EBSCO Host

2
  • adamsmith
    **This is actually the case in all databases (even though in my preferences i have "automatically add PDF" checked off). So perhaps there is a more global issue here with respect to PDF importing?**

    I'd want to start with this issue then - can you confirm that you're note getting a pdf attached for the sciencedirect link you post above using the icon in the URL bar, but you can open the pdf manually?
    And this is exactly as you see the link in your URL bar? (I might not get back to this until tomorrow)
  • yaelzr
    Regarding the link: i have copied it from the website, so that is how i see it exactly.

    Regarding the PDF: yes. In my preferences I have the option checked. When I click the little "page" icon in the address line the reference imports, but the PDF does not. From anywhere. Any database. Never has (since I started using Zotero a couple months ago). I have resolved this using "drag and drop" (which is also how I was taught to use the software, so did not realize this was an issue until reading some forums). So - the auto import of PDFs has never worked.

    And yes, not getting a PDF from the link above, unless I manually drag and drop if (that works). Once I drag and drop it Zotero saves it, and then I can open it. I can also open it by double clicking on the PDF icon, but then it just opens in the browser window, and I have no idea how to import that into Zotero (with the open PDF).
  • adamsmith
    OK, let's see whether that actually _never_ works - try this:
    http://www.hcis-journal.com/content/2/1/3
    This is open access, so getting the pdf doesn't require any type of access.

    For both that and the Sciencedirect page - please hover your mouse over the icon in the URL bar and tell us what it says.

    As for the drag & drop workaround - the reason that doesn't work @EBSCO is that the link doesn't actually point to the PDF full text - if you follow the link, it will take you to a new page which has the pdf embedded (i.e. you see the PDF and some website-stuff around it). There is a "Download PDF" link at the top of that page - drag&drop should work for that. Note that this is very much a workaround and things should never be that clumsy - the expectation (and experience of most users) is that this will work automatically via the URL bar icon.
  • yaelzr
    You have found the exception - from that link the PDF did automatically download. To date, it has never done that and always required a "drag and drop" (various databases such as Wiley, Science Direct, Ebsco (Which doesnt work), and other similar).

    On that link the hover reads:
    Save to Zotero (Springer Sciecne+Business Media)

    On the Sceicne direct page the hover reads:
    Save to Zotero (ScienceDirect)

    I tested this science direct link again and all it imports is a snapshot of the page (basically, the URL) not the actual PDF

    The drag and drop of the "download PDF" at the top of the embedded PDF page also worked. Note that this clumsy workaround (as you define it) is a vast improvement for me, if that tells you anything about the dysfunctional state I am operating under.

    On the EBSCOhost page (link previously sent) the hover reads:
    Download to Zotero (EBSCOhost)

    I will say that in this embeded PDF page format, the Zotero icon is not available, so this cannot be exported as such with reference and PDF in tow (and obviously, clicking on the previous link page, per the links I sent earlier) does not work well; the reference imports but the PDF is inaccessible (save for the workaround you just provided).

    Thanks again for your promptness. I am beginning to experience hope...
  • adamsmith
    It's something about your access to these files - EBSCO is a bit unreliable, but sciencedirect and Wiley work quite consistently - we have very few reports of any issues with that.

    Where is your institution? Do you know how you authenticate to those databases as a part of that institution? Are you on the campus network? Are you using VPN? Judging by the URLs you posted you're not using a proxy.

    For the sciencedirect page, you you create a debug ID for importing that item?
    http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output
  • yaelzr
    Ok. None of the databases that I have ever used (except for that one link you sent me) have every automatically downloaded a PDF, even though that item is checked on my preferences. So there is a more global problem, not limited to EBSCO. I also had 4 research assistants working on various parts of the references, and there was no auto-download for any of them. They were actually having to save the files to their computers and then attach them manually to each reference.

    I am at Virginia Tech. I've worked both from home (through VPN) and in the office (on the network). Yesterday was in the office, so everything you told me to try was on the network.

    I am not sure what you mean by "authenticating the database". So long as I am on network/VPN the databases never require a password. I get links to the papers directly from PsychInfo (we have a link called "get VTtext" that gives you database access where available), and I do not need any password. I can see, print, save the PDFS, just they do not import into Zotero. Can you provide specifics as to what further authentication I should be looking for?

    I did the debug thing, and wouldn't you know that for the first time ever, ScienceDIrect dropped the PDF with it. I still generated the report in case it is useful:
    The Debug ID is D1318309140.

    and more shockingly - so did EBSCO:
    The Debug ID is D429083295.

    I have no idea what you did or what happened, but it actually seems to be working now across the board. Might you have an idea what happened?
  • adamsmith
    by authenticate I meant the VPN or school network - it authenticates you via the IP address you're connecting through so that's all the info I wanted. That's actually the most reliable way to do this and Zotero is least likely to experience any problems, EBSCO included.

