Column 3 fields: save data with tab or click to another field

DWL-SDCA

I am regularly frustrated by not being able to discern a pattern to when the contents of a field will remain upon leaving the field and when they will not. After entering data into a field, sometimes if I click on another field the contents of the first field will be lost but if I tab to another field the contents will remain as entered. The tab will take me to the next field (not necessarily what I need) so I must click in the next field I want to edit. This is not a new problem. I've noticed it for a couple of years or more. I try to always tab out of a field but sometimes I don't remember or I strike the wrong key. Sometimes, when I don't tab-out the field's contents are kept. Other times they are not. It is one thing if I entered information in a blank field and the information is lost to a blank field. Other times I have made a subtle change and I don't notice that I have lost the edit I just made.

Is there a list of fields that require a tab or return to keep the contents and a list of fields that keep the contents when I click within another field?

dstillman

Data entered should be saved automatically whenever and however you leave a field, whether that's with Enter, Tab, or clicking elsewhere. If that's ever not the case, it's a bug. I'm not aware of any such issues.

The only exception is hitting Esc, which should revert the field to its previous value.

DWL-SDCA

Thank you. I will start a running screen capture and after a few examples I'll link to it.

DWL-SDCA

Here is one example of my problem (see link to movie):

I bring in an item from Jstage.

It is without an ISSN so I paste it in.

I move to the journal title to change the case from title to sentence.

Upon clicking on the "sentence case" option in the drop-down, the entry in the ISSN field vanishes. I note, however, that after i paste the ISSN again and I click to enter the language code; the entry in the ISSN field remains.

If needed I can provide examples of this behavior with other fields when I have made an edit and the text reverts to its original state if I don't tab away before going to another field.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29002616/zotero-click-away.mov

Thanks

noksagt

If needed I can provide examples of this behavior with other fields when I have made an edit and the text reverts to its original state if I don't tab away before going to another field.

Just out of curiosity: are there examples that don't involve right clicking on another field & selecting to either transform text or swap first/last names?

DWL-SDCA

@noksagt ...are there examples that don't involve right clicking...

I think so but I will need to run tests. The example above came from my normal work. I'll have time to experiment Wednesday afternoon (California time).

adamsmith

This particular issue I can replicate, so that's good (i.e. any right-click action on a field (B) while a different field (A) is still active causes any changes to field (A) to be lost.

dstillman

Fixed for 5.0.