I'm curious as to whether a solution is being worked on that will solve the problems between Zotero and Eric. Another academic year will be starting soon, and it would be great if professional educators and students could have full use of Zotero with one of the main resources they use for learning and research (http://eric.ed.gov/).
I tried what you wrote in your post of 8/22/10, and it doesn't work except if I change the file extension ".ris" to ".txt," exactly the same as before (see my posts dated 2/12/10).
The .ris version acted exactly as it did before. The green import line went from left to right a few hundred times, but nothing imported.
Thanks for your efforts, I hope they continue. I look forward to full functionality of Zotero with ERIC.
@ProjGeekette - ajlyon fixed the regular ERIC translator - you should get icons in the URL bar as for other sites for both individual items and search results.
The .ris issue is harder to track down, as Dan has said before he can't reproduce it - it's probably windows vista related - but it also seems irrelevant now that the site is fully functional otherwise.
@adamsmith -- ERIC operates differently from what you describe for export of multiple citations -- it does not work with icons in the toolbar. It works with a "clipboard" interface. I made a screen shot of the interface with the link highlighted that is used for citation exports in ERIC. How can I email you a screen shot of that interface?
I know how ERIC works.
But that's not how Zotero works.
You just don't need the clipboard - if you want to put articles from a search into Zotero, click the yellow folder in the URL bar, select those articles and click OK.
No need to add them to the clipboard, go to the clipboard, export citation, select the right format etc...
I see that the RIS import from ERIC is indeed buggy, but that's probably something they are doing and since this is always only the second solution for import to Zotero I don't really think trying to fix this is a good use of scarce resources.
Maybe someone can tell you more precisely what the problem with the RIS files from ERIC is, so that you can contact them about this.
Dan - I have been able to reproduce the strange RIS import issue as described above.
The RIS is valid - it imports fine when copied to the clipboard. But trying to import the file citation.ris Zotero displays an endless "Importing Items".
There is nothing in the error console, but I was able to send debug output to Zotero with
D593286616
it looked like the relevant errors were captured.
Adam Smith -- I see what you're saying (2 posts ago). This is how I revised it, and it worked: * In ERIC, do a search http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/basic.jsp * Show an appropriate number of results per page (upper left) * Click on folder in icon bar, select citations.
The key is to bypass ERIC's "clipboard" feature and its "saved folder" feature.
Adam, If you are able to address the .ris files through ERIC's clipboard and saved folders, all the better, particularly for new Zotero users who may be discouraged by a perceived lack of functionality.
I've added support for saving from folder and clipboard pages. Just click the folder icon in the address bar while viewing a clipboard or folder, then select the items you'd like to save.
I have not looked into the RIS issue, but this should obviate it.
You will need to download the updated translator again from the address above to try the new functionality.
Ajlyon -- sorry to say, but there is no folder or other related icon visible in the tool bar when I'm viewing a clipboard (with multiple items) or folder (with multiple items).
@ajlyon - Yes - * I re-downloaded the translator. * I re-loaded the pages (even re-started my computer)
When I download a file through the "export citations" link in an ERIC folder, I get the same perpetual green line from left to right with no actual import of citations.
ProjGeekette - don't use "export citations". Do use the clipboard, but then again click the yellow folder in the URL bar, not the export citations link - makes sense?
edit: Sorry, it seems like you did that - but it seems to be there - for me at least.
Adam Smith - Do you mean "clipboard" the way ERIC defines it -
"My Clipboard is a temporary work area only. Records added to My Clipboard will be stored in the browser as cookies. To save Clipboard records permanently for future use, select the "Save to My ERIC for future use" link below. Also note that new items are added at the bottom of the list. Use the checkboxes on the left to select records below that you would like to print, email, export or save."
If you're on a Clipboard page, you see this description.
When I use the ERIC clipboard feature, there is no folder or other Zotero-friendly icon that appears in the toolbar.
If you're not seeing the icon, then there's something wrong with your installation or something specific to the way that you are connecting to ERIC. Are you perhaps using a proxy? What is the URL in the address bar when you are viewing your clipboard? When you are viewing a saved folder?
I've done this logged in and not, with saved items and with "clipboard" items. The translator works for me.
I still wonder if perhaps you aren't getting the newest version of the ERIC translator. Can you take a look a the translator source, located in the translators directory of your Zotero data directory, and open it in a text editor (Notepad or TextEdit should be fine). Search for "clipboard". If it's there, I really don't know why this doesn't work in your case.
