New plugin: ZoteroQuickLook

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  • [quote]if I set zoteroquicklook.filenameworkaround to false (french accent in filename)[/quote]

    I have not really implemented the workaround on Windows. I have now disabled it completely for Win regardless of the preference.

    [quote]One minor problem: if I press spacebar to close the ZQL, it closes then immediately reopens (except with pdf!!!?)[/quote]

    This is a new issue. Thanks for reporting. I will take a look at it on Sunday afternoon.
  • edited July 9, 2010
    @mronkko: Have installed the latest of your updates and post here the debug output – the user experience is the same as stated above (generic icon instead of text display). Thought this might help since you have added more debugging options.

    The action:
    - load page in browser
    - Use Zotero's 'Create new entry from current page' button
    - Invoke ZQL with main entry [produces generic icon in ZQL-HUD]
    - Close ZQL with spacebar
    - Invoke ZQL with actual webshot contained in main entry [produces generic icon in ZQL-HUD]
    - Close ZQL with spacebar
    (I can confirm that the document /Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html is on my system and accessible when opened in FF).

    Output (filtered for 'Zoteroquicklook'):
    2010.07.09 14:37:25 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook loading
    2010.07.09 14:37:25 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook loaded
    2010.07.09 14:37:26 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook starts init
    2010.07.09 14:37:26 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook finished init
    2010.07.09 14:40:28 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook active. Dialog: false
    2010.07.09 14:40:28 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook opening viewer
    2010.07.09 14:40:28 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook calling a shell command: /usr/bin/perl /Users/amw/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/fwq67dk5.default/extensions/zoteroquicklook@gmail.com/chrome/content/zoteroquicklook.pl /Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html
    2010.07.09 14:40:28 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zoteroquicklook.pl: Argument 0 is '/Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html' and is resolved as '"/Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html"'.
    2010.07.09 14:40:30 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook active. Dialog: false
    2010.07.09 14:40:30 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook is killing quicklook viewer.
    2010.07.09 14:40:32 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook active. Dialog: false
    2010.07.09 14:40:32 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook opening viewer
    2010.07.09 14:40:32 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook calling a shell command: /usr/bin/perl /Users/amw/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/fwq67dk5.default/extensions/zoteroquicklook@gmail.com/chrome/content/zoteroquicklook.pl /Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html
    2010.07.09 14:40:32 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zoteroquicklook.pl: Argument 0 is '/Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html' and is resolved as '"/Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html"'.
    2010.07.09 14:40:34 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook active. Dialog: false
    2010.07.09 14:40:34 [0x0-0x46d46d].org.mozilla.firefox[5112] zotero(3): ZoteroQuickLook is killing quicklook viewer.
  • mronkko - I've played around and haven't found any more issues in Ubuntu Linux.
    Gloobus has also improved a bit, so this is looking quite nifty!
  • A new version is now available in the same address as before.

    Changes:
    -Fixed the windows issue reported by Gracile
    -A minor change that might solve the issue reported by kithairon
    -Moving up and down in the item list with arrow keys when quicklook is showing now changes the active quicklook item.

    If no bugs are found, I will publish this version through Mozilla Extensions Directory.
  • Thanks for the update; moving up and down the list is nice. Re my issue reported earlier, nothing has changed. ZQL works fine and flawless when Zotero's storage is in Firefox's profile. If I use any other location on my system ZQL only opens pdfs and webshot if their filename (in Zot's storage folder) is absolutely identical with the entry's title in Zotero's center pane. By default, Zotero doesn't do this when capturing webshots. If I subsequently use the "Rename file with metadata" on the freshly captured attachment ZQL works gracefully. The same is true for Pdfs: if entry-title and filename are identical, all is well; if not, then ZQL produces the generic white icon. Tried moving Zotero storage do different locations, disabled all my other FF add-ons; tried with single or mulitple FF windows: no changes in ZQL's behaviour. If you're interested in more debug output let me know.
  • When you get this in the log


    ZoteroQuickLook calling a shell command: /usr/bin/perl /Users/amw/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/fwq67dk5.default/extensions/zoteroquicklook@gmail.com/chrome/content/zoteroquicklook.pl /Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html

    What happens if you execute the command in terminal?


