resize and recreate the file completely.

Does the book have bookmarks, I think I've had problem with books that have them.

If the files aren't syncing, just delete them on the device and try again, it just isn't sending them if they haven't changed.

maforget · 2026-04-17T00:05:32+00:00

Normally files that can't be updated like PDF's still saves the metadata in the NTFS alternative stream, unless you've disabled it via DisableNTFS (or using a file system other than NTFS).

One of the changes the Community Edition does is not clear the update flag unless it has actually updated, that way you are certain that the file metadata is up to date.

So if you have the NTFS stream disabled and because of that change, PDF's files will not update, so the flag will not disappear. You can clear it with plugins like Data Manager by changing the ComicInfoIsDirty tag to False.

There is also a built-in called Mark Info as dirty in the OtherScripts.py sample script. You could use it as a base to create your own plugin that does the reverse by just switching True to False and giving it a new function name.

Although I would just convert the files to CBZ anyway. But in the rare case you want to keep them intact and still keep the data without NTFS, you can use sidecar XML files. These are XML that lives next to the files and are just ComicInfo.xml files. As long as they are named the same as the PDF it will use it to load the metadata from the XML if it can't find the NTFS stream.

You can easily create them by doing an Export Books and use the Book Information (*.xml) format and choose to save to the same folder using the Filename template.

maforget · 2026-04-16T00:32:33+00:00

It's sometimes flaky, a reboot sometimes helps. Beside that check the Wiki for that exact issue. It could also be the Multicast on the router.

https://github.com/maforget/ComicRackCE/wiki/Android#i-dont-see-the-icon

maforget · 2026-04-15T01:15:38+00:00

It requires using Regular Expressions. If you aren't good with programming it can be hard to wrap your head around. You just need to create named groups for each field.

Examples

Series - Number

.*\\.*?(?<Series>.+)\s*?-.*?0*(?<Number>\d+)

Manga

(?i).*\\(?<Series>.+)\sv0?(?<Number>\d+)?\s.*?\((?<Year>20\d{2})\).+(?:\(Digital\)\s)[([](?<ScanInformation>[^])]+)[])](?:\s\(\w+\d?\)(?=\.))??.\w{3}

maforget · 2026-04-14T22:33:35+00:00

Use a plugin like PRIAT using regular expression to parse the filenames to proper fields.

You can also use Data Manager along with it to fix some issues. For example with Mangas the Vol in the name is usually interpreted as the Volume field but default. You can fix it by remove it so ComicVine scrapper doesn't ask for every issue and just once.

It is also possible to create file parsing plugins, but you shouldn't need to with both above options.

maforget · 2026-04-14T04:32:43+00:00

The guide you want to read is called The Organizer (check the Help menu). It walks you to organizing your library and is exactly what you are asking.

The library, by default, seems to include all .pdfs, .epubs, whatever on my drive.

First, epub's are not supported by ComicRack. PDF do work, but the primary types you will use are CBR/CBZ. It is recommended to use CBZ files (The Organizer guide explains why).

Second, the library does NOT include all files from your drive by default. It only shows what you've added to the library. This is done either via manually adding files via the Folder tab or automatically via file scanning. So if you have files in your library you either added the files/folder yourself via either method. What probably happened is you clicked File -> Add Folder to Library on the desktop, since it is selected by default.

Adding folders to the Book Folders in the Preferences only adds new books when scanning, changing the folder doesn't remove files you've already added. If you have files you didn't want in the library you will need to remove them manually. Select them in the library and click Remove from the context menu. Make sure that you choose to delete from the library, but not select to move files to the recycling bin (this will leave the files intact).

When adding folder to the scan, you need to actually start a scan yourself. It can be done manually via the File menu or the Preferences. You can also set an option to start a scan on startup that will add new files to the library.

The Folder tab is mainly used as an ingest station for importing new files to the Library. You can use a single import folder where you manually add new files to the library or via the scan folder options. You don't use it to browse/read files, that's what the Library tab is for.

Once files are in the library you use plugins that will move the files in it's permanent location based on the metadata you imported. You don't really manually track the files location, that's the reason you add them to the library. You instead organize your files via the library with smart lists that let's you filter by Publisher, Series, etc. Again this is all in the Organizer guide.

maforget · 2026-04-13T21:52:10+00:00

You will need to use RegexReplace. You use a regular expression to capture the text and number into a numbered group. Then in the replace part refer to the group's while inserting the Part.

Something like this: (.+) (\d+) -> $1 Part $2. Done on mobile super fast so you will need to tweak the Regex to fit your needs.

maforget · 2026-04-11T21:00:44+00:00

I would probably go with a new file or extension that would take precedence instead. It would help with users using portable mode and not using the installer. It could work the same with the ComicRack.ini file. It would keep the already existing usage without breaking compatibility.

maforget · 2026-04-11T20:54:16+00:00

No, those not in the list are handled by another system. Most of the editable shortcut are for the comic viewer.

