To show ISBN with hyphens or space

Ernst Erb
I have a new Zotero on Firefox. When I use the pictogram "Add item(s) by identifier" I enter the ISBN with hyphens (and also tried spaces). It is so much easier to read them!

But the result is two long numbers. The hyphen don't show! Nor does it show spaces.
How can I change this please?
  • adamsmith
    You mean in the imported item?
    We get the data from the LoC or Worldcat. Neither provide ISBNs with hyphens, so we don't import hyphens.
  • Ernst Erb
    Yes.
    Well, I saw Zotero on a neighbours place in a course and he had all hyphens - I thought they were imported automatically.
    Is there not a certain syntax, Zotero could use for display?
    If perfect, one could even select with or without (or with blanks) ...
  • aurimas
    It's possible to hyphenate the ISBN, but the algorithm is fairly complex (or more complex than is worth the trouble).

    For a quick overview, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4154708/how-to-automatically-apply-isbn-hyphenation and you can see examples on Wikipedia
  • aurimas
    edited September 24, 2013
    Having said that, I decided to write the function anyway. Idk if Simon or Dan would want to include this in the official Zotero code, because it includes a fairly lengthy table for prefix look-ups.

    https://gist.github.com/aurimasv/6693537
  • Ernst Erb
    Dear Aurimas
    You are right, if you don't get the code back with spacers, you are nearly lost. I see that now on your Wikipedia link.

    There might be an easier solution by just having a field more (if one wants to make it perfect for selection either way) where you enter the value the user has written as his/her question.

    The easier way would be to just take the form of the input. I can imagine that many users would like this solution, but for not having questions back later, the way with a separate field (to chose which one the user wants) would be better for the long run.

    I just learn about the mess made by EAN regarding the "bookland" which will create future problems.
    Good luck! And thank you for your kind answer.
This discussion has been closed.