Upgrade StorageFirefox hangs when trying to create bib, or Quick Copy
Firefox hangs up (gray screen, beach ball, Not Responding in title bar, but no "script not responding message") whenever I try to create a bibliography from a particular collection. It happens no matter which style or output type I try.
Sometimes I can select a subset and it will work, but it is random - a subset of items will work, but next time I try the same items it will not. The same thing happens when I use Quick Copy. I can copy some items sometimes, but not when I try again.
It never works if I right click on, or select all the items, in this collection. Other collections work fine.
Number of items selected doesn't seem to matter.
I've removed attached files/PDFs but that did not help.
Fewer than 800 items in entire library, only 350 in collection I'm trying to use.
Have disabled Firefox add-ons and Greasemonkey extensions - no interference.
Firefox 19.0, Zotero 4.0.8 (also previous versions of both).
Cannot submit debug output because the screen grays out and I can't do anything but kill Firefox.
Sometimes I can select a subset and it will work, but it is random - a subset of items will work, but next time I try the same items it will not. The same thing happens when I use Quick Copy. I can copy some items sometimes, but not when I try again.
It never works if I right click on, or select all the items, in this collection. Other collections work fine.
Number of items selected doesn't seem to matter.
I've removed attached files/PDFs but that did not help.
Fewer than 800 items in entire library, only 350 in collection I'm trying to use.
Have disabled Firefox add-ons and Greasemonkey extensions - no interference.
Firefox 19.0, Zotero 4.0.8 (also previous versions of both).
Cannot submit debug output because the screen grays out and I can't do anything but kill Firefox.
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If it doesn't, real-time debug output would be good:
http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output#real-time_debug_output
I tried renaming the collection, deleting all items added since last successful creation of a bib; neither works.
I will try to post the real-time debug in a separate comment. I tried to append it here and it was too long. I will include a few lines here, as it is all pretty much the same as this, then it just ends with a blinking cursor, which is probably when Firefox just quits responding. I waited 15 minutes.
zotero(3): DATE: retrieved with algorithms: {"order":"ymd","year":2008,"month":2
,"day":30}
zotero(3): DATE: retrieved with algorithms: {"order":"y","year":2010}
zotero(3): DATE: retrieved with algorithms: {"order":"ymd","year":2010,"month":5
,"day":1}
zotero(3): DATE: retrieved with algorithms: {"order":"y","year":2010}
:24}
http://www.rrbo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/zotero-debug.doc
If that's not the case, then you need to narrow down to the smallest set of items that are causing this, which you can do easily by selecting half at a time, and then half of the half that doesn't work, and so on.
I put the collection in alphabetic order, and attempted to create a bib first by selecting all the items starting with the letter A, then adding B, and so on.
I could create a bib with all items from A through D, but NOT A through E. I could create a bib with just the items starting with E, and with all items from E through Z.
I selected A through D, and began adding one "E" items at a time. I got to one item that caused Firefox to stop responding; let's call it EVIL E. I was able to create a bib with every item in the collection so long as it did not include EVIL E. However, I could also generate a bib with only EVIL E selected.
I could see nothing unusual about EVIL E (it was saved from a Wiley journal), it had no attachments, and I had successfully generated bibs with it before (had not modified it for 2 years). I deleted it (sent it to trash), and was able to generate a bib from the whole collection.
I re-saved EVIL E in another collection and tried to generate a bib that included it. It worked fine. Then I put EVIL E back in the collection I was working with, and once again it caused Firefox to stop responding!
So, this one item seems to be interacting with something else in this particular collection (which I have also tried re-naming, and copying all items into a new collection; neither help). It is okay by itself, but it must be some other item with a title in the alphabet before it. I really don't want to go through 130 or so items to find it.
Any advice for what to look for so I can correct it and keep the item, and know what to look for in the future, would be appreciated.
For anyone burning with curiosity, here is EVIL E:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01358.x/full
Can you provide debug output for just the attempt to generate a bibliography from that one item?
I copied (dragged and dropped) this item into another collection, confirmed again it was the same copied via Date Added, and successfully created a bibliography. Here is the Debug ID: D1257064468.
Just for fun, I downloaded a new copy into yet another collection. I confirmed it was a few minutes newer in Date Added, and created a successful bib. Debug ID: D1257368452.
Back in the original collection (Coffee), I selected this item and 214 other items (per my previous message, this item through titles ending in the letter Z) and successfully created a bib. Debug ID D1575848585.
Alas, when I include this item and the 129 items with titles preceding it in the alphabet, Firefox hangs up.
Here is the Debug from those 129 items only (so now you've seen the whole collection): D430497398
#1 (EVIL E)
Philpott, S.M., I. Perfecto, and J. Vandermeer. 2008a. Behavioral diversity of predatory arboreal ants in coffee agroecosystems. Environmental Entomology 37:181–191.
#2
Philpott, S.M., I. Perfecto, and J. Vandermeer. 2008b. Effects of predatory ants on lower trophic levels across a gradient of coffee management complexity. Journal of Animal Ecology 77:505–511.
#3
Philpott, S.M., W.J. Arendt, I. Armbrecht, P. Bichier, T.V. Dietsch, C. Gordon, R. Greenberg, I. Perfecto, R. Reynoso-Santos, L. Soto-Pinto, C. Tejeda-Cruz, G. Williams-Linera, J. Valenzuela, and J.M. Zolotoff. 2008. Biodiversity loss in Latin American coffee landscapes: review of the evidence on ants, birds, and trees. Conservation Biology 22:1093–1105.
I can successfully generate bibs with 1+2 and 1+3 and 2+3, but not all 3 together.
Debug ID for 1+2 is D1300929668.
Debug ID for 3 is D993321578.
Debug ID for 1+2 is D1262891847.
Debug ID for 3 is D1707230427.
I have been using Northeastern Naturalist style, output method in HTML, bibliography output mode, but I have tried it with other styles and methods with same (lack of) results.
If I move those three items into their own collection and try to create a bib, Firefox hangs.
I can send an RDF of the whole “coffee” collection, which include these three items, if you like. I have found Zotero to be the best tool of its kind, and so I want to do my part to help debug and improve, but I’m afraid I can’t spend too much more time on this right now.
My workaround was to delete the one most offending item and manually enter the title, authors, abstract, and journal info.
fbennett, looks like this one is yours. It's hanging in citeproc.js.
https://gist.github.com/dstillman/6af9349dc8713f43414b
In addition, if you're reluctant to follow FF's rapid release calendar, you should be using their ESR channel. FF19 isn't receiving any security updates and you're putting your computer and others at risk by using it.