Is there any way of displaying the value of itemid ?

Does anyone know of *any* way of displaying the value of the itemid of the currently selected item ?
  • edited March 13, 2008
    There's no way through the UI (except for snapshots and imported files, where you can click Show File to see the itemID embedded in the path). Why do you ask?
  • Dan,
    thanks for your quick feedback.

    Here's basically why i'm asking.

    Let's assume that

    - all the items in my library consist of articles and books; and
    - for each item i have one local electronic copy in pdf format.

    Given an item i and its local copy c, My needs are:

    1. to be able to quickly find c from i;
    2. to be able to quickly find i from c;
    3. to be able to store c elsewhere than in Z's storage area;
    4. to be able to give c a name according to i's metadata

    To fulfill 3. and 4. I'm experiencing having an extra level of indirection between Z and my local copies, using symbolic links; that is:

    Item i --(has an)-- associated file ----(linked to)---> local copy c

    To fulfill 1. ad 2., i need a unique identifier id for each item i. Given that Z already associates one such called idemId to i, the simplest would be
    id = Z's itemId
    but your answer to this very thread implies this is not a practical solution. Using the ISBN number is not a solution either, for several reasons. Then i'll go for
    id = manually generated id

    So currently the solution i'm experimenting with is:
    for a given item i:
    - increment the value of id to xxxx
    - store "id=xxxx" into the "extra" bibliographic field
    - link c to /path/to/symlinks/xxxx
    - add /path/to/symlinks/xxxx as a new associated file to i

    VoilĂ . If you think this explanation could be of any value in another thread, just tell me. Alternatively, I'd be glad to know about any recommandation to help me fulfill my needs in a simpler way.
Sign In or Register to comment.