PDF icon on link attachments (possible bug?)

@dstillman

Some link attachments (those that end in .pdf) have a red PDF icon. However, other link attachments just blue link icon. That doesn't seem to be like this on non-beta versions (or I could be wrong). In any case, it's a recent change.

It's a bit confusing, because even links that don't end in .pdf may directly resolve to a pdf.

If it's intended, would it be possible to have a separate icon for this, such as a PDF icon with the link symbol ontop? Or the old blue link-type icon with PDF written on it?

(5.0.61-beta.25+ce1fc6635, but it's been like that for one or two beta updates at least.)
  • If the item is a Linked Attachment (https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#file_copies_and_links), that is, a link to a local file on your computer, it will have the PDF link icon.

    If the item is a link to a URL on the internet, it will have the web link icon.
  • Yes, to be clear, the only change here was bringing linked-file PDFs in line with stored-file PDFs, but with a link in the icon. Showing the PDF icon for linked-file PDF has been a longstanding request from people who use linked-file workflows.
  • edited March 9, 2019
    @bwiernik - not quite sure what you mean... I have link items that have the same PDF icon as file attachments, but I think that's how I understand @dstillman.

    @dstillman - So at the moment locally stored PDFs (under Zotero control) have the same icon as PDF-links? At least that's what I see.

    Is that intended or not?

    If yes - I do think that's confusing - let me argue this :)

    - I now need to look at the blue dot as well as the icon to work out where the file is.
    - When I double click the icon (without looking at the blue dot) either the browser will open (for the link) or my PDF reader. That's inconsistent.
    - Further, links that resolve to PDFs but don't end in .pdf are still shown with the attachment icon.
    - Also, despite the icon showing as PDF, the PDF may or may not be retrieved with 'find available PDF'.

    So ... my vote would be that the icon to "PDF under Zotero control" and the icon for "link ending in .pdf" should be different, e.g. by adding the link icon to the latter?

    Or am I misunderstanding? :)
  • So at the moment locally stored PDFs (under Zotero control) have the same icon as PDF-links?
    No. Stored-file PDFs have the PDF icon. Linked-file PDFs have a PDF-link icon.
  • Hmm, so I'm staring at the icons, and I cannot see any difference (5.0.61-beta.26+c7698a232).
  • What is that meant to show? Is one of those a linked-file attachment?

    These are the icons you should see (and which I see):

    Stored-file PDF: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/blob/master/chrome/skin/default/zotero/treeitem-attachment-pdf@2x.png

    Linked-file PDF: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/blob/master/chrome/skin/default/zotero/treeitem-attachment-pdf-link@2x.png
  • edited March 9, 2019
    Oh, wait, you're saying that linked-URL attachments that are PDFs are getting the stored-file PDF icon.

    That's a bug. That should probably continue to show the blue-page-with-link icon.
  • (There are two types of "link" attachments in Zotero: linked-file attachments (to a file on your computer) and linked-URL attachments (to something on the web). This change was only meant to affect the former, and that was the source of the confusion here.)
  • I've fixed this. It'll be in a new beta shortly. Thanks, and sorry for the confusion!
  • > Oh, wait, you're saying that linked-URL attachments that are PDFs are getting the stored-file PDF icon.

    Yeah, that's it - sorry for the confusion. I don't have any local files outside Zotero!

    > That's a bug. That should probably continue to show the blue-page-with-link icon.

    Yes that makes sense!
  • Many thanks! Much appreciated!
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