    /usr/bin/perl "/Users/amw/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/fwq67dk5.default/extensions/zoteroquicklook@gmail.com/chrome/content/zoteroquicklook.pl" /Users/amw/Documents/Zettelbank/Zotero/storage/8AM85WDI/etexts.html

    Does it show something?
  • Executed the path above in Terminal: QuickLook HUD comes up and displays the familiar generic icon with the text >etexts.html"< (no initial quotes).
  • This is kind of a good thing because it provides a test case. Do you have skype or some other chat program so that we could troubleshoot this interactively.

    If not, please post what you get by running this command.
  • edited January 9, 2011
    You're fast. (Guess the command was missing).
    Try skyping me at mike.c.flechter (no spaces). Thanks.
  • There is a new version now. I numbered this 1.0.0 because it does everything that I wanted it to do and there are no known bugs. The update will be available through Mozilla Extensions Directory soon.
  • The plugin is now in the approval process. I did a short demo video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu3p5BBtkvE

    (Can the admins add a link to this video on the page about plugins http://www.zotero.org/support/plugins)
  • edited July 12, 2010
    (Can the admins add a link to this video on the page about plugins http://www.zotero.org/support/plugins)
    no reason you couldn't do this yourself - just get a Wiki account - but obviously happy to help - so done.
  • Works perfect now. Thanks!
  • The plugin looks like it does a wonderful job of filling an important gap. Before I install on Windows, I'm wondering if maComfort is the lightest viewer available that anyone has used with this. I don't need all that maComfort can do and so would love to use a single-purpose viewer for this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!
    Tom
  • edited July 12, 2010
    For linux version:
    Gloobus doesn't seem to support multiple file arguments. You can get a gloobus-preview of all the files in series by making multiple system calls in the perl script or putting multiple previews in a single system call with &&.

    Also when its activated with a link to a website as one of the attachments it breaks because the filename that tries to get cleaned is undefined. It works if you check that .path is defined before pushing the cleaned path unto args.

    edit: also, I'm running it with the trunk XPI and it seems to work fine.
  • <blockquote>Gloobus doesn't seem to support multiple file arguments. You can get a gloobus-preview of all the files in series by making multiple system calls in the perl script or putting multiple previews in a single system call with &&.</blockquote>

    The idea is to open multiple items only if supported and if not supported, show the first item only. I do not think that opening multiple viewers is a good thing to do and neither is opening viewers in sequence. Currently it should open the first file only and ignore rest of the files. This is the intended behavior.

    If you want to browse through all attachements of an item, you can do this with up and down arrow while QuickLook is active. (This does currently work on Linux. It is probably possible to get it to work, but it goes beyond my skills.)

    <blockquote>Also when its activated with a link to a website as one of the attachments it breaks because the filename that tries to get cleaned is undefined. It works if you check that .path is defined before pushing the cleaned path unto args.</blockquote>

    Confirmed and fixed.

  • I'm wondering if maComfort is the lightest viewer available that anyone has used with this.
    I did some searching when choosing the default viewer on Windows and this seemed the best. If you know any other that could work, please let me know so that I can add support.
  • This is really a great plugin! The only thing I am missing is the 'pinch to zoom' functionality which I usually have with Quicklook on the mac...
  • Pinch to zoom is not easily possible. The plugin uses qlmanage, which is a debugging tool for QuickLook, to display the preview. This tool does not support pinch to zoom.

    The way to overcome this limitation would be to code an independent command line QuickLook client. This is possible and Apple provides good documentation for QuickLook, but I do not have the resources to do this.
  • edited July 24, 2010
    fantastic time-saver! Thanks so much for your effort. I love the feature that you can page through multiple files.