There are 3 instances of the word "clipboard" in the ERIC translator text, so the answer to your question is "yes":
string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/clipboard/performExport.jsp"; var idpath='//a[img[@width="64"]]'; var ids=doc.evaluate(idpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null); var items=new Array(); var titlpath='//table[@class="tblSearchResult"]//td[@class="resultHeader"][1]/p/a'; var titlerows=doc.evaluate(titlpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null); var id; while(id=ids.iterateNext()) items[id.id]=Zotero.Utilities.cleanTags(Zotero.Utilities.cleanString(titlerows.iterateNext().textContent)); items=Zotero.selectItems(items); var string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/MyERIC/clipboard/performExport.jsp?"; for(var ids in items) string+="accno="+ids+"&"; string+="texttype=endnote&citationtype=brief&Download.x=86&Download.y=14"; Zotero.debug(string); Zotero.Utilities.HTTP.doGet(string, function(text) { var trans=Zotero.loadTranslator("import"); trans.setTranslator("32d59d2d-b65a-4da4-b0a3-bdd3cfb979e7"); trans.setString(text); trans.setHandler("itemDone", function(obj, newItem) { var linkpath='//tbody[tr/td/a/@id="'+newItem.itemID+'"]/tr/td/p/a[@class="action"]'; var link=doc.evaluate(linkpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null).iterateNext(); if(link) newItem.attachments.push({url:link.href, title:newItem.title, mimeType:"application/pdf"}); newItem.complete(); }); trans.translate(); Zotero.done(); }); Zotero.wait(); } var type = detectWeb(doc, url); if(type && type != "multiple") { var idpath='//tr[/td[1]/span/a/strong/contains("ERIC #")]/td[2]'; var idpath2='//meta[@name="eric #"]/@content'; var id = url.match(/accno=([^&]+)/)[1]; var string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/MyERIC/clipboard/performExport.jsp?"; string+= "accno="+
Thank you for your continued work to make Zotero compatible with ERIC. Please note that this error has been reported in this forum since March of 2008 by several Zotero users.
Aha! Yes, the word "clipboard" appears, but that's not the updated translator. For some reason, you are not succeeding in installing the translator.
In a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit, open the ERIC.js translator that is in the translators directory of your Zotero data directory. Go to http://github.com/ajlyon/zotero-bits/raw/master/ERIC.js , copy the entirety of that page and paste it into the ERIC.js translator you have open, replacing the old text completely. Save the file and restart Firefox.
I'm confident that once we get your Zotero installation to use the new version, this feature will start working for you. Note as well that the previously reported errors in this forum are unrelated.
I did just come across a small bug in my translator code which prevented it from translating some, generally older, single article pages. This shouldn't be related to the issue you are seeing. It has been fixed at the link above.
I re-formatted the translator with the new information as you suggested, even though when I copied the new translator over to the appropriate directory a couple of days ago Windows Vista asked me if I wanted to replace the existing file with the new one, and I said "yes." So I can only assume that I had the new version over the past couple of days.
I tried importing a .ris file from Eric once more after the changes outlined above, and the same thing happened as previous. I have a Jing video of the attempt that throws up an error description that I can send you if you would care to supply me with an email address.
No need to speculate here. Open the ERIC.js in your translators directory and check the lastUpdated timestamp in the block at the top. If it's the same date as in ajlyon's version, that's the updated version. Then, to make sure that's the version Zotero is using, change the translator name in the block at the top from "ERIC" to, say, "ERIC 2". Then restart Firefox and hover over the address bar icon on ERIC. It should say "ERIC 2".
No! You don't need to import RIS files. Not at all. Just view the clipboard, and click the icon in the address bar. Same thing with your folders. View the folder and click in the address bar.
That said, you can email me the video at ajlyon@gmail.com , if this still doesn't work. Perhaps I can see what's going wrong.
The way that ERIC operates if you want to import multiple files is to have you check off which files you want to import in either the Clipboard or Saved Folders. It offers no explicit way to use icons in the toolbar. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of Zotero users who want to import files from ERIC will believe that Zotero does not offer the functionality of importing files through ERIC. That is the important issue here. It is not important that numerous persons have found workarounds and were willing to document them here.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to fix this bug.
ProjGeekette -
I believe that's inaccurate as an assessment of users: Once you start using Zotero a little, you _always_ first look into the URL bar. That's the default way of getting items into Zotero that's highlighted on the webpage, in every intro video and in every Zotero presentation I'm aware of. As long as the icon shows up and you can use it that's how people get items into Zotero. This is much faster than any other method and in no way a workaround.
The workaround is the clumsy, three step method that endnote and procite require and that, for some reason, you seem attached to - and note that nowhere does it say that this should work with Zotero (the ERIC page says Endnote, Procite, Reference Manager).
I'm not perfectly clear why that doesn't work with Zotero, but note that comparable export works on a whole range of other pages like EBSCO. All of them are handled by the same translator - RIS.js - and the fact that it doesn't work on ERIC means that they're doing something funny with their RIS files.
