Upgrade StorageIntegration of Zotero and LyX
Zotero is an open source reference management tool that in my opinion is the best tool available for collaborative writing. LyX with subversion on the other hand is in many ways the best editor for writing larger reports where there are several people involved.
The problem is that the integration between these two is a bit cumbersome. The current workflow is
1) Collect citations to a Zotero group library
2) Export the library as Bibtex file using Zotero
3) Insert a citation in LyX using this file as a database
This has two issues.
1) The second step is an unnescessary routine that could be eliminated
2) If a reference is later edited in Zotero or a new reference that is sufficiently similar is added, the autogenerated bibtex keys can change.
There should be a better integration between the two software. Particularly, I would like to use the Zotero insert reference dialog with LyX instead of the build-in one. There should be a preference for this in LyX. How the actual integration might work
Alternative 1: Create a new inset for Zotero references
When a user inserts a citation, a new inset is inserted in the LyX document containing the Zotero ID of the reference. When the user compiles the LyX document as a PDF, LyX uses Zotero to automatically export the references to a bibtex file before calling bibtex and pdflatex.
Alternative 2: Automatic synchronization of the bitex-file and Zotero library
When a user inserts a citation, LyX automatically appends the reference information to the bibtex file. The file would be kept in sync with Zotero by either appending the Zotero IDs to the bibtex keys instead of using the default autogenerated keys or by storing the Zotero key in e.g. the note field of each bibtex entry. Some kind of synchronization option would be needed to move changes from Zotero to the bibtex file.
I am aware of Lytero and lyxpipe, but these do not really solve the integration issues that well.
The problem is that the integration between these two is a bit cumbersome. The current workflow is
1) Collect citations to a Zotero group library
2) Export the library as Bibtex file using Zotero
3) Insert a citation in LyX using this file as a database
This has two issues.
1) The second step is an unnescessary routine that could be eliminated
2) If a reference is later edited in Zotero or a new reference that is sufficiently similar is added, the autogenerated bibtex keys can change.
There should be a better integration between the two software. Particularly, I would like to use the Zotero insert reference dialog with LyX instead of the build-in one. There should be a preference for this in LyX. How the actual integration might work
Alternative 1: Create a new inset for Zotero references
When a user inserts a citation, a new inset is inserted in the LyX document containing the Zotero ID of the reference. When the user compiles the LyX document as a PDF, LyX uses Zotero to automatically export the references to a bibtex file before calling bibtex and pdflatex.
Alternative 2: Automatic synchronization of the bitex-file and Zotero library
When a user inserts a citation, LyX automatically appends the reference information to the bibtex file. The file would be kept in sync with Zotero by either appending the Zotero IDs to the bibtex keys instead of using the default autogenerated keys or by storing the Zotero key in e.g. the note field of each bibtex entry. Some kind of synchronization option would be needed to move changes from Zotero to the bibtex file.
I am aware of Lytero and lyxpipe, but these do not really solve the integration issues that well.
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mronkkoI have posted the same feature request to LyX Trac http://www.lyx.org/trac/ticket/6300