Upgrade Storage"Type" is weirdly overloaded
Using Zotero Standalone...
There is a type field in at least the following documents which is a text input field. So the user can type anything.
* Letter
* Manuscript
* Map
* Presentation
* Thesis
However there is also a column in the center display for the list of items named "type". But for a manuscript the column doesn't display what is in the "Type" field, it displays "Manuscript".
In the "Advanced Search" dialogue you can select "Type" as one of the filters. But here again "Type" is a input field, not a limited drop down list selection.
Weird inconsistency to me...
There is a type field in at least the following documents which is a text input field. So the user can type anything.
* Letter
* Manuscript
* Map
* Presentation
* Thesis
However there is also a column in the center display for the list of items named "type". But for a manuscript the column doesn't display what is in the "Type" field, it displays "Manuscript".
In the "Advanced Search" dialogue you can select "Type" as one of the filters. But here again "Type" is a input field, not a limited drop down list selection.
Weird inconsistency to me...
The other place that needs to be change to "Item Type" is where you select the columns in the main Zotero window.
I was playing with this and just noticed that some of the choices in the left most drop down in "Advanced Search" have a bubble point up when you mouse over. The mouse over text says for example "Thesis Type" but a display of a Thesis item the field is simply "Type".
I'll figure out the other inconsistencies with "Type" / "Item Type" and report them here. There are two many to post them as separate posts.
http://aurimasv.github.io/z2csl/typeMap
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Ok, here are problems with Bubble popup for "Type" in "Advanced Search" choices.
Bubble name / Item Type / Item field name
Letter Type / Letter / Type
Manuscript Type / Manuscript / Type
Map Type / Map / Type
Presentation Type / Presentation / Type
Thesis Type / Thesis / Type
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These Bubble Popup names in "Type" popup in Advanced Search are consistent ...
Genre / Film / Genre
Post Type / Forum Post / Post Type
Report Type / Report / Report Type
Website Type / Blog Post / Website Type
Website Type / Web page / Website Type
The "genre" name is probably a more correct name but it seems like it should be "Film Type" for more consistency.
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The "Medium" choice in Advanced Search has an entry "Audio Recording Type" in the Popup which I suspect to be actually be:
"Audio Recording" / "Format"
The "Podcast" item type has a field named "File Type"
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All in all it would make sense to me to change the "Advanced Search" choice "Type" to "Item Type Field".
In general the "Type" field is a bit ambiguous in terms of what it should contain. Perhaps a hint popup when hovering over the label or the field could clarify this.
Re Medium,
most item types say "Format" for that field: audio recording, film, radio broadcast, tv broadcast, video recording
interview and artwork say "Medium". I'm not sure that "Format" would be incorrect in these cases.
podcast says "File Type". I think "Format" would also be technically correct, but it might sound ambiguous.
So in conclusion, I think maybe the label in advanced search should say Format instead of Medium (although Medium is the base field for all of the above internally), but that's just my (not very informed) opinion. The bubble should probably be updated to include all of the above.
"Publication" has a number of different fields with Title in the name. In fact the only field that doesn't have Title in the name is Publication. Maybe the field name should be "Pub. Title", and have the column name be "Title"?
"Tile" is also a choice with four field types, one of which is "Title".
Attachments aren't necessarily individual files. Note for example doesn't have an associated file. You can have a "snapshot" of a webpage that ends up with a zillion files.
"Advanced Search" has a filter condition field named "Item Type".
Create the following filter.
Item Type / is / Note
You get all the items which have "Note" as their "Item Type" or "Attachment File Type".
If I want both it seems that I should use:
<any>
Item Type / is / Note
Attachment File Type / is / Note
You need both "Attachment File Type" and "Attachment Type" as choices in the "Advanced Search".
The choices that need to be available in The "Advanced Search" filter criteria for "Attachment Type" are:
is, is not / Attached File
is, is not / Note
is, is not / Snapshot
is, is not / URL link
Thus I think you'd be able to filter on all "child types".
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To change post above, if I want notes that are either a "item type" or an attachment it seems that the search specifications that I should use are:
<any>
Item Type / is / Note
Attachment Type / is / Note
One thing that I'm not sure how you could do right now is match only files that are attachments to Zotero items and not standalone files in the database. I might be overlooking something. There is no "Attachment File Type is Note" option. All notes should and do match on "Item Type is Note". You can match Notes that are not attached to Zotero items using the "Show only top-level items". As I say above, I don't think you can find all attached notes currently (though I may be wrong), but you can find all notes attached to journal articles using:
Item Type is Note
Item Type is Journal Article
+ Include parent and child items of matching items
This techincaly find notes + parent items + sibling attachments though.
What I think would help with all of this is the following:
It finally occured to me what was going on with "Attachment File Type". These choices have a discrete file which would be saved.
Notes and snap shots for example are children, but don't have an associate file.
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In a later note I suggest that both "Attachment File Type" and "Attachment Type" are needed.
"Attachment File Type" is what is is now.
"Attachment Type" would be new have choices for child types (Attached File, Copied File, Snapshot, Note, URL Link). Also "Item Type is Note" would need to be changed so that it only reterned parent Notes.