Is there an icon in the address bar? If so, you will need to click on it when you are on a page that has information you would like to save to your Zotero library. Yes, this is not completely the same as the ERIC designers had in mind, but it is consistent with the way the rest of the Zotero user interface works.
It would be great to address the RIS import issue, but replicating the ERIC experience is not really our goal here in writing Zotero translators. The goal is to make it so that whenever a Zotero user is somewhere on the web and sees something, an article, a movie, whatever, that might be useful in future research, all the user needs to do is click on the address bar icon, and Zotero will save all the appropriate metadata and attachments that that user would like to see in the future. This sometimes means that the Zotero-user workflow differs from that of the non-Zotero user, but it is pretty much consistent across all sites that a Zotero user sees.
Upgrade Storage
Please go to http://github.com/ajlyon/zotero-bits/raw/master/ERIC.js and save the file to the translators directory of your Zotero data directory (http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data).
It should start working again. If this works for you, please post here so that I can submit this change to be pushed to all users.
I tried what you wrote in your post of 8/22/10, and it doesn't work except if I change the file extension ".ris" to ".txt," exactly the same as before (see my posts dated 2/12/10).
The .ris version acted exactly as it did before. The green import line went from left to right a few hundred times, but nothing imported.
Thanks for your efforts, I hope they continue. I look forward to full functionality of Zotero with ERIC.
The .ris issue is harder to track down, as Dan has said before he can't reproduce it - it's probably windows vista related - but it also seems irrelevant now that the site is fully functional otherwise.
@Ajlyon - tested a couple - works fine for me
But that's not how Zotero works.
You just don't need the clipboard - if you want to put articles from a search into Zotero, click the yellow folder in the URL bar, select those articles and click OK.
No need to add them to the clipboard, go to the clipboard, export citation, select the right format etc...
I see that the RIS import from ERIC is indeed buggy, but that's probably something they are doing and since this is always only the second solution for import to Zotero I don't really think trying to fix this is a good use of scarce resources.
Maybe someone can tell you more precisely what the problem with the RIS files from ERIC is, so that you can contact them about this.
The RIS is valid - it imports fine when copied to the clipboard. But trying to import the file citation.ris Zotero displays an endless "Importing Items".
There is nothing in the error console, but I was able to send debug output to Zotero with
D593286616
it looked like the relevant errors were captured.
* In ERIC, do a search http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/basic.jsp
* Show an appropriate number of results per page (upper left)
* Click on folder in icon bar, select citations.
The key is to bypass ERIC's "clipboard" feature and its "saved folder" feature.
Adam, If you are able to address the .ris files through ERIC's clipboard and saved folders, all the better, particularly for new Zotero users who may be discouraged by a perceived lack of functionality.
Thank you for your efforts.
I have not looked into the RIS issue, but this should obviate it.
You will need to download the updated translator again from the address above to try the new functionality.
* I re-downloaded the translator.
* I re-loaded the pages (even re-started my computer)
When I download a file through the "export citations" link in an ERIC folder, I get the same perpetual green line from left to right with no actual import of citations.
Thanks again for your ongoing efforts with this.
ProjGeekette - don't use "export citations". Do use the clipboard, but then again click the yellow folder in the URL bar, not the export citations link - makes sense?
edit: Sorry, it seems like you did that - but it seems to be there - for me at least.
"My Clipboard is a temporary work area only. Records added to My Clipboard will be stored in the browser as cookies. To save Clipboard records permanently for future use, select the "Save to My ERIC for future use" link below. Also note that new items are added at the bottom of the list. Use the checkboxes on the left to select records below that you would like to print, email, export or save."
If you're on a Clipboard page, you see this description.
When I use the ERIC clipboard feature, there is no folder or other Zotero-friendly icon that appears in the toolbar.
URL when using the ERIC clipboard is http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/clipboard.jsp?searchtype=basic&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0="semantic+web"&eric_displayStartCount=1&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&_pageLabel=Clipboard&_urlType=action&_nfls=false
(Will state "no records" when you open it).
The ERIC Clipboard and Saved Folder are nearly identical. Here's the URL for a saved folder http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/MyERIC/clipboard/viewFolder.jsp?folderIndex=6
(Again, you won't be able to see the content.)
Hope this helps.
I only tried this w/o logging in.
I still wonder if perhaps you aren't getting the newest version of the ERIC translator. Can you take a look a the translator source, located in the translators directory of your Zotero data directory, and open it in a text editor (Notepad or TextEdit should be fine). Search for "clipboard". If it's there, I really don't know why this doesn't work in your case.
