citeproc.js What does it do?

NoNameNeeded

I know, this file is quite an important one but what exactly does it do?

Could someone give me an example what an updated version of this file might do differently compared to the older version?

adamsmith

I guess it'd help to understand the background of the question to answer it, but basically citeproc.js is the part of Zotero that takes the data in Zotero, and the citation style you pick, and then formats the citations and bibliography the way you need them to.

An updated version of citeproc most commonly would fix a previous error about how styles were interpreted, e.g. it might add an extra space where it doesn't belong -- these are typically quite obscure, as it's very mature software, but they exist.

NoNameNeeded

I see.
The background is that I wanted to persuade Zotero to work with Word 97 (and I finally succeeded, using an older version of Zotero (version 3) and a modified macro for Word) and since the citeproc.js seems to be quite an important file (which I found in a file named Zotero.jar) I thought about upgrading the version to the newest one myself. I didn't expect it to work but apparently it does work so that's why I asked what it actually does.

adamsmith

yeah, citeproc should be compatible pretty far back & while your approach in general is quite risky (Zotero is running browser technology under the hood and so you're now running long outdated browsers on your computer which is a significant risk to you and others), updating citeproc.js is a good idea.

NoNameNeeded

Ok.
And as far as risks are concerned. Theoretically yes, but in reality I don't see much of a risk. After all, it can't be used as a real browser and what it does online is quite limited.
However, it makes sense to warn about older browser technology, especially in a public forum, so no offense meant.