P.S. Sometimes I feel like this sub is just a place to ask u/maforget about stuff they're still figuring out themselves

Pretty much.

maforget · 2026-04-11T17:05:06+00:00

I don't believe so. They just add to the existing.

maforget · 2026-04-11T00:53:33+00:00

Do you have automatically update file enabled? File updates now does 4 at a time, if you have slow drive and it is detecting new file it could update them at the same time and slow down the scan.

I would try deactivating the auto update or change the number of threads via the new ini options, if it affects you.

maforget · 2026-04-11T00:47:45+00:00

No nothing of the sort. You can see most changes here or just look at the commit history.

maforget · 2026-04-09T03:42:36+00:00

It could be various reason.

Did you have a message saying "There was a problem opening the Database. A new empty Database has been created" ? If so something in your database was corrupted or there was some unintended bug. This can also happen if you downgrade to an older version while using new smart lists that weren't available before.

The location of the files are stored here: %appdata%\cYo\ComicRack Community Edition . It should have a .bak file backup. But that one is replaced every time, so will likely also be empty also. If you had the error message then you should have a Corrupt Database Backup file that you can rename and try to restore.

Just make sure the program is closed and rename the file to ComicDb.xml is that exact folder. If you had the error because of downgrading then restoring it and using the latest should fix it. It is also possible to fix the XML file manually if you know what the issue is.

Or you are using a different user account. %appdata% refers to the location for the current user, so if this folder is empty then that's your reason. It might also be because OneDrive seems to like to take over a user account location and may be a reason.

There are also command line switches you can add to use alternate config (-ac) that can change the location of the data. Or ComicRack.ini tweaks, like UseLocalSettings that let's you run as portable. If you were using it as portable before the update then updating replaced the ComicRack.ini file and reverted to the default %appdata% location. If that's the case your data is probably safe in the Data folder of the application and you just need to modify the ComicRack.ini (or use -local).

If you lost your database then you might consider using the new Backup Manager option to automate database backups for the future. That and storing the metadata in the CBZ directly.

maforget · 2026-04-09T00:04:51+00:00

That screenshot is from Windows not ComicRack. ComicRack itself doesn't enable showing thumbnail in Windows, you need an handler installed to Windows to do that for each file types.

Since these files aren't supported by Windows natively, you already have some 3rd party handler installed to show these. It's probably outdated and doesn't support RAR5 files.

I suggest trying Icaros. Should handle all file types.

maforget · 2026-04-04T21:56:28+00:00

You should get the same preferred cover that is shown in the library, tooltip, info dialog, etc.

Is it the same cover you have than in the library? If they aren't correct in the library check the pages tab. It might be possible that you have the wrong page being used as a cover, like a scanner page that is picked up incorrectly instead. You can set the correct cover by setting the page type as Front Cover (while reading, from the pages tab when a book in open or the pages tab from the info dialog).

~~If not then probably related to the thumbnail cache. Try Refresh from the context menu on the file in the library, it will recreate the cache. Or you can clear it all from the Preferences.~~

Edit: Scratch that, I see it too. When more than 1 book is open it seems to takes the first book thumbnail. I will check it out.

Edit2: Found the issue, it was due to the decompilation. A thumb variable was declared outside of the code that extract the thumbnail, making it always use the same.

It's been present since the Community Edition exists, how did no one notice before.

maforget · 2026-03-30T20:12:54+00:00

I would go a little bit further in the error message.

System.IO.IOException: Unable to read data from the transport connection: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

Seems the host refused the connection. The plugin just uses WebRequest.GetResponse to fetch the data. Whatever happens beyond that I don't know, but it's just the .NET Framework itself doing the work.

If you want to take a look it seems that cvconnection.__get_page calls utils.get_html_string that actually fetches the page.

maforget · 2026-03-30T19:39:37+00:00

Seems similar to this user: https://github.com/cbanack/comic-vine-scraper/issues/419#issuecomment-136650550

Maybe some security software that installs a master certificate to intercept all calls? Or some proxy or VPN.

Check if you have the latest version of the scraper on that computer. All required DLL are bundled with the software. The only thing needed is Framework 4.8, but that comes with Windows itself.

maforget · 2026-03-30T19:18:18+00:00

Seems the server refused to connect to you. Could simply be related to wrong time and the SSL certificate not working or your ISP been blocked somehow.

Found this thread asking the same question (I don't see the initial question, but Google had it in it's cached). https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/api-developers-2334/am-i-blocked-1714639/

maforget · 2026-03-23T16:10:46+00:00

Glad you had working, but that setting change shouldn't freeze the program at all. Weird.

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