1248093803 : behavior changes when importing citation data ?

2
  • alexander.bocast
    Sorry to report this, but 5.0.21 seems to have recreated the problems I have been reporting.
  • adamsmith
    As per Dan's last post, he's need a debug ID for such an instance
  • alexander.bocast
    D1692597490
  • dstillman
    OK, so that appears to show you creating a new empty book item.

    The debug output does show this:
    Could not find row for item; not selecting item
    What view are you in in the left-hand pane when you're trying this?
  • alexander.bocast
    At the top, my collections; My Library is selected. At the bottom, tags.
  • dstillman
    Meaning that you have tags selected? Since we can't reproduce this, we really need you to tell us exactly what you see on your screen.

    If you select My Library, restart Zotero, click the + button, and add a new note, does this happen? If so, what exactly is "this"? If not, what exact steps do you need to take to get it to occur?
  • alexander.bocast
    Do this: select file/new item/book. A new, empty record is created. That record is not selected. The information pane continues to display the previously selected record. The new empty item can be found at the end of the item list in the central pane if the pane is sorted by year; alternatively, if the pane is sorted by title, the new empty item can be found at the beginning of the item list.

    Do this: click the save-to-Zotero icon in Firefox. A new, filled record is created. That record is not selected. The information pane continues to display the previously selected record. However, a search for the item will bring it into view in the center pane. When the new item is selected, its information will appear in the right pane.

    (1) Zotero creates a new item for the user.
    (2) Because a new item has been created, Zotero deselects the previously selected item.
    (3) However, for some reason, the conditions that must be satisfied before a new item can be selected by zotero are not satisfied, so the new item is not selected by Zotero.
    (4) Because the new item has not been selected,
    (a) the information displayed in the right-hand pane does not change, and
    (b) the item list reverts to its nothing-has-been-selected-yet state.
    (5) The new item can be found--whether empty or filled from Firefox--by a search.
    (6) When the item is found by searching, it can be selected.
    (7) When the found item is selected, the information in the right-hand pane is updated.

    Check your code.
  • adamsmith
    Right, but that's just not the case for either of us. I consistently get new book items selected (with an active cursor in the title field) and presumably so does Dan. So the question is why that's not the case for you.

    Could you first clarify if this is the case:
    If you select My Library, restart Zotero, click the + button, and add a new note, does this happen?
    i.e. does this happen immediately after restarting Zotero and in every case, or only in some cases?
  • bwiernik
    I can reliably produce what I think might be the behavior here. If I add an item before the library has finished loading (e.g., immediately after starting Zotero before the item tree is fully displayed), then the item is created but not selected once the library finishes loading.
  • alexander.bocast
    dubug id: D544456692. Records failure to select item imported from Firefox.

    Also, re bwiernik's note, I'll reiterate: the only time that Zotero is not open on my third display is when I am forced to reboot, so the anomalies I see are not related to starting Zotero. For me, Zotero is always up and running.
  • adamsmith
    (you still didn't answer Dan's question, restated by me; nailing down the exact circumstances in which this happens -- and when not -- is the most likely way this will get fixed)
  • alexander.bocast
    The problems I see occur when Zotero should select and display a newly created item, an item created either by selecting File/New Item/Book or by importing metadata from Firefox. My OS is Windows 10 Pro 64-bit version 1511 build 10586.1045. Processor Intel R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.60 GHz, x64-based processors. 8 GByte installed RAM. Oodles of on-board and external storage. Latest Firefox release, 55.0.3. (64-bit). At release 5.0.17, Zotero was not broken; release 5.0.18 broke my Zotero. The point of failure in Zotero is where the code should invoke selection of a newly-created item. This problem occurs at any time, that is, it is not related to starting Zotero. Most often (but not always), immediately after restarting Zotero, either way of adding a new item works as expected for a while (just tried this again). Having spent many many years writing, debugging, and fixing code, I understand how frustrating it is to try to track down an bug that you cannot see in your development environment. Here, as a user, I am not seeing anything that concretely distinguishes working-correctly circumstances from not-working-correctly circumstances. Perhaps you can direct my attention to circumstances that you think I should be noticing? I always create new items in My Library and then I assign the newly-created item to specific collection(s).

    Is there some way I can uninstall and reinstall a fresh copy of Zotero without losing my database?

