All translators missing on Mac

Bonnie
Starting a few weeks ago, all of my Zotero translators disappeared on my Mac. It doesn't matter what catalog or database I'm all - they are all gone. Any ideas why that might be?

I tried reinstalling Zotero but that didn't help.

I'm using a MacBook Air and have Zotero version 2.1.10 installed. My Firefox is version 3.6.23. When I use Zotero on my PC, all of the translators show up as they should.

Today, I showed someone else with a MacBook Air how to use Zotero and the translators didn't show up for her either. She had also installed Zotero 2.1.10.
  • adamsmith
    Look in your Zotero Data folder. www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
    There is a folder called "translators" that should have a couple of hundred files all ending in .js in it - is that the case?
    If it is, restart Firefox. Go to a page where we know you should see a translator for sure:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/nyregion/major-unions-join-occupy-wall-street-protest.html
    If you can't see the icon in the URL bar, send a Zotero error report
    http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs and post the report ID here.
  • Bonnie
    I checked my Zotero Data folder and there were indeed a bunch of translator files in there. Then I restarted Firefox.

    After doing so, I was able to see translators for most sites on my Mac, but not for our campus library catalog (http://madcat.library.wisc.edu). Oddly, I can see them for that catalog when I use Zotero on my PC.

    Do you think that the problem is local with our library catalog settings? If so, I can check with our campus library.
  • adamsmith
    the library catalogue works for me, too. It's a standard library catalogue, I don't think it's anything they do. See if you can create an error report ID.
    Also, please post both the Permalink (towards the bottom of the search record) and the exact URL as you see it for an item that doesn't work for you.
  • Bonnie
    Thanks. The error report id is 356970597.

    None of the catalog records show a translator, but here is a specific record if it helps. The permalink is http://madcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=4919102

    The exact URL that appears in my address bar is http://madcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&CNT=50&Search_Arg=canada%20gazette&Search_Code=GKEY^*&PID=t56u3NCY8xyKAJ0vR6Xphpz4&SEQ=20111007083337&SID=1

    Our campus is beta testing a new version of our catalog. For the same title in that catalog, I do see the translator. That URL in my address bar is http://forward.library.wisconsin.edu/catalog/ocm10026348

    I created a screen cast that shows what I'm seeing. I thought that may help you. It's at http://screencast.com/t/RDra21BgUGPS
  • adamsmith
    Let's see if one of the devs sees something useful in the error report, in the meantime, though, could you try disabling all your other FF add-ons - it looks like you have quite a few - restart FF and try again?
    If that helps, you can re-enable them one-by-one to find out the culprit.
  • dstillman
    There are no Zotero translator errors in there. Restart Firefox, try the save again, and send in another Report ID.
  • adamsmith
    Dan - it's possible that there is no Zotero error here - there is no URL bar icon, so she can't try saving/trigger an error. Let's see if disabling add-ons helps, seems like a good guess at this point.
  • Bonnie
    I tried disabling all my other FF add ons and then restarting Firefox. The new report id is 280698983.

    I still don't see the translator for that catalog.
  • dstillman
    Can you provide a Debug ID for a page load that doesn't show the icon but should?
  • Bonnie
    The Debug ID is D679841446.
  • dstillman
    When I load the above URL in 3.0b2 I get "TypeError: export_options[i] is null" running detectWeb() "for Library Catalog (Voyager)". (That's not showing up in Bonnie's debug output, but it's possible 2.1.10 just isn't outputting that for some reason.) So the translator probably needs to be adjusted.
  • Bonnie
    What's the latest on this? Do I need to do anything?
  • adamsmith
    no, translator fixes sometimes just take a little, it's not super simple.
  • ajlyon
    I'll be working on this ASAP -- it affects my home library as well.
  • Simon
    edited October 13, 2011
    It seems like this is actually a bug of some kind in Voyager's session handling. The selection box next to "Select Download Format" is empty, and clicking the button to save the item results in an error stating the session has timed out. Performing a new search for the same item appears to work fine. But there may be a workaround that we can use...
  • ajlyon
    I'm inclined to see if the Voyager folks can fix this, and advocate running a new search for the item as a workaround, since I don't see a way for us to revive the session using the translator, and we don't know a priori what format (UTF-8 or not, raw or not, etc.) the Voyager instance is using.

    So contact library tech support and let them know that the save function is broken in many cases-- that's an issue on the Voyager side that happens to hamstring Zotero, but which is an issue in its own right.
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