Available for beta testing: Zotero Connector target selector
In the latest beta of the Zotero Connector for Firefox, it's now possible to choose which library or collection to save items to as well as add tags directly from the Zotero Connector, without switching to Zotero. You'll need the latest version of Zotero, 5.0.43, for full functionality.
This is what it looks like: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8hkusi9ebxt015/target-selector.png?dl=0
The Connector will save to the selected collection in Zotero as before, but you can select a new destination from the popup to move the items there, which will also update the selection in Zotero (so that the next save will go to the same place by default). The popup appears collapsed initially, with recent save targets displayed in the drop-down menu. Clicking the disclosure button in the top-right will expand the popup to show your library/collection tree and also allow you to enter tags.
More details:
This is what it looks like: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8hkusi9ebxt015/target-selector.png?dl=0
The Connector will save to the selected collection in Zotero as before, but you can select a new destination from the popup to move the items there, which will also update the selection in Zotero (so that the next save will go to the same place by default). The popup appears collapsed initially, with recent save targets displayed in the drop-down menu. Clicking the disclosure button in the top-right will expand the popup to show your library/collection tree and also allow you to enter tags.
More details:
- For single-item pages, once the popup closes, as long as you remain on the page and don't reload, clicking the save button again will simply reopen the popup and allow you to make further changes rather than saving another copy. If you choose a different translator or you're on a page with a folder icon, you'll get a new popup.
- Syncing won't kick in as long as the popup is open, which should help prevent accidentally uploading items to the wrong library.
- If items were originally saved to a library that doesn't allow files and you then select a library that does, the save will be performed again with file-saving enabled. If you go the other direction, the attachments will be removed.
- If something goes wrong while updating the destination in Zotero (not unlikely in the beta), the popup will currently revert to a collapsed read-only view. (We can probably do something better than that.)
- Some of the handling around multiple-item saves and save errors still needs to be improved.
- We'll be making other improvements (a better drop-down with proper icons, +/- support for expanding/collapsing collections, maybe a collection search) in upcoming versions.
- This currently only works when saving to Zotero, though a future version might work when saving to the online library.
This discussion has been closed.
Trying to save from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/technology/blockchain-uses.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
- verified that this saving with the regular connector works on this setup
- when I click the URL bar icon, two translator icons appear (see screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/NcFZ8). I think that's because the NY Times translator errors and it then tries EM
- When I try to select a collection by clicking on the arrow to the right it briefly shows the collections but I can't actually select one
- nothing saves
Debug ID for clicking the translator icon D248299838
It looks like save errors aren't being displayed properly in the popup, so we'll fix that as well.
I know you're working on this, but just confirming that multiples are confusing -- it's unclear which dialog I should start with and then the collection selection one can vanish if I don't get to it quickly enough. Also agree that UI isn't ideal yet.
And just to confirm I'm seeing intended behavior in general -- the dialog should stick around for ~5secs and then disappear (having saved to the collection currently selected in Zotero)?
I've a question: does it mean that such a library and collection menu allow us to add references without having Zotero effectively opened ?
However, I don't quite understand how the importing panel is supposed to close. There are cases when a outside click doesn't close it, so I frequently have to pull down the menu to reach the Done button. Another thing that is confusing: is it normal that the panel remains open after I've switched to another tab ?
Another question : is it normal if the connector isn't already translated (here, in French) ? I suppose so, but just in case I prefer to ask.
Other question, which isn't crucial, but it hurt my eyes (!) : the font used for displaying the titles of personal collections and libraries are slightly different than the one used for the labels of the popup (the latter being properly the one used for all Firefox menus). In the specific area of the personal collections list, the font seems to be a 'condensed' one. Is it intentional ?
Version 65.0.3325.181 (Official Build) Built on Ubuntu , running on Ubuntu 16.04 (64-bit)
I find myself craving a little more control. Rolling the cursor off the popup allows the download to go forward, but there doesn't seem to be any way to cancel. I kind of expected the Enter key to force the download, and Esc to cancel.
1) The popup is now hidden when the Select Items window is displayed.
