Google Scholar translator gives could not save error

vav

I get a
"Could not save item. An error occurred while saving this item. Please try again. If the error persists, contact the translator author."
error when trying to save from google scholar. Here's a link to try:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=zotero&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search

Thanks

mattandaniel

Myself and my friends have been having this same error for ALL resources we try to save in Google Scholar. Very annoying since this is one of our main search tools. Any ideas?

Zotero is wicked, by the way!

sean

I'll look into the problem noted by vav, but in general I do not encounter any difficulties saving Google Scholar resources. Try, for example:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=france&btnG=Search
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=digital+humanities&btnG=Search
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=george+mason&btnG=Search

vav

Ok... those links worked for me too...
But I use google scholar through our university website. It uses a portforward service. This enables me to download articles which are subscribed to by our university. Please let me know if I need to furnish any details of this port forwarding to enable reproduction of the bug...

sean

vav: It's not clear to me exactly what kind of problem you're experiencing. What is the bug? Are you saying that Google Scholar works elsewhere but not on your university network or through your university's portal?

mattandaniel

Hi. Hopefully I can clear this up a little.

All is fine when I access the public Google Scholar at scholar.google.com. However, when I access Scholar through my university's proxy (http://scholar.google.com.ezproxy.lib.unimelb.edu.au/), items can't be saved. It senses the list of references ok, the problem occurs once you click on an item to save. At the moment, the popup in the bottom right appears but remains blank and the item is not saved.

I think the problem may be to do with the fact that the university version of google scholar includes other links on the 'Cited by' line, such as our 'Umelb Resources' Link.

To be perfectly clear, here is the line when searching on normal google scholar:

Cited by 691 - Related Articles - Web Search - BL Direct

and through my university

Cited by 691 - Related Articles - Web Search - UMelb Resources - BL Direct

Hope this helps.

Let me know if you want a copy of the html.

cartesian

I've noticed that some of the proxied Google Scholar problems (including those Mattandaniel reports) occur when the "Import into EndNote" links are turned off. Zotero turns these on automatically for the main Google Scholar site, and needs to do so for the proxied versions of it as well.

There's a WORKAROUND for users: In your proxied Google Scholar, click on "Scholar Preferences" next to the Search button, then at bottom of page select the option "Show links to import citations into EndNote", then click Save Preferences. Zotero should now work better (and as a side effect, you'll see an Import into EndNote link under each article).

cartesian

I've made a working version of the Google Scholar translator that fixes the above issue; now it uses a preference setting url instead of a cookie to produce the endnote import links. This also fixes ticket #622. How should I send it to you? (The Export button on Scaffold doesn't seem to do anything, should I use the Copy to Clipboard button and paste it into a message or what?)

dstillman

cartesian: You can attach the translator to that ticket. Thanks!

goodgravy

Cartesian: is there any way you can share your version of the Google Scholar translator you mention above? I can't get scholar to save preferences, no matter how many cookie permissions I tweak, firewalls i pull down, or proxies I disable. It saves other settings but simply will not let me export to End Note no matter what I do, in Firefox and IE. Small attachments can be emailed to: mmmgoodgravy@hotmail.com

many thanks!

cartesian

Goodgravy - can you get Scholar to show the Endnote Import links *before* you try to save any references with Zotero? If you can't, the new translator may not help. Try clearing your cookies and repeating, and if it still doesn't work, post the url you're using.

The SQL code for the translator is attached here:
https://www.zotero.org/trac/ticket/622

BUT I don't myself know a safe way to get it into your Zotero database. Maybe someone else would like to post instructions?

SalishSea

I can confirm that as of V1.0.1 I get the "folder" icon when I pull up a search from
scholar.google.com, but not when I go to google.com/scholar . In this short term the solution is simple - go to scholar.google.com in preference, but this should be an easy fix for the google scholar translator.
Thanks again

sean

Thanks for bringing this problem to our attention. After some investigation the ssue is actually slightly more complicated: although on the surface www.google.com/scholar appears identical to scholar.google.com, certain server-side functions work differently (or don't work at all). Please continue to use scholar.google.com.