    I have no idea what changed - it wasn't anything on the Zotero side, no one has touched these translators recently and I'm not aware of any recent FF update that would make a difference. Unfortunately, debug output for successful attempts isn't any help in figuring that out - it'll just look like any other successful import.
    If the error re-occurs or if it still exists for your RAs, start a new thread and provide a debug from an unsuccessful attempt. If it doesn't - well, rejoice I guess ;-).
  • yaelzr
    Well, I kept trying around, and the problem is recurring now. Here is a log for an import from ProQuest:
    The Debug ID is D381468156.

    The link:
    http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=46028092&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1333981136&clientId=8956

    It generates a "login to off campus sign in" icon/link, when in fact I am on campus.I also have access to the actual PDF without entering any login, so that shows a login is not actually required. it's something about Zotero maybe not recognizing that I am logged in? Maybe that was the issue before as well. I'll leave that one to you. Maybe the debug here helps.
  • adamsmith
    edited April 9, 2012
    Yeah, that should work.
    Simon - any insight from the debug?

    edit: yeah, the fact that this points you to a login page is quite odd - there might be something quite peculiar about how such things work at Virginia Tech, maybe the debug can help.
  • yaelzr
    Try looking at this one as well:
    The Debug ID is D268012881.

    This is a site where the PDF is available on th epage, but it does not import with the reference.
    This is the link:
    http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1996-07063-013

    the reference imported. the PDF could be dragged and dropped successfully. I am working on a paper so as i find more dysfunctional references I will send more bug reports. Myabe they will help.
  • Simon
    edited April 9, 2012
    Try disabling proxy redirection in the Zotero preferences and see if that makes a difference. You may also need to delete the existing proxies, but I'm not sure.
  • yaelzr
    that did not help:
    The Debug ID is D2090433464.
    http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&id=9847ED2C-BA92-69D3-2CCA-7576DB3212BC&resultID=3&page=1&dbTab=all
  • adamsmith
    (sorry for the late note: pdfs currently don't import from psycnet - we're working on it, but none of the usual translator coders has full text access to apa psycnet).
  • sdspieg
    Performance on getting the pdfs to download from Ebsco (through firefox) is still patchy for me. It DOES (kind of) work, but can take a very long time, and sometimes it just chokes. BTW _ does the translator also generate a log of what it does - to see what it DOES manage to import properly and where it chokes, for instance?
    Also - when I try in Chrome (with the standalone), I see the references that are being downloaded scroll on my screen [in this case WITHOUT the pdfs - that functionality only works in Firefox for me]. In Firefox, however, after selecting the articles I want to download (say 50 at a time), I see an empty grey box with a red border on the bottom right of the window that then moves up until all articles are downloaded. When all 50 seem processed, I CAN see the actual references (at least as many as fit on the screen), after which all the boxes disappear and the records are added to my Zotero database. Is there any way to make the Firefox addon work more like in Chrome (with the standalone) - whereby we SEE what is actually going on?
    Final question: has anybody tried to work with pfds downloaded from EBSCO in a textmining program - whereby the fields of Zotero (or the underlying mysql) then become meta-tags for the pdfs? This would allow us to process a large corpus of articles to look for trends over time, or differences across disciplines, etc. We would be very interested in sharing experiences in this area with anybody who, like us, might have tried sthg like this.
  • aurimas
    BTW _ does the translator also generate a log of what it does - to see what it DOES manage to import properly and where it chokes, for instance?
    You can generate a debug log. See http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output except instead of submitting to Zotero server, you can simply View Output (button next to Enable)

    The instructions are for Firefox plug-in. With standalone + chrome you may need to enable logging on the chrome plugin (I'm not certain of this, but there are logging options in Zotero Chrome extension Options under Advanced tab)
    Performance on getting the pdfs to download from Ebsco (through firefox) is still patchy for me.
    Are there certain references that consistently fail?
    [in this case WITHOUT the pdfs - that functionality only works in Firefox for me]
    I tried some references with both firefox and chrome and both imported all PDFs. You will have to provide us with more details about how you're accessing EBSCOhost (directly or via proxy), which EBSCOhost database you are using, what search you are performing and which references you are importing. Links to some search results would be great to see. Also provide us with your Firefox, Chrome, Zotero standalone and plugin versions along with your OS. Otherwise we cannot properly troubleshoot this. I am guessing that you are behind a proxy, which is why PDFs fail to import for you.
  • adamsmith
    @Stephan - have you seen this?
    http://zotero.hypotheses.org/476
  • sdspieg
    edited September 16, 2012
    Wow Sebastian! No I had not. Thanks much! I'm having problems installing the xpi (it says "paper machines could not be installed bacause Firefox cannot modify the needed file". But I'll keep trying!

    Update - also on the latest version of the standalone, it says "The add-on "Paper Machines" could not be installed. It may be incompatible with this version of Zotero standalone".
  • sdspieg
    And aurimas - thanks! I'll try again with the debug mode on.

