Upgrade StorageUsing zotero://select to create links but not via a translator
Hi,
I'm trying to find a way to easily obtain a zotero://select link for any given item such. The point of this is to be able to reference other items from Zotero notes, or for just putting a link anywhere that can accept a URL. (I realise there is a Zotero 'Related' to function but it's not always helpful because you want to relate particular items to particular notes).
Anyway, I can get a nice snippet containing a link using zotselect-link.js.
But the problem is, being a translator, this exports it to a file.
This makes it not worth using, because it would just be too inconvenient every time to load up the file, copy the link snippet, go back to Zotero (or whereever), and paste the link, then close the export file.
I realise that there are good reasons for not adding itemKey and LibraryID to the citation system (http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/15273/add-itemlibraryid-and-itemkey-to-citation-system/).
Does those good reasons outweigh the benefit for having the available functionality?
Alternatively, is there anyway to have the export system not export to a file, but export to the clipboard?
Should it be possible to use QuickCopy to get this done, as per here http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/3297/export-to-clipboard/?
What I'm finding is that QuickCopy doesn't seem to do anything for me. Each time I load the preferences window my previously selected default option has disappeared, and the dropdown is blank. Are there any known problems with QuickCopy?
I'm trying to find a way to easily obtain a zotero://select link for any given item such. The point of this is to be able to reference other items from Zotero notes, or for just putting a link anywhere that can accept a URL. (I realise there is a Zotero 'Related' to function but it's not always helpful because you want to relate particular items to particular notes).
Anyway, I can get a nice snippet containing a link using zotselect-link.js.
But the problem is, being a translator, this exports it to a file.
This makes it not worth using, because it would just be too inconvenient every time to load up the file, copy the link snippet, go back to Zotero (or whereever), and paste the link, then close the export file.
I realise that there are good reasons for not adding itemKey and LibraryID to the citation system (http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/15273/add-itemlibraryid-and-itemkey-to-citation-system/).
Does those good reasons outweigh the benefit for having the available functionality?
Alternatively, is there anyway to have the export system not export to a file, but export to the clipboard?
Should it be possible to use QuickCopy to get this done, as per here http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/3297/export-to-clipboard/?
What I'm finding is that QuickCopy doesn't seem to do anything for me. Each time I load the preferences window my previously selected default option has disappeared, and the dropdown is blank. Are there any known problems with QuickCopy?
Might be that there is something about zotselect-link.js (which I believe is a user-supplied translator?) that's causing the problem?
Have a look at your error report after trying to select a new quickcopy style and see if anything there looks like it could be the reason.
You can send the error report and post the ID here, but it makes sense for you to have a look at it first to see if anything jumps out.
I'm not sure those errors are related to my problem though. (I've seen a number of different errors in there in the last 10 mins, doing exactly the same set of operations).
FF: 12.0.
Z: 3.0.7.
The problem: Quick Copy (Export) doesn't work. If I go to Preferences, Export then 'Default Output Format' is always blank when opening that dialog. If I attempt to select a format by clicking the down-arrow, nothing is shown in the list.
If, however, I first select 'Copy as HTML', then the list is populated, and I can select an item (I'm using zotselect-link.js). No errors here. I press okay, no errors shown.
I run Quick-Copy using the keyboard shortcut I've got defined. No errors shown. On the clipboard I end up with the bibliographical data for the item I Quick Copied. I think the format being used is the one that is first in the list (i.e. not zotselect-link.js).
I'm fairly sure that zotselect-link.js is working, because I can do exactly the same using Zotero Standalone and it works fine: I get the link, as desired (although not being copied as HTML so it pastes as plain text, but that's a minor problem). The main problem here, of course, is that Zotero Standalone doesn't support zotero://select (I'm changing the URL handler in the registry each time I switched between them).
So I can use Standalone, and get the link outputting, but then have no way to use it. Or I can use in FF and consume the links, but be unable to create them.
(Incidentally: a couple of people have posted about errors with zotselect-link. I found that a couple of the commands at the head of the file seem to have become obsolete (Zotero.configure("dataMode", "text/html"); Zotero.addOption("exportCharset", "UTF-8");) - commenting them out makes that script work (you also have to change the URL output to include /items/ after the select).
If you can link to the script maybe someone can take a look, but supporting custom scripts may also just be beyond what we can do here, let's see if Simon has any input.
If you can reproduce the quick copy problem after deleting zotselect and resetting translators and styles that'd be a different issue.
I've just tried resetting the translators as per your suggestion. I can do that with no errors.
When I load up the dialog, again, I can't get access to the drop-down list until I click 'Copy to HTML'. And the selection I make has no effect on the output of Quick Copy. I'm still seeing the same bibliographic output (I think it's Harvard), rather than whatever export format I choose.
In summary: I'm still seeing the "can't select an export format" issue even once I've reset the translators (and it makes no difference whether I try to select a citation style or an export format).
I've fixed the issues with zotselect-link now anyway; turns out a couple of the calls it was making have been deprecated (http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/client_coding/changes_in_zotero_2.1#zoteroconfigure_and_zoterodisplayoptions_replaced_by_configoptions_and_displayoptions).