2) We've fixed various bugs with the drop-down at the top for choosing among recent targets.
3) The target selector is now localized in a number of languages (including French).
4) The whole popup now uses the system font, which should match the rest of the browser UI. (Previously, only the tree did.)
(1) The fault (below) manifests with the new connector version in Zotero; and
(2) The fault does not manifest with the old connector version.
So it looks like a bug in the new connector, not in the translator code itself. Steps to reproduce:
1. Run Z/JM client.
2. Open browser with appropriate (new/beta) connector.
3. Search on HeinOnline,
4. Click through to an article found by the search.
5. Click icon to save the article. This works fine. The article is saved.
6. In the journal-issue ToC shown in the left-side panel, select another article.
7. Click icon to save the article.
Expected: The second article is also saved.
Result: The second article title does not show in the connector popup, and the item is not saved.
As far as I can tell, it looks like the connector itself is not invoking the translator on the second attempt:
Connector Debug ID: D427097405
Zotero Client Debug ID: D1072334924
I've noticed that the connector doesn't save duplicates if the icon is clicked twice in the same page view (before refresh). If it is permitting only one save per DOM load, that might be causing the problem -- navigation in the left ToC listing of the HeinOnline site updates the PDF view of the selected article and some elements of the page with Ajax, and the URL does not change.
As you say, we reopen the popup on the same page, as long as 1) the last save attempt succeeded, 2) there hasn't been a refresh, 3) the translator is the same, 4) it's not a 'multiple' (folder) result, and 5) the URL is the same. Their updating the page without a reload is OK, but they should be using history.pushState() to update the URL when they do that to indicate that it's a new resource. This isn't just a problem for Zotero: currently, if you click on another entry and then reload the page, it'll revert to your original selection, which obviously shouldn't happen.
Our options here are pretty limited. We could have a save from the context menu always trigger a resave, but that's not very discoverable and, if you used a secondary translator to begin with, not necessarily what you want. We could find a place for a resave button in the popup, but there's no good place for it at the moment and I don't think it's worth making space for that option alone, since this is mostly only relevant on sites that aren't behaving correctly. We could blacklist reopening on such sites, either in the translator or just in the connector, but then as a user you wouldn't ever know whether a second click would resave or reopen the popup.
But also, if I try this with version 5.0.35 of the connector in Firefox, while it resaves, it actually just resaves the original item. (Search for "test", click the first result, click save and get "Test, The Chapter X". Click on "Task at Paris, The Chapter I" and click save again. For me it just resaves "Test, The Chapter X".) I haven't looked to see whether they're not updating the DOM properly or this is a bug in the translator, but until it's fixed any fix for this would just replicate the same behavior.
In any case, they should really fix this on their end.
I'm using the new Zotero Connector in Chrome to capture PDFs, was wondering why this new version requires an extra click (I have to select the library collection twice). Here are the steps I am taking:
1) Click Zotero Connector
2) Hit enter (preferred collection is already selected from drop down)
3) Second floating pop up box appears requiring you to hit enter again
I have some screen shots is you would like me to send them
But I'm also not seeing the behavior you're describing. If I click the button to save a PDF and then press Enter, the dialog simply goes away.
The one exception is if the PDF is large and takes longer than 15 seconds to download, in which case the popup is reappearing after 15 seconds with an error ("An error occurred while saving this item…"), even though it actually did save in Zotero. The popup reappearing on an error is correct, though in that case there shouldn't be an error.
If you're seeing something else, can you 1) provide a Debug ID from the connector for a save where this happens and 2) link to some screenshots (e.g., on Dropbox) that show what you're describing, just to make sure we're talking about the same thing?
This is happening every time so I don't think it is a longer download. I ran the debug, here is the Debug ID D260694257
Also here are two screen shoots (not the screenshots are for a different file than the debug as I took them earlier when I first posted about the issue)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7vddbq7wjmpk4q/Zotero_ScreenClip1.PNG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p74ibpg0ino6amt/Zotero_ScreenClip2.PNG?dl=0