New plugin: ZoteroQuickLook

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  • edited July 18, 2012
    Edit: I previously posted that ZQL would not work with Standalone, but it seems to be working just fine. For some reason the preview appeared on the second monitor and I did not notice it.

    When reporting problems, report the exact versions. ZQL 1.3.1 works with Standalone 3.0.7.Source.325c78d on Mac OS 10.7.4 just fine for me.
  • @JohannesDue:

    Can you please tell me what version of FF and whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit? Thanks so much in advance.
  • rfinney: I will look at the Windows version at some time. Unfortunately I am currently busy with getting ZotPad 1.1 to a release state. I will set up a virtual computer to test the Windows version of Zotero QuickLook after that.
  • @mronkko: Thanks so much. I have been trying to figure out whether it is just me, or the latest FF versions (13,14,15), or what. I will wait to hear from you . . . and I understand it might be a bit. No problem . . thanks again.
  • edited August 3, 2012
    Similar problem with Standalone: Using, FF 12, and Zotero/Zotero Standalone 3.0.8:
    QL works fine in FF, not in Standalone.
    Interestingly (this is why I am posting this): After I try to use the QL in Zotero Standalone with no success, QL stops working in Zotero as well. I disabled and re-enable it to make it work again in Firefox...
    (this happens both in QL 1.3.0 and .1)

    Mac OS X, (10.6.8)
  • gilsayer: It works just fine for me. If you post your logs online, I can take a look

    Do this:
    1) Run Zotero Standalone with real time debug info http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output#mac_os_x
    2) Try to use ZoteroQuicklook
    3) Post your log here https://gist.github.com and then post a link to the log
  • Sorry mronkko, I thought I had found something interesting, it turns out that I was the one "interesting" (to suppose that quicklook would install itself for standalone by its own in a magical move…)
    Sorry again and thanks for your time …

    (For the novice: you should install the plug-in for standalone as well before wondering about what goes on)
  • So, does Zoteroquicklook work on the Firefox plug-in version as well, or just on the stand-alone version? I've been trying to install it but keep getting "Error message: Zotero QuickLook cannot be installed because Firefox cannot modify the needed file." mentioned above.
  • quicklook works on Firefox, but Windows users appear to have a number of problems installing and using it. You could try installing maComfort first, that may(!) help.
  • Yes, I've installed maComfort first but it didn't help. I guess it's hit or miss.
  • As I understand this isn't actually a problem with the extension - you can google the error (w/o the name of the add-on, of course) and find hundreds of thousands of results.
    Firebug suggests these steps for the same issue - may be worth trying:
    https://getfirebug.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#Can.27t_Install_Firebug_on_Windows

    That said, last I checked, this wasn't super useful on Windows, as the preview lags quite a bit (whereas it's instantaneous on Mac and almost so on linux) - you may be almost as fast just opening PDFs with a quick PDFviewer like FoxIt.
  • you may be almost as fast just opening PDFs with a quick PDFviewer like FoxIt
    What I was going to value in ZoteroQuickLook was not its same-screen preview functionality; I was going to value its ability to read a citation field in a Word document and bring up the reference. My computer set up is quick enough that there is almost no lag between the double-clicking of an item in Zotero and its opening in Adobe Acrobat. The lag takes place between the time I read a citation field in a Word document and I find that citation within Zotero. I was hoping ZoteroQuickLook was going to obviate that very step.
  • makes sense. Try the suggestions on the Firebug page then.
  • I was going to value its ability to read a citation field in a Word document and bring up the reference.
    I think this only works on Mac: http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/11441/4/new-plugin-zoteroquicklook/#Item_33
  • Quick look from citations is currently implemented only for Mac Word. I do not know how much work it would be to implement it for Windows. Please make a feature request at the ZQL github page, and I will take a look on it. I am currently traveling, so any new version of ZQL that would support this on Windows would come outin late December the earliest.
  • Dear mronkko2,

    I have problem installing this addon.

    My system in vista 32 bit with firefox 17.0.1 installed as a user in user directory. My system is behind the proxy (work place) with McAfee firewall. I have installed macomfort first.

    When I installed it said "ZoteroQuickLook cannot be installed because firefox cannnot modify the needed file". After failed attempt to install this addon, I tried installing other addon but they were installed without any glitch and working properly.

    I have tried installing this addon from mozilla addon directory from their website and directly by downloading and opening with firefox both in normal mode and safe-mode.

    I also did a reset of firefox and also change the profile directory to a shorter system path rather than in user directory. I also tried removing the extension.ini , cache, rdf, sqlite etc. from profile directory.

