[5.0 Beta] Error updating translators

dstillman
This discussion was created from comments split from: Zotero 5.0 Beta.
  • WmLBrown
    Report ID 416016329
    Zotero-5.0-beta.215+2f9306598_setup.exe running on Windows 10.
    In Zotero Preferences, the following steps produce an "Error" result:
    (1) In Advanced » Files and Folders: I reset translators, then I reset styles.
    (2) On the main General tab: Selecting translators and styles "Update now" button changed the button text from "Update now" to "Error".
  • dstillman
    edited June 18, 2017
    Can you provide a Debug ID (different from a Report ID) for this?

    (You should start new threads, prefixed by "[5.0 Beta]", for separate issues.)
  • WmLBrown
    The debug ID is D944849077.
  • dstillman
    That said "Error"? I don't see anything in there that indicates a problem.
  • WmLBrown
    See the attached screenshots in order of their filenames. The screenshot B7618J5112.png shows the "Error" button.

    I have since found that if I exit the Zotero Preferences dialog, then go back in and click translators and styles "Update now" button, I do get the regular "Updated" button. However, the translators appear not to load reliably. See the screenshot B7618K1026.png, noting that the pop-out message hovering over the Zotero toolbar icon does not recognize ScienceDirect.

    (How do I do the attachments in this forum?)
  • bwiernik
    You can't attach files directly. Upload the images to a free sharing site (Dropbox, Imgur, etc.) and post a link here.
  • dstillman
    edited June 18, 2017
    No need for screenshots — I just wanted to make sure that was for an attempt that did demonstrate the problem. Can you provide a Debug ID for another attempt when it says Error?
  • dstillman
    edited June 18, 2017
    Oh, sorry, looking at the output again and re-reading your original post, I realized what's happening here. You're resetting translators and styles and then immediately clicking "Update now", but the resets are still going, and the update is conflicting with the resets. We'll see if we can reproduce and fix that, but it's not necessary to click "Update Now" after resetting — the reset automatically updates to the latest versions.

    So you can do another translator reset to make sure everything's in a clean state, but then let's focus on the actual problem you're facing. You can just provide a Debug ID from the connector for a page load where you're not seeing the icon you expect.
  • dstillman
    Yeah, it looks like "Update Now" will just show "Error" as long as the reset operation is ongoing. Once the reset is done, it goes back to "Updated". We'll try to provide some better feedback, but there's no real problem there.
  • WmLBrown
    Okay. This makes sense about the "Error" response (see B7618J5112.png), thanks for the explanation.

    Note, however, my post from earlier today (Sun Jun 2017) at 10:18am that after going back into the Zotero Preferences dialog and clicking on "Update now", I got the regular "Updated" response (see B7618J5145.png). Nevertheless, the the update seemed either not to happen, or seemed incomplete. Looking at B7618K1026.png, you'll see that Zotero did not indicate any recognition of the ScienceDirect source page. This all happened prior to my 10:18am post this morning.

    Now, just a few minutes ago, I went back to the ScienceDirect page and noticed that the Zotero translater still did not recognize the ScienceDirect source (as in B7618K1026.png). I then clicked again on "Update now" and received the regular "Updated" response. But now the Zotero translator for ScienceDirect seemed to be present (see B7618V1537.png).

    The screenshot files can be obtained at
    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6wkqnqqq9fjmi18/AADhPu9N3fzDMXZJIk1m9cIEa?dl=0
  • adamsmith
    There are other reason a translator may not detect, particular with Sciencedirect, where Elsevier appears to constantly be making small changes. In order to be actually able to tell if the udpates aren't going through, you'd have to check the individual translator files.
  • WmLBrown
    Perhaps. But I think something else might be going on. After taking the the B7618V1537.png screenshot I attempted to save the ScienceDirect article to Zotero. Both Firefox and Zotero Standalone were loaded at the time. I received a message stating that Zotero was offline.

    I restarted both Zotero Standalone and Firefox. Then, attempting to save the ScienceDirect article to Zotero, I noticed that the ScienceDirect translator seemed again to be missing (see B7618V4437.png). So, I clicked on the Zotero download icon anyway to download the source as a Web page with snapshot. Nothing seemed to happen.

