Translator problem with arxiv.org

count0 · August 23, 2017

I'm using Zotero Connector 5.0.17 for firefox with Zotero standalone.

I cannot import any papers from the arxiv. The log states the following error after each attempt:

[JavaScript Error: "invalid 'in' operand elements" {file: "moz-extension://99e9f29e-b1bd-4307-be59-fa3c43cd45a5/zotero/utilities.js" line: 1244}]

This occurs systematically for every paper, and has been happening for more than a couple of weeks.

Are there any hints of what the cause might be?

adamsmith · August 23, 2017

That happens when their API is down. Wait a bit and try again.

Edit: well, not if it happens for a couple of weeks, but are you sure about that? This has been the case for all other reports of this, so only other explanation I can think of is if you've somehow gotten blocked from the arxiv API, which seems unlikely.

count0 · August 23, 2017

Yes, this has been happening every single time I try for a long period of time.

Is there any way I can independently check if the API is being blocked?

adamsmith · August 23, 2017

If you paste the following in your browser
http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&identifier=oai:arXiv.org:[arxivID]
replacing [arxivID] with the arxivID, e.g 1407.2087

you should see XML show up in your browser -- it'll have a grey bar saying something about "no style information" at the top. So for example:
http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&identifier=oai:arXiv.org:1407.2087

should work

count0 · August 23, 2017

Indeed, if I open that address I get a normal-looking XML with the paper information.

However if I go to https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.2087 and attempt to import to zotero, I get "An error occurred while saving this item" and the error above in the log.

So it can't be because of the API being down.

adamsmith · August 23, 2017

odd. Which version of Zotero, which browser? nevermind -- see that above.

I'll see if I can replicate that on your settings

count0 · August 23, 2017

Yes, it is version 5.0.17 (both connector and standalone) on Firefox, on Linux.

adamsmith · September 11, 2017

I'm having trouble replicating this problem. Does this still occur with the most recent version of the connectors (5.0.19 for Firefox)?

count0 · September 11, 2017

Yes, I still see the same problem with version 5.0.19. Is there any more detailed debug information that I can give?

adamsmith · September 11, 2017

I suppose we could try a debug ID (different from an error report ID) for loading and then saving an arxiv page from the firefox connector:
https://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output#zotero_connectors_firefox_chrome_and_safari

count0 · September 11, 2017

Ok, I figured out what the problem was. It was due to a bad interaction with the uMatrix addon, which was blocking a necessary connection. It was confusing because it only happened with arxiv.org. Disabling uMatrix or adding arxiv.org to the global whitelist solves the problem.

Sorry for the false alarm!

adamsmith · September 11, 2017

Cool. Thanks for letting us know.
(Not the first report of conflicts with uMatrix -- we'll make a not of it in troubleshooting guidelines)