local search for ISBN does not work with plain numbers

biegel
edited today at 12:57pm
Hey,

there are books with correct ISBNs in my collection e.g.:

9783492211628 and 978-3-492-21162-8

Searching for it with the plain number will not show any result.

Searching with number and "-" in it will show correct books (even when there ISBN is written without "-" in the Database).

I would like to have the same results in both cases, because my ISBN Scanner is unfortunately giving the plain number. Though adding new books to the Database searching with the plain number works like a charme.

Is it a bug or does anyone has a hint for me?
Thanks a lot!
B.
  • adamsmith
    You mean not adding them by identifier but literally doing a search using advanced search or all fields and tags? Did that ever use to work?
    I'd assume Zotero just searches the ISBN field like a simple string, so anything that's changed, including hyphens, will cause it to not find results.
  • biegel
    Yes, I'm doing a search in my local library for ISBN without the minus sign. That gives me no result. It doesn't matter if the book has it's ISBN with or without "-".

    The other way round are searchable with "-" ISBN, even when they are saved without "-".

    As the ISBN EAN standard don't define the minus sign as necessary. I would expect both searches to work.

  • biegel
    Tried with brandnew Zotero 8, same behaviour.

    One interesting point I found out, if you replace "-" with " " empty space the search is working. Just not with no space or minus signs. Mixed search for "978 3 492 -21162-8" also works.

    So I'll probably open a bug report in the git project.

    Thanks for Zotero and this Forum! :)

    p.s.: The search field in the zotero webclient, ignores ISBN field completely.

  • biegel
    One thing for explanation, why I'm looking for this. We use QR/Barcode scanners and they are returning the numbers without the "-". Unfortunately they have no better output.
  • adamsmith
    (please don't use Zotero's GitHub for bug reports)
  • biegel
    I just read it in the docs. What would be a better way? Is it enough to discuss here? What more infos could I provide?

    Having no clue how zotero is programmed (seems like Javascript in bundled browser package) would you please give me a link to the part of the source where the search is handled.
  • adamsmith
    Posting here is fine; core devs read all threads, but note that this isn't a bug (in the sense of "unanticipated erroneous behavior"), it's a feature request. As I say above, ISBNs are just not treated differently from any other search field.
    The relevant code is mostly here:
    https://github.com/zotero/zotero/blob/main/chrome/content/zotero/elements/zoteroSearch.js
  • biegel
    Thanks! Now I have a little understanding of what Zotero looks like under the hood. Nice and an interesting concept I wasn't aware of. Keep up the good work! :)

    Technically speaking the search function returns correctly what it finds in the database. The convention looks like to store all ISBNs with "-". So a search without them must fail. A search with empty spaces between the numbers finds everything with all the numbers, which answers my question regarding the mixed search.

    Please let me phrase it as a feature request: I would like to use the local search function with ISBNs formatted without "-" (like 9783492211628). This would be helpful, because some (most?) ISBN handheld scanners return the ISBN without minus signs.

    Thank you ver much for your time!
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