    The screenshot files can be obtained at
    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6wkqnqqq9fjmi18/AADhPu9N3fzDMXZJIk1m9cIEa?dl=0

    The Debug ID from Firefox is D2138565304 for my attempt to save the ScienceDirect source page as a Web page with snapshot.
    The Debug ID from Zotero Standalone for that same operation is D2121046727.

    I then attempted again to update the translators by pressing "Update now." Returning to my ScienceDirect article page, I hovered over the Zotero download button and saw again that the ScienceDirect translator appeared to be absent. Then I hovered over the Zotero download button again, but this time the tool tip indicated the presence of the ScienceDirect translator. Clicking on the Zotero download button at this point returned the dialog stating that Zotero is offline (see B7618W0102.png).
  • dstillman
    I then attempted again to update the translators by pressing "Update now."
    I'd really encourage you to stop doing this — it's superstition. Zotero updates translators automatically, and that button doesn't do anything unless there are recent updates since the last automatic check, which there haven't been.
  • dstillman
    When this happens, all we need is a Debug ID from the connector for a page load that doesn't trigger the translator you expect (not a webpage save).

    In any case, it looks like you're seeing this:
    Script injection timed out
    This is an issue we've been investigating in the Firefox connector. @adomasven might have some more ideas, but at this point your best bet when you don't see the icon you expect is to reload the page — that is almost certainly the only reason you've been getting different results.
  • WmLBrown
    The reason that I attempted to "Update now" was that the ScienceDirect translator seemed not to be present. When the Zotero download button showed "Save to Zotero (Web page with snapshot), nothing apparent happened when I pressed the button. When the Zotero download button showed "Save to Zotero (ScienceDirect), I got the message stating that Zotero was offline. Either way, the download was not happening.
  • dstillman
    No, this has nothing to do with the translator being "absent" or not loaded, and nothing to do with resetting or updating translators.
  • WmLBrown
    I once again searched and navigated to the ScienceDirect source page that I was trying to save. After the page loaded, it once again showed "Save to Zotero (Web page with snapshot). Nothing seemed to happen when I clicked on it.

    Upon then refreshing the page the Zotero download button showed "Save to Zotero (ScienceDirect)". This time, it successfully downloaded.
  • dstillman
    @adomasven would know better, but it's possible the timeout issue above would also break webpage saving, and possibly produce a spurious Zotero-is-offline error.

    The connector should say that Zotero is available in the prefs, though. If it doesn't, see https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/connector_zotero_unavailable for troubleshooting steps.
  • WmLBrown
    I had gone that web page earlier after getting the message that Zotero was offline, and it reported "Zotero Connector Server is Available".

    I don't know about the status in prefs--I did not check that at the time. If it happens again, I'll check status in prefs as well.
  • dstillman
    OK, right, so this is likely all just the timeout problem that we're investigating. Adomas might have some further thoughts.
  • WmLBrown
    I do have to say that the speed performance of Zotero 5 seems dramatically improved over Zotero 4.
  • adomasven
    There is a bug with a feature in Firefox that Zotero Connector uses to make translators work and causes these hiccups. It shouldn't be very frequent. Are there any particular steps you are taking to reproduce the ScienceDirect translator not being detected?
  • WmLBrown
    edited June 19, 2017
    I'm not sure. I just installed v5 Sat Jun 17 (had been using v4 up to that point). Library has 2200+ items. I went to v5 in hopes of speeding up my experience with Zotero (which it has done nicely). In order to help get a clean start with v5, I removed the old indexing and re-indexed, then reset the translators and styles and re-updated. I do not have any control scenarios with which to compare, so I don't know if and to what extent those actions might have affected the issue.

    I do have the uMatrix Firefox add-in installed for security reasons, but I have all scripts, etc., enabled without restriction for the library sources that I use. Since installing Zotero 5 I have used it both with uMatrix enabled and with it disabled. Between having uMatrix enabled vs. disabled, I have not detected any definitive affect of uMatrix on Zotero 5 performance.

    Feel free to ask me to assist. I will accommodate to the extent that I have the time.

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.

Sign In or Register to comment.