attach stored copy of file button is missing

drphyto
I have just started using zotero. I was importing and deleting the import and re-importing (trying to get it right) and ended up with several copies in My Library. So I deleted the copies and got everything cleaned up... with no attached pdf's preferring to manually attach my pdf's. So, I attached a stored copy of file to one item. Pdf appeared under item. Great. I went to the second item to attach a pdf to it, but the button is now missing (barely visible). Why has the button disappeared?

I am using: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 Firefox/3.6.13
and zotero 2.0.9
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  • dstillman
    No idea what you mean. Take a screenshot, post it somewhere (free image-sharing site, etc.), and provide a link.
  • drphyto
    I tried adding an attached file again (I click the barely visible "attach stored copy of file" button) but I was on the wrong article. However, I noticed that the attachments counter indexed from 1 to 2, but the pdf isn't shown as a child so I cannot even remove it (I'm assuming that because the attachment counter indexed that it is there). Please help. I have a lot of work to do and I just want to go to each journal article and attach it's pdf that I have stored on my hard drive. It worked the first time (I have an acrobat icon under the article) but it has stopped after the first and only one.
  • drphyto
    Under the paper clip are menu choices. One of them is to "attach stored copy of file". It no longer works. It is "grayed out". If I click it and pick a pdf file from my hard drive, no pdf icon appears as a child under the article (middle column), yet the attachments counter (under the + sign) increments like it has attached a file to my article.
  • dstillman
    Restart Firefox.

    If that doesn't help, disable your other extensions and themes.
  • drphyto
    I restarted FF and the attachment counter was corrected (decremented by one to show that the attachment was never actually added) however the "attach stored copy of file" button is still grayed out. I disabled the extensions and restarted, but the button is still grayed out. Strange that the "grayed out" button takes you through the motions of adding the file and even increments the attachment counter, but nothing actually gets attached (as evidenced by the lack of a child entry and the counter getting corrected after a restart). I had also checked the db for errors (under preferences) but it shows no errors. I have tried rebuilding as well. Darn thing is broken and I just got it out of the box.
  • dstillman
    I asked you to provide a screenshot. You'll have to do that if you want us to help you. Nobody has ever reported anything like this.
  • drphyto
    Here is a screen shot: http://cid-cc039c3468c49524.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/screen shots?uc=1&nl=1

    Notice the first article has a pdf as child successfully attached. Tried with the second article, but the button "Attach Stored Copy of File..." button is now grayed out.
  • dstillman
    There's nothing grayed out in that screenshot. It's just a different icon.
  • drphyto
    It doesn't work!
  • dstillman
    I'm just making sure we're clear that nothing is changing in the menu between the first and second run—saying the button is "now" grayed out is misleading.

    Restart Firefox again and provide a Debug ID for the second attaching attempt as well as a Report ID from after the attempt.
  • dstillman
    Also, your screenshot shows a number of extensions installed. Perhaps you reenabled them before taking the screenshot, but are you sure you tested with all other extensions disabled?
  • drphyto
    Well, when the button didn't work the second time, and I noticed the button was so faint, I assumed that it had been taken out of commission. I tried it again and again, each time the attachment counter would increment, but alas... no attachment would appear. Restarting FF could correct the counter, but not the problem of not getting an attachment.
  • drphyto
    Should I try exporting the db to a RDF or RIS, then delete my library, and re-import? Seems like something got seriously screwed up but I have no idea about this application. I got excited about it when EndNote X1 let me down again and had read something about zotero. I looked it up and thought wow, everyone will be going to this and it will become a new standard. I might as well join in now and forget EndNote (which my colleagues use).
  • dstillman
    So far you've ignored everything I've asked you to do.
  • drphyto
    I also tried dragging a pdf onto an article. Just like the button, the attachment counter incremented but no attachment appeared.

