Extra field - add as a column header in standalone Zotero

ketchell

There has been discussion about adding a local/user unique ID number. For my genealogy work I do need to map to the uniqueID from Endnote as all my files are so named in a single directory, and I use the same uniqueID in my genealogy program for sources. Wraps up to a neat package. I could use the extra field and manually add my uniqueID there even if it won't import from EndNote. That however poses to questions: can the Extra field be added as an option for the column headers as is Rights? Not sure why RIghts is a column header but Extra would be useful for those of us who use a local uniqueID. I actually started using the Rights field for the ID number. It works just fine, but it will not sort numerically as it must be designated a text field? I could use Rights "as is" if there was a way for me to designate this field as numeric for column sorting. Thanks for any guidance. I'm new to Zotero with the standalone alpha and trying to use it "as is" rather than assume it should conform to the Endnote model as I'd like to switch.

ajlyon

There is no way do designate columns as text or numeric-- extra would probably be treated as text as well.

You can of course buffer your numbers with zeros to get fix sorting.

ketchell

I had already tried entering 0062 instead of 62 in the rights field hoping it was an easy fix for sorting. It converts to 62 in the field display. In the rights column header the 62, 198, 274 are out of order numeric order. Example:

1641
1745
1973
<snip>
2734
2739
274
2749
2750
<snip>
2768
2769
298
62

If entering leading zeros is a programming solution that would be great for a future release. I can use the Rights field to enter my uniqueID. Or if the Extra field was made a column header field, I could use that. Either would work as long as the sort numeric worked in column display. Thanks!

On a different topic --- what is the Rights field for? Assume its rights to the work? Since I don't have a use for that field, it makes a perfect uniqueID field if the sort worked as it is already a default field in all the reference types and a choice in the column header option.

adamsmith

yes - Rights are for the copyrights. It doesn't have a corresponding csl variable - so if you need to cite your uniqueID that's going to be a problem. Otherwise that would work fine.

ketchell

Would like to request that in the next version that the Rights field sort appropriately if leading zeros are included. This would allow those of us desiring a unique local ID number to use this field, display it and sort numerically. Thanks!

ajlyon

I don't see why the rights field is losing the leading zeros in when displayed as a column in the middle panel. I think that this should be considered a bug, since the field is not a numeric one. Imagine for example something like a UPC-- you can't simply drop leading zeros just because the content is made up of digits. Even call numbers in some Russian libraries can have leading zeros.

ketchell

Discovered a solution to getting the numeric sequence.

* Enter a number with leading zeros first time (e.g., 0008) and it will sort and retain the leading zeros
* Enter a number without leading zeros (e.g. 4) and it won't sort nor can you edit that line to make it be 0004; you have to instead completely delete the 4, close the record, go back into the record and type in the 0004 in a blank line (not overwriting as an edit would do)

This is odd behavior and it would be great to have the number in a field be editable to add the leadings zeros, particularly in the rights field which could be used for local uniqueID for those of us who need it.

ajlyon

That's not surprising behavior then -- Zotero compares the new input of "004" to the old content of "4" and sees them as equal, so it just sticks with the old. You could probably enter something with a letter, leave the field, and go back to it and enter "004" as well.

This is something of a gotcha for people who run into it, but behavior like this is useful sometimes as well- people don't want a proliferation of nearly equivalent variants, and this helps reduce that. Similarly, Zotero strips leading and trailing spaces in fields.

ketchell

If I understand correctly, you can "backspace" and edit text, but for numbers use "delete" and retype. That what appears to work for me. I can stay in the Rights field and simply press the delete key and then type the correct number (e.g., 0004 instead of 4). Delete also works in other fields of course to delete all, but in this instance with the numbers the delete key is essential to edit within the field.