    Two feature suggestions:

    a) make it work with linked pdf files (currently, it doesn't work on the Mac if I select the parent item. I have to expand the parent item and select the link and then hit spacebar, then it does work, but this is cumbersome)

    b) make it work with Notes too (they are html files anyways, no? So if it works with html/snapshots, it might be possible to get it to work with notes as well?)
  • Good suggestions. I will implement the first definitely and give some though on the second one to see if it can be implemented easily.
  • Also my thanks - this is such a nifty extension to Zotero! I am using the new beta 2.1 and unfortunately, the extension is not working with the new version. Will there be an update? Thanks!
  • Thanks for letting me know that the plugin does not work with the 2.1 beta. I will take a look at it and hopefully release a new version by the time Zotero 2.1 stable is out.
  • Thanks for putting this extension together.

    I just wanted to say that the issue with ZQL working only on one of the open Firefox windows is still around, at least for me.
  • "I just wanted to say that the issue with ZQL working only on one of the open Firefox windows is still around, at least for me."

    Which version of FF, Zotero, and ZQL are you using and on which operating system?

    Do you get the context menu item for the items on the second firefox window?
  • Sorry to have forgotten to give you that information the first time.

    I'm on a Mac, running OS 10.6.4
    Firefox 3.6.12
    Zotero 2.0.9
    ZQL 1.0.0

    And yes, I am getting the QuickLook option on the context menu, and that shortcut works to quicklook files just fine. The issue seems to be limited to using the Spacebar shortcut.
  • Both Spacebar and Menu option work reliably fine with me on OSX 10.6.4. / FF 3.6.12 / Zot 2.0.9 & ZQL1.0
    kithairon
  • edited November 2, 2010
    I downloaded the free version of maComfort (though I'm not quiet sure if also the free version is supposed to be unlocked).

    When I use the spacebar on a book folder (i.e. contains reference link to typically Amazon and a link to my pdf file) then first:

    (1) a window emerges with the title of the pdf but instead of a preview I get the error "Navigation to the webpage was cancelled" and that I can try to retype it (which of course I cannot)

    (2) with a slight delay the pdf file itself opens up in my Acrobat behind the supposed preview.

    (3) using the spacebar directly on a Zotero book folder will, at times, briefly display the maComfort.

    Anyone has any clue what's going on?

    I first tried to install the irfanView viewer since I am not keen on maComfort adding another service to my Win 7 (besides changing functionality such as not allowing me to jump words writing this mail and using Ctrl+arrow). However, to preview pdf's irfanView also require Ghostscript so I also found that option somewhat inflated.

    For me the bottom line is that our visual memory is higher for pictures (read 'book covers') than for typed sentences (read 'book titles') and I totally agree with other folks who elsewhere have requested the feature of being able to browse their library using only book covers - in addition to displaying individual book covers in the Zotero pane.
  • nlunsford: Can you run Zotero with debug on and post the results of what happens when you try to activate QuickLook with space bar? The instructions for running with debug mode can be found on page 2 of this thread.

    Pachuco: Before I start to troubleshoot this, can you verify that the following steps would fail in your case
    1) Import any book from Amazon and include the HTLM page
    2) Link any PDF from my harddrive the this item
    3) Trigger ZoteroQuickLook for the item

    If this does not work for you, the I can do the same workflow and identify the problem. If it does, can you provide steps to follow to trigger the issue.
  • I am planning on releasing 1.1 version soon, and would like to have some testers. A development version of the add on is available at

    www.tkk.fi/u/mronkko/zoteroquicklook.xpi

    Changes:
    -Compatibility with Zotero 2.1beta and FF 4.0b7
    -Moved some stuff that was previously called when quicklook wsa activated to the plugin init resulting in a performance boost
    -One very minor bug fix that I did a long time ago, but do not remember what it was

    If you have any problems with older versions, now it is a good time to report bugs so that they can be fixed in the new release.
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