Feature Request: Saved Search Templates

dvs0826 · August 23, 2009

It would be nice if instead of just being able to save complete searches, you could save search "templates" as well. In the advanced search window, there could just be a checkbox for each field added to the search that said "unspecified". If checked, the text entry box becomes disabled. Then, when the search is selected in the collections box there would be a text entry box for each unspecified field. Even better would be if instead of a text box it displayed a drop-down box with a list of all known values for said field based on looking at every item in the library and getting all unique values of each property and making a list out of them.

I was trying to come up with a complex hierarchy of collections and subcollections so that I could make my library easily browsable (not searchable since that requires too many clicks) by journal title, volume, and issue and came up with this idea as sort of a generalization / compromise. I could achieve what I wanted using the "search template" method described above with not very many clicks by creating a template with fields for "Publication Name", "Issue", and "Volume". then i only need 3 clicks to select the correct publication from the publications drop down, the correct volume, and the correct issue similarly. Plus it's very general and could be used for many other purposes.

Thoughts?

dstillman · August 23, 2009

It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't seem all that different from just leaving around a saved search with "Publication", "Issue", and "Volume" fields and, when you wanted to do such a search, double-clicking it, updating the field values, and clicking OK. And the search window already gives you autocomplete on the appropriate field.

dvs0826 · August 23, 2009

I didn't think of that :) But I suppose the main differences are a) not having to open a new window (i know real estate is limited in a browser add-on so I do understand the decision to make a new window), and b) not having to type anything because of the automatically populated drop downs. I guess that's an ok compromise for now though, although having a drop-down is slightly better than auto-complete since it emphasizes a "browsing" aspect. you might just want to look at the list of all available values, rather than having to think of the first letter to get auto-complete.

erazlogo · August 23, 2009

you might just want to look at the list of all available values, rather than having to think of the first letter to get auto-complete.

Unless you have thousands of records and any drop-down or autocomplete on one character takes several minutes. In that case you'd want a delay that would give you an opportunity to type several characters in the field before Zotero generates the list. (By the way, it's still impossible to type a Publication title or Place manually because there is no delay on autocompletes--I have to type them in the Abstract field, then cut and paste.)

erazlogo · August 23, 2009

I was trying to come up with a complex hierarchy of collections and subcollections so that I could make my library easily browsable (not searchable since that requires too many clicks) by journal title, volume, and issue and came up with this idea as sort of a generalization / compromise.

You could create a saved search on the journal title, then sort by date of publication--in the list, all articles from the same issue will be grouped together.