Mapping of RIS fields to Zotero fields

SPbibKN
Hi together!

I've been using Zotero for some time now for my personal reference library, and I really like it. Unfortunately, in our Workgroup Endnote is still the tool our boss uses, and we need to employ when writing publications, although I figure, Zotero would be far more effective for group work (easing up syncing all references).

Now for my problem(s):
I want to import the existing Endnote library, but I need to preserve some fields for temporary backward compatibility. (I want to use Zotero, but have references in my document presented to endnote in a format my boss can use the references made from his library).

First Question:
ID: the RIS ID field is mapped to itemID in Zotero, what does itemID do in Zotero, and can I access that field for in text references
(should appear like: {Author, Year #itemID} in order for Endnote being able to scan the file and make references work)

I did edit the RIS translator, to get ID into callNumber. so I can modify mapping of the fields in fieldMap. OK callNumber is not ideal for that purpose, but i need to put it in a field that I wont use for that paper-library.

Next, there is a field in endnote called "Label", that specifies the number of the paper in my bosses personal collection (plain number). This gets exported as a N1 field. No problem, since I can replace all N1 fields containing only a number with any prefix instead of N1 I want to (I used "LAB"). Unfortunately, I did not succeed in mapping my new field to a zotero-field.
I tried adding

LAB:"callNumber" into the var field_Map = location:

var fieldMap = {
ID:"archiveLocation",
T1:"title",
T3:"series",
JF:"publicationTitle",
CY:"place",
JA:"journalAbbreviation",
M3:"DOI",
LAB:"callNumber"
};

Well. ID gets mapped to archive location as stated, but my new Label gets ignored

I also tried adding another elseif statement further down in the processTag function
using copy paste of another and similarity-modifying the code.
excerpt:

} else if(tag == "N2") {
// abstract
item.abstractNote = value;
} else if(tag == "LAB") {
// callNumber
item.callNumber = value;



still it's ignored

Can anyone give me a hint how to get that work?

So my 3 Questions

1) what is itemID in Zotero used for, and can i refer to it and how?
2) how to modify mapping of RIS to zotero fields?
3) any other thoughts / obvious errors I missed?

I've been reading through the forum, but I did not find a answer getting me forward.
I'd be glad if someone could help me out by pointing me to helpful reading or directly correcting my flaws.
greetings!
  • migugg
    this seems quite complex. And I doubt that this makes sense, since to do what you want is cumbersome and probably a waste of time. Why not just stick to either of the programs?
    anyway,
    1) why not rather use zotero's rtf scan feature which does not rely on itemID?
    http://www.zotero.org/support/rtf_scan
    2) see here:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/csl_syntax_summary
    and here:
    https://www.zotero.org/trac/browser/extension/branches/1.0/chrome/locale/en-US/zotero/zotero.properties
    for the names of zotero fields

    but ultimately, your request points to me to the question why zotero does not allow user defined fields. which has been discussed before, see here:
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/1382/addingediting-resource-types/
  • SPbibKN
    hey migugg,

    sorry if my intentions did not become clear.
    So, I am using OO and Zotero, and I dont want to deal with Endnote too much, let alone installing MS Office to my computer.
    My boss, who will do final editing of papers uses Endnote, so references in my file should appear so his endnote will link correctly.

    After all, I think its not all that complex (at least for the non programming part).
    I need two fields from Endnote available in my Zotero Lib (dealing with a citation style enabling Endnote to detect refs should not be that hard) so I can save a file with refernence parseable by endnote (i.e. {Author, Year #itemID} )

    Second agenda would be migrating our group to Zotero, and for obvious reasons, the Label has to be preserved for that, so that my boss will find his hardcopies.

    So, what i'd need would be: how to modify import of those fields to suitable zotero fields.
    Since callNumber wont be used in this lib, it could be used for ID, and archiveLocation seems logical to use for the hardcopy number. unfortunately i can only remap ID to any of these fields, but cannot add a custom tag from the RIS import to archiveLocation.

    You can see what methods I tried in my first post.

    So rtf scan is no solution to what I am up to.
    The CSL Syntax will be useful in the next step, thank you for that, although I already had a peek into it.
    And the field names i got from the Zotero Data model page, but unfortunately my attempt to integrate another tag into the RIS import .js was not successful. So any help with that would be marvelous! As you can see, i tried adding an entry into the var fieldType (also var inputfieldType) array as well as adding another elseif query in the importTag function, but neither seems to work

    (extracted the 226.js from translators.zip, edited and saved it back into place, which worked as I can see from my successful remapping of the ID field)
  • migugg
    But if you move your bosses database to zotero, then why does he use still endnote?
    The far easiest answer would be: tell your boss how cumbersome all of this is, and that running to programs to do one job is just annoying. And that zotero is vastly superior in terms of collaboration and that he therefore shall switch to zotero?

    anyway:
    if you just import it, doesn't the label as N1 show up in zotero as a note? isn't that enough for your purposes? As far as I understand, you do nothing with label in terms of referencing, its purely for internal use to find documents. So its fine to have them as notes?
  • SPbibKN
    edited March 18, 2010
    I think it will need some talking into, and in order to import the correct pdfs it would be easier to have the labels more easily visible. but you are right for the part I could skip it for the reference part.

    You know people I suppose, you need good arguments to persuade someone giving up old habbits, and having the complete library available on a network including easily findable labels will ease it up. Just saying Zotero offers better collaboration won't do I fear, it seems up to now he is quite happy with anyone copying the endnote lib to their computers after every update, brrrr.

    So, thanks for you suggestions, but I am looking for a technical solution right now, not a social ;) this will be needed afterwards, and it will be easier with a technical solution in my hands.


    So, still open question: how do I remap/target (custom) RIS fields to Zotero fields of my coice? Thanks!

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