  • dstillman
    We understand the problem — what we need, since we can't reproduce it, is for somebody to figure out exactly what steps cause it to occur after a restart. See my questions here:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/287216/#Comment_287216
  • alexander.bocast
    1) Does this happen only after editing an item? No.

    2) Does it happen with auto-sync disabled? Auto-sync for data has been on, while auto-sync for files has been off. I will now turn off auto-sync for data.

    3) Does it happen with all third-party Zotero extensions disabled? Zotero Word for Windows Integration has been enabled. I have now disabled the extension for LibreOffice Integration and the Shockwave Flash plugin.

    4) Does it matter what view you're in in the left-hand pane? Do not understand this question. Do you mean the collections pane? My view--my display layout--never changes.

    5) Does it require you to start a new search while one is still ongoing? Do not understand this question. Sometimes searches never complete, which then requires shutting Zotero down and restarting... this is post 5.0.17 behavior...

    6) Does it matter what's selected in the middle pane, or what you've selected previously since restarting? No.
  • adamsmith
    4) is about whether you have a collection/subcollection/My Library selected or filter by a tag or if none of that appears to make a difference.
  • alexander.bocast
    When adding a new item, I have My Library selected. From there I allocate a new item to an appropriate collection(s). I have not filtered by tags. But none of that appears to make a difference.
  • dstillman
    The latest 5.0 Beta fixes a refresh problem when the Advanced Search window is open, which someone else identified as a trigger. The same bug may affect other things, so you can try that and see if you still have trouble or wait for 5.0.22.
  • dstillman
    The above fix and some additional ones are now available in Zotero 5.0.22. Let us know if you still run into trouble.
  • alexander.bocast
    Now using 5.0.22. No perceptible improvement.
  • dstillman
    Can you provide a Report ID after triggering it? There've been no other reports of this in 5.0.22, so you might be seeing a different issue.
  • alexander.bocast
    D819588688, creating new book item
  • alexander.bocast
    This is disconcerting... now when I try to create a new item, the Welcome to Zotero! announcement appears and all my items disappear from the items pane. Clicking on My Library does not restore the items, but a blank (no-characters) search does restore them.
  • alexander.bocast
    Scrolling all the way to the end of my items reveals the newly-created, empty item. When I click on it, the empty info pane is filled with the new item form.
  • dstillman
    OK, you're definitely seeming something different from what other people have reported.

    Can you check database integrity from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences?

    If that passes, at this point I might try creating a new Zotero profile. In the new profile, add a few items and see if it's happening. If not, close Zotero, open your original Zotero profile directory, and copy the zotero.sqlite file to the other profile directory, and then start Zotero with the second profile and see if you can reproduce the problem. If not, move the 'storage' directory (containing attachment files) from the original profile to the new one and start using that profile. You'll need to set up syncing again and any other settings, but I would do those gradually, in case you notice that a particular setting causes it to start happening again. If it does continue to happen, we can debug further. If not, you can start the profile manager again and delete the old profile.
  • alexander.bocast
    No errors found in database. Will look next at creating a new profile...
  • alexander.bocast
    These directions make me quite uneasy... But, following the directions for starting zotero with -P, and browsing to get the file name, I get:

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Zotero Standalone\zotero.exe -P"

    This command fails: cannot find the file. Perhaps the space in the middle of "Zotero Standalone"?
  • dstillman
    The quotes should end immediately after the .exe, not the -P.
  • alexander.bocast
    All problems remain with 5.0.23.
  • dstillman
    Did you try in a new profile?
  • alexander.bocast
    Not yet. Still queasy about trying that, because I don't quite understand what you are asking me to do. Your current documentation does not explain what a Zotero profile is or does, or why I might want one. There is nothing in your interface that seems connected or related to setting up or selecting profiles. (Your duck-duck search engine returns all quack-quack noise-noise.) I don't now use the DOS command line (OK, now its called "run") to invoke Zotero, but you seem to be suggesting that in the future, if I follow your directions, I would have to use the Run box to start Zotero. It seems that you have been releasing upgrades to Zotero before ensuring your documentation incorporates those upgrades, so that now, I guess, your documentation is way behind the delivered code. I don't like starting something whose consequences I cannot foresee because are not described in your documentation. Frankly, I'm afraid that I will lose my Zotero databases if I try to follow your directions and make any sort of mistake, which is likely, since I don't yet understand the process or what the result is to be. Your mention of a "profile manager", for example, is totally opaque.

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