    On another note, freepatentsonline.com produces bibliographical information for import into EndNote and BibTex. I saved the EndNote text which I think is RIS format, but zotero said it was an unsupported format. So I looked into the zotero documentation and it directly says it will import raw Bibtex info, so... I copied the freepatentsonlilne generated BibTex to the clipboard and in zotero clicked on import from clipboard. It said unsupported format. So I saved the BibTex as a txt file and tried importing it. Same result... unsupported format. What's going on?
  • drphyto
    Here is the raw BibTeX that zotero says is unsupported format:

    @{patent:5100662,
    title = "Steroidal liposomes exhibiting enhanced stability",
    number = "5100662",
    author = "Bolcsak, Lois E. (Lawrenceville, NJ), Boni, Lawrence (Monmouth

    Junction, NJ), Popescu, Mircea C. (Plainsboro, NJ), Tremblay, Paul A.

    (Hamilton, NJ)",
    year = "1992",
    month = "March",
    url = "http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5100662.html"
    }
  • ajlyon
    One thing at a time here. Provide the debugging information Dan requested for making attachments, with your non-Zotero Firefox extensions disabled.

    Translator issues, RIS and BibTeX import, and more can wait for now.
  • drphyto
    Hi ajlyon;

    I had tried it with all the extensions disabled. Yes, I re-enabled them after the attempt. I didn't see the request for the debug ID and reports. Will do them now if I can figure out how.
  • drphyto
    edited January 8, 2011
    Wow, there were error messages this time. This is after I tried dragging the pdf to the second article, which produced the same result as using the "attach stored file" button (i.e. got no attachment but an increment of the attachment counter). If I took a picture, it would look the same as before, with no pdf child and the attachment counter reading 2. Here is the Report ID: 1350033531. Here are the errors: Curious; Why is it reporting on Chrome. Chrome is not running (and I don't see anything chrome looking in taskmanager). I stopped running chrome a week ago to come back to FF and eventually plan to uninstall chrome (or I can do it now).

    [unrelated error messages removed — D.S.]
  • drphyto
    Oops, I forgot to disable the extensions. Do you want me to do over without the extensions?
  • dstillman
    Nothing related to Zotero in there. I asked for a Debug ID as well.
    Curious; Why is it reporting on Chrome.
    It's not. Nothing to do with Chrome the browser.
  • dstillman
    If you really tried with extensions disabled and got the same behavior, then no, it doesn't matter.
  • drphyto
    I got this from view debug output log: Is this what you need or where do I get the ID?

    (4)(+0000000): Registering observer for [collection,search,share,group,bucket] in notifier with hash Cm'

    (5)(+0000003): SELECT itemTypeID AS id, typeName AS name, custom FROM itemTypesCombined WHERE display=2

    (5)(+0000060): SELECT itemTypeID AS id, typeName AS name, custom FROM itemTypesCombined WHERE display=1
  • dstillman
    No. Both of the links I gave you provide explicit directions for generating the IDs we need. If you can't follow them, I'm afraid I can't help you.
  • drphyto
    Take it easy. No worries.

    The Debug ID is D1914147938.
  • dstillman
    Provide another Report ID after reproducing this and before restarting Firefox—based on that debug output, there really should be a Zotero error here.
  • drphyto
    Here is the report ID: 526588221

    I haven't restarted FF since last night. The attachment counter now reads 3 from the last attempt today (of course, there are still no pdf attachments showing for the article).
  • dstillman
    OK, that report contained a Zotero error:
    [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsILocalFile.copyTo]" nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/attachments.js :: importFromFile :: line 84" data: no]
    This indicates something fundamentally broken on your system. Do you have security/anti-virus software installed? If so, disable it temporarily and try again.

    Otherwise, is this on a local drive or a network drive?

    There's nothing Zotero itself can do about this, so there's not much we can tell you other than to figure out what on your system is causing the breakage. It's something uncommon, since I can't recall seeing this error before.
  • dstillman
    It could also have something to do with the location of the file you're selecting, since it looks like Zotero isn't getting a file path from the file selector.
  • drphyto
    I disabled superantispyware. Didn't help.
    I closed all the acrobat stuff. Didn't help.

    Just a local drive.

    I have no idea where to look. The installation of XP is only a few months old. I don't have it loaded up with junk. I run windows firewall and the superantispyware in realtime. My Outlook 2007 account won't connect to the MS live mail server since the 16th of December. (MS just ignores my requests to answer why it just stopped working and just passes me back and fourth from one dept to another and back) That's about it.

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