    Ultimately I tried reinstalling firefox completely (even removed the profile directory manually and deleted all firefox related files) with reinstallation of only zotero related addons but still to no avail.

    I have also tried installing to other computer, both windows 7 enterprise edition and vista business edition (running firefox 17.0.1), but got the same message as previously described.

    So please help me further to install this addon on my PC.

    Waiting for your help.

    Thanks
  • Namah_h: please see the comments and links in earlier posts about the issue. The problem did not occur during my testing and I do not have a windows computer at the moment, so there is nothing that I can do to help. It is probably a Firefox bug, so you might ge help from the Mozilla forums.
  • First, thank you for a very useful tool.

    I'm having two minor issues with ZQL:
    1. After installation, I get a pop-up at each launch of Zotero asking for the Word Script Menu Items folder. Nothing other than the ZQL install has changed.
    2. When quicklook is activated for an item (ie push space), "qlmanage" turns up as a new app in the program bar - and then disappears when quicklook is deactivated again (space again). Additionally, in the title bar of the quicklook window the filename (only use PDFs) is prefixed by '[DEBUG]'.

    Perhaps small nuisances, but enough to have me temporarily deactivate the add-on again. Any suggestions?

    This is on:
    Zotero Standalone 3.0.14.1
    ZQL 1.3.1
    OSX 10.8.2
  • edited February 28, 2013
    1. After installation, I get a pop-up at each launch of Zotero asking for the Word Script Menu Items folder. Nothing other than the ZQL install has changed
    If you are willing to troubleshoot this, please send me a private message.
    2. When quicklook is activated for an item (ie push space), "qlmanage" turns up as a new app in the program bar - and then disappears when quicklook is deactivated again (space again). Additionally, in the title bar of the quicklook window the filename (only use PDFs) is prefixed by '[DEBUG]'.
    Apple does not provide a way to activate QuickLook from Firefox, so ZQL uses qlmanage, which is intended for testing QuickLook components. The icon can be disabled by following these instructions

    http://superuser.com/questions/217649/show-hide-application-icon-in-dock

    and the [DEBUG] prefix is so small annoyance that it is not worth fixing.

    In theory, it would be possible to code a Mac application that would replace qlmanage and include that with ZQL, but this is not worth the effort.
  • There is a new version available for testing. This adds support for Zotero 4

    https://github.com/mronkko/ZoteroQuickLook/blob/master/zoteroquicklook.xpi

    Please report any problems here. If there are no issues in the next few days, I will release this version to all users.
  • @ mronkko
    Thank you for that plug in. It's really helpful
    I've read something about a script for word above, how can I install that?
    It wasn't installed automatically and I don't know how to extract it from the xpi file ...

    Thanks again.

    My system:
    Mac OS X 10.6.8,
    Zotero standalone 4.0.5,
    Chrome 26.0.1410.65
    Word 2011 14.3.2
  • It should install automatically. If it does not, you can create an issue at Github (https://github.com/mronkko/ZoteroQuickLook/issues) and I will take a look at it.
  • Issue created.
    Thanks for the quick response.
  • Thanks. It is nice to have people that are willing to help by testing.

    https://github.com/mronkko/ZoteroQuickLook/issues/4
  • mronkko, I just tried to download the file (W7, 64bit, Firefox latest version), and I get the following message: "ZTL cannot be installed because Firefox cannot modify the needed file." I don't think I am savvy enough to be an official tester, and don't have time. Will the earlier version work on Standalone?
  • "ZTL cannot be installed because Firefox cannot modify the needed file." is a Firefox problem. See the post by adamsmith on June 29th 2012 earlier in this thread.
  • Testing went fine on my system; now working. Thanks.

    Mac OS 10.8.3
    Firefox 20.0
    Zotero 4.0.5
  • The add-on homepage describes that:

    "Chancing the active item with arrow keys while the QuickLook is open will change the item that is shown in Quick Look."

    But when I press arrow keys while an item is up, ZQL shows the next page of the same PDF, rather than the next item on Zotero's list. Is there a separate way to view the next item, or is it a bug?

    I'm using Zotero 4.0.5 (not in a separate tab) and ZQL 1.3.1 on FF 20.0 on OS-X 10.8.3.
  • That is a change in how qlpreview works between OS X 10.6 and before and 10.7 and after. In 10.6 and before qlpreview did not receive focus, but it does so now. So this is an error in documentation, and it is now fixed.

    It is possible that this functionality may return at some point, but that depends on me having extra time to code a replacement for qlpreview, and it is quite unlikely at the moment.
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