There are 3 instances of the word "clipboard" in the ERIC translator text, so the answer to your question is "yes":
string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/clipboard/performExport.jsp";
var idpath='//a[img[@width="64"]]';
var ids=doc.evaluate(idpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null);
var items=new Array();
var titlpath='//table[@class="tblSearchResult"]//td[@class="resultHeader"][1]/p/a';
var titlerows=doc.evaluate(titlpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null);
var id;
while(id=ids.iterateNext())
items[id.id]=Zotero.Utilities.cleanTags(Zotero.Utilities.cleanString(titlerows.iterateNext().textContent));
items=Zotero.selectItems(items);
var string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/MyERIC/clipboard/performExport.jsp?";
for(var ids in items)
string+="accno="+ids+"&";
string+="texttype=endnote&citationtype=brief&Download.x=86&Download.y=14";
Zotero.debug(string);
Zotero.Utilities.HTTP.doGet(string, function(text) {
var trans=Zotero.loadTranslator("import");
trans.setTranslator("32d59d2d-b65a-4da4-b0a3-bdd3cfb979e7");
trans.setString(text);
trans.setHandler("itemDone", function(obj, newItem) {
var linkpath='//tbody[tr/td/a/@id="'+newItem.itemID+'"]/tr/td/p/a[@class="action"]';
var link=doc.evaluate(linkpath, doc, nsResolver, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null).iterateNext();
if(link)
newItem.attachments.push({url:link.href, title:newItem.title, mimeType:"application/pdf"});
newItem.complete();
});
trans.translate();
Zotero.done();
});
Zotero.wait();
}
var type = detectWeb(doc, url);
if(type && type != "multiple") {
var idpath='//tr[/td[1]/span/a/strong/contains("ERIC #")]/td[2]';
var idpath2='//meta[@name="eric #"]/@content';
var id = url.match(/accno=([^&]+)/)[1];
var string="http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/MyERIC/clipboard/performExport.jsp?";
string+= "accno="+
Thank you for your continued work to make Zotero compatible with ERIC. Please note that this error has been reported in this forum since March of 2008 by several Zotero users.
In a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit, open the ERIC.js translator that is in the translators directory of your Zotero data directory. Go to http://github.com/ajlyon/zotero-bits/raw/master/ERIC.js , copy the entirety of that page and paste it into the ERIC.js translator you have open, replacing the old text completely. Save the file and restart Firefox.
I'm confident that once we get your Zotero installation to use the new version, this feature will start working for you. Note as well that the previously reported errors in this forum are unrelated.
I re-formatted the translator with the new information as you suggested, even though when I copied the new translator over to the appropriate directory a couple of days ago Windows Vista asked me if I wanted to replace the existing file with the new one, and I said "yes." So I can only assume that I had the new version over the past couple of days.
I tried importing a .ris file from Eric once more after the changes outlined above, and the same thing happened as previous. I have a Jing video of the attempt that throws up an error description that I can send you if you would care to supply me with an email address.
That said, you can email me the video at ajlyon@gmail.com , if this still doesn't work. Perhaps I can see what's going wrong.
I assume that that is the latest version.
@ajlyon,
The way that ERIC operates if you want to import multiple files is to have you check off which files you want to import in either the Clipboard or Saved Folders. It offers no explicit way to use icons in the toolbar. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of Zotero users who want to import files from ERIC will believe that Zotero does not offer the functionality of importing files through ERIC. That is the important issue here. It is not important that numerous persons have found workarounds and were willing to document them here.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to fix this bug.
I believe that's inaccurate as an assessment of users: Once you start using Zotero a little, you _always_ first look into the URL bar. That's the default way of getting items into Zotero that's highlighted on the webpage, in every intro video and in every Zotero presentation I'm aware of. As long as the icon shows up and you can use it that's how people get items into Zotero. This is much faster than any other method and in no way a workaround.
The workaround is the clumsy, three step method that endnote and procite require and that, for some reason, you seem attached to - and note that nowhere does it say that this should work with Zotero (the ERIC page says Endnote, Procite, Reference Manager).
I'm not perfectly clear why that doesn't work with Zotero, but note that comparable export works on a whole range of other pages like EBSCO. All of them are handled by the same translator - RIS.js - and the fact that it doesn't work on ERIC means that they're doing something funny with their RIS files.
It would be great to address the RIS import issue, but replicating the ERIC experience is not really our goal here in writing Zotero translators. The goal is to make it so that whenever a Zotero user is somewhere on the web and sees something, an article, a movie, whatever, that might be useful in future research, all the user needs to do is click on the address bar icon, and Zotero will save all the appropriate metadata and attachments that that user would like to see in the future. This sometimes means that the Zotero-user workflow differs from that of the non-Zotero user, but it is pretty much consistent across all sites that a Zotero user sees.