    As to your questions: I was using proxy redirection, so I'll try without (although this DID work on Firefox). My search was on Academic Search Complete, I'm using a regular Boolean search ("sources of conflict" OR "causes of conflict" OR "drivers of conflict") on full-text, with a limiter on peer-reviewed only. Then I put 50 per page, wait until that finishes loading, and then I use the zotero icon to the right of the url-box, I select all of them and I then click ok to capture them. All of this in version 3.0.8, with the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox on a Windows 7 machine.
  • adamsmith
    (for questions on PaperMachines contact the developer directly via github or so).
  • sdspieg
    (I did - I posted it as an issue. Did you install it though? And if so, can you tell on which version it does work?)
  • sdspieg
    edited September 17, 2012
    Sorry to have gotten sidetracked. So back to Ebsco. Here are some of the error messages I copied from the error console after I had tried to download 50 articles from an EBSCO search (Academic Search Complete, latest versions of Firefox and Zotero, on a Windows 7 machine). In the end it copied 3 out of the 50 (and 2 of those were doubles - that is another thing that seems to happen regularly). Any idea of what I might be doing wrong?

    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'zoom'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'zoom'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'zoom'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown pseudo-class or pseudo-element 'relative'. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown pseudo-class or pseudo-element 'text'. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-box-shadow'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'column-count'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'column-gap'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Expected ',' or '{' but found '/'. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'fpadding'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
    Warning: Unknown property 'cpadding'. Declaration dropped.
    Source file: http://global.ebsco-content.com.library3.webster.edu/interfacefiles/12.41.7.0.1/css/ehost/master_bundle.css
    Line: 1
    ----------
  • adamsmith
    it'd be helpful to also have the search and the URL - as you see it, including a proxy if applicable - for that.

    (I don't believe those errors are actually relevant - those are page display error messages, not import errors).
  • sdspieg
    Here you can see a screenshot of the search https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-opIuO3xlZsc3h6UGNzT2VvUk0. The URL is http://web.ebscohost.com.library3.webster.edu/ehost/
    I do not use a proxy to connect to the internet, but just log in through my credentials.
  • aurimas
    I cannot access your screenshot. We would just need to know the search terms you are using.

    Also the library3.webster.edu part is the proxy, but it's nothing special, so PDF imports should work. We can investigate further once we know which entries are failing.
  • adamsmith
    @aurimas - it just has a period at the end that breaks the link. This works:
    https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-opIuO3xlZsc3h6UGNzT2VvUk0

    If you zoom in you can see database and search term.
  • sdspieg
    Could you try again please? I have now made the file totally public. And as to the search terms, I was using the 'smartsearch' function in this case, and had entered an article that I felt was the most perfect example I could find of what I was looking for, in combination with a proximity search (causes w3 conflict). I would really like to get to the bottom of this, because it HAS worked for me before - albeit painfully: it will download 2-300 articles, but 50 articles will take over 10 minutes; I cannot touch anything on my computer or the little red-bordered grey box on the bottom right disappears and I don't get anything. So if you want, I can also do a more simple search and then send you the error log on that...
  • aurimas
    Well, the good news is that I can replicate both the article doubling and the failure to import PDFs. It will take me a day or two to sort these out. EBSCOhost translator is not the prettiest thing out there.
  • sdspieg
    @ aurimas. Thanks so much for looking into this. My hunch is that as more tools like 'paper machines' become available, more and more people are going to want to download larger sets of articles from wherever they can (JSTOR, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, etc.) in order to apply the ever more sophisticated sets of text analytics tools out there. Now to me personally, Google Scholar still gives the best hits (as it used the superior Google search algorithms). But it doesn't offer full-text access to as many articles as EBSCO does. Although, if anybody has figured out a way to make the "library links" in the Google Scholar settings work WITHOUT having to click on link under each hit or the "Find it@" button to the right of the hit (OR any other way), I'd LOVE to hear it. But so that means that this functionality will only become more attractive.
    And incidentally - you wouldn't believe what a difference this 'big data' approach makes. The typical lit reviews in most disciplines tend to be SO 'promiscuous', SO mono- (or oligo-)disciplinary and SO biased in favor of (deductive-)'theoretical' work (at the expense of the more detailed, in-depth inductive, empirical work) that you really can get quite amazing new findings. So I for one can't wait until more of us can start doing this kind of work.
  • aurimas
    I've gone through the translator and fixed what I could.

    The whole item duplication was a serious issue and was actually not only duplicating items but also replacing other items that were meant to be imported.

    You should also probably see some speed improvements with the new translator. It fetches all selected articles in parallel instead of sequentially (which I'm pretty sure is how it was before.. or partially.. or maybe I misread some code).

    Unfortunately, there is still the issue of importing PDF attachments from Chrome (or any connector). They just won't stick. This is not something we can fix from the translator side and it's mostly a technical limitation of how connectors work. There might be some improvements coming with future Zotero releases. The firefox plug-in version of Zotero does get the attachments properly though.

    I am not officially updating this translator yet. I would like to do a bit more testing, and I figured you may be interested in giving this a shot.

    The translator can be found at: https://raw.github.com/aurimasv/translators/EBSCOhost/EBSCOhost.js

    Save this file (overwriting the original) in your <Zotero data directory>/translators folder and refresh the EBSCOhost page. Would definitely recommend the firefox plug-in for this.
  • sdspieg
    Wow! Thanks aurimas. I was busy whole day today, but should be able to try this tomorrow evening (Western European time) and will report back then. All of this sounds wonderful though...

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