Do away with all hacks:
"Include Parent And Child Items"
"Show only Top tiered Items"
If you only want parent items you include filter condition:
Item Type / is not / attachment
If you want only child types:
Item Type / is / attachment
If you want both you don't have to specify anything. Both types would be "in focus" by default.
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I think these suggestions would clean up the whole parent child thing.
How do you get "blockquote" to work? Does it show up in preview as box?
Inconsistent with above suggestion, but consistent with the current nomenclature, Link attachments are not files, but are matched by "Item Type is Attachment" "Attached File" and URL link are technically the same. They are both just URLs. I don't recall if they are actually discriminated in the database (Edit: they appear to be). Snapshots are file attachments with file type "Web Page" (edit: though they technically don't have to be attachments. It's just hard to separate them from the parent item). Notes are Item Type: Note.
I see what you are getting at, but I think you're thinking of this from a different point of view than I am. Zotero has several Item Types: all the bibliographic items (e.g. Journal Article, Book, Interview, etc.), Notes, Links, Files (Edit: meant to say just files, not file attachments). The bibliographic items can (currently) only be "parent" (or top-level) items, but there has been discussion about creating hierarchical structures, where, for instance, a book item could contain several book section items, which could also contain attachments. Some other item types can only be attachments (e.g. links). But file attachments (what you call Copied Files) and Notes can be either attached to Zotero items or be top-level items.
Thus, I think Item Type should include all of these types. Additionally, there should be a search condition to locate items that are (or are not) attachments. "Include Parent And Child Items" is not really a hack. When you do an advanced search and use (on Windows) Ctrl+A to select all matches, only the items that match will be selected. So if you have a search that matches "Note contains delete me" and you try to select all items, Zotero would only select the Note items. So if you are trying to delete all the items from your library that contain this note, you would not be able to do it this way (though, as it is now, you could Shift select all items from top to bottom). Checking this option allows you to match the parent items in addition to the attachment.
"Show only Top tiered Items" would be unnecessary if "Item is not Attachment" would be implemented. But now, that's essentially what that is.
You just type <blockquote>quote</blockquote>
You have to "Format comment as HTML"
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By "Attached file" and "Copied File" I was trying to make two different child types.
So I have on my harddrive a directory D:\references into which I stick all my PDF files. I create a Zotero link to the file.
If I "copy" file into Zotero, so that Zotero stores it in one of its hashed subdirectories then I'm think of it as "Copied file".
Not sure if I have terminology straight yet... Let's say that I have a Saved search: This should show all Journal Articles whether of not that have a child. By default, both parent and child are displayed. So I get the Journal Article as well at the child pdf "in focus". This would just show Analytical Chemistry articles with pdf files attached. Both parent and child "in focus" (show black...) This would show Analytical Chemistry references for which I do not have a pdf file. (loosely, might have a note attached, but I have no pdf...) This just shows parent items "in focus". The pdf files would be shown, but they would be gray, not black.
Actually This brings up need for a different flag in "Advanced Search". "Display expanded" as checkbox. (same as "+" in view.) In this case I would not want to see child pdfs. But If I type "+" then display list would expand and I could see them. This shows both Analytical Chemistry Journal types which have child pdfs. The parent items are not "in focus". Only the PDF attachment types are "in focus". With "Show Expanded" checked, the list opens with "+" to show expanded list.
So the "Display expanded" checkbox doesn't change which items are In or out of focus. It just controls if the view opens with the items expanded (+) or not (-).
You can press + on your keyboard to expand and - to collapse.
For the rest, I think we're deviating from the topic of this discussion (actually we have deviated a long time ago) and it's becoming confusing what the focus of your above proposal is.
Let's wait for someone else to pitch in on the above discussion (particularly Dan or Simon).
I'll write a summary of where I think things stand tomorrow. That way the other guys won't have to dig through all of this... Yes, I know that, but if you going to save the search it would be nice to control if it displays expended or not when it opens, without having to use an extra keystroke. With a long list I might want to default to collapsed to get more parent "item types" displayed without scrolling.
----------- Switching gears ... ----------------------------------
When you mouse over "Type" in an Advanced Search selection for the left field you get a popup which shows:
Fields:
* Genre
* Letter Type
* Manuscript Type
* Map Type
* Post Type
* Presentation Type
* Thesis Type
* Report Type
* Website Type
Here is a list of some of the item types and their corresponding fields names.
Bubble name / Item Type / Item field name
Letter Type / Letter / Type
Manuscript Type / Manuscript / Type
Map Type / Map / Type
Presentation Type / Presentation / Type
Thesis Type / Thesis / Type Now the "Type" popup list becomes:
Fields:
* Genre
* Post Type
* Type
* Report Type
* Website Type
So now you'll have "Item Type" and "type" as column choices to disaply in the center panel of the main Zotero window.
----------- Switching gears ... ----------------------------------
If you mouse over "Medium" as a choice in the left panel drop-down, the popup displays:
FIELDS:
* Artwork Medium
* Audio File Type
* Audio Recording Format
* Interview Medium
* Video Recording Format
Note that a generalization of Suggestion 5 is to use the same mouse over popups for both choices in Advanced Search and choices in the column selection.
But as with your "*Source" suggestion on another thread, I really don't think this matters.