Clicking on a href link in a Standlone does not open the web page

kazar
When a string in a standalone note is formatted as an <a href... link to a web page, clicking on it does not open that web page. I've examined the html source of the note and the link is coded properly. I've tried various modifierKey-click combos such as Command-Click, Shift-Click, etc. and nothing opens the web page whose link is there. I searched the manual for "URL" and "link" and could find nothing relevant.

I am in the middle of copying instructions from an online course I am taking into standalone notes (importing the web page does not work, it only results in a page that says my session in the online platform has expired ... some sort of security on their end I guess) and there are many links embedded in them. It would be really nice to be able to directly visit a web page from a link in a stanadlone note, and I think it *must* be possible to do since the WYSIWYG editor provides buttons for formatting a string as a link....

So. How is this supposed to work?

I'm using the latest version of Zotero in Firefox 5 on Mac OS 10.6.8. Thanks.

kazar
  • kazar
    I tried just now in the latest Zotero standalone, and the same thing is true. Clicking on a link in a standalone-note item does not open a web page in my browser. Neither does any combo of modifierKeys+click. When I ctrl-click to reveal the contextual menu there is no choice to open the URL.

    So, again, how do I open URLs that are coded into a standalone note, and if it's not possible to do so then why are there WYSIWYG buttons for creating & removing links?

    thanks. Meanwhile I'm going to have to copy these course instructions off the Firefox page, paste into LibreOffice, save the document, then import the document into Zotero. Bummer.

    kazar
  • adamsmith
    I actually don't think this is possible at this time - it's an issue with the third party code that Zotero uses for rich text notes.
    That's unlikely to be of much help, but links in notes _do_ work if you create a report.
  • kazar
    that's a great hint, I'll look at that later, it might be plenty sufficient for my purposes at the moment.

    thanks!!
  • kazar
    edited July 10, 2011
    Actually, this really doesn't work. Reason being, if I copy text that includes href links and paste into a standalone note, the links are converted to something weird, like:

    /jar:file://mce_host/jar:file://mce_host/jar:file://mce_host/jar:file://mce_host/jar:file://mce_host/jar:file://mce_host/../../../../zotero.jar%21/content/zotero/tinymce/note.html

    This is a USELESS link that does nothing. So my only choices are to (1) copy the link from every bit of linked text in the web page I'm trying to preserve, then edit each individual link in the standalone note; or (2) copy and paste into a LibreOffice document, save the document, then import or link to it in Zotero.

    Why are pasted in href's converted like that? What possible use does that link have?

    And I'll ask again -- is there any easier way for me to archive pages from my online courses? Importing as an item doesn't work because of the security setup on the site ... it only results in a page that says This Session Has Expired. I'm working on fulfilling a couple of Incomplete grades and the online instructions will be taken down soon, so I need to archive them.

    TIA for any suggestions. And would love to know if the jar:file links are expected behavior (if so, WHY?) or is this a bug that will be fixed?

    kazar
  • adamsmith
    keep it down with the all caps, please, no one likes to get yelled at, especially on a Sunday morning.

    The jar behavior isn't really expected, but it's also unlikely to get fixed on the Zotero side, as Zotero relies on third party code for the note editor - I hadn't understood from your original description correctly that you're copying links into notes rather than creating them in the note.

    Could you copy this into something else than Zotero standalone notes? E.g. copy to an Open Office/Word document, save as html and attach? Convert the website to pdf, maybe? Look at the page source and copy the html - either to a standalone note, or simply to an editor ---> save as html and attach?
  • kazar
    sorry if i vented my frustration in a single solid-cap word. Really. I'll try to be totally calm from now on :-) I did not mean to shout at anyone in particular, only at my screen.

    I can't convert the whole website because of the platform it's on (angel learning) -- i haven't found a way to capture it because (1) it relies on frames, and (2) has cookie and/or token security so tight I just can't find a way to archive the pages. I would have no clue how to convert an entire website to pdf, AFAIK (that's an acronym not shouting ;-) there is no way to do that on a Mac, only on IE. I tried printing the page to PDF (would at least save the Copy/Paste/Save routine I'm doing in LibreOffice) but unfortunately linked text only *looks* linked in the pdf when I open it in Acrobat, it does not actually function as a link.

    So, yes, I'm saving to LibreOffice and then importing as described above. It's slow going, I have about 100 web pages to capture.

    I look forward to the day TinyMCE might be replaced with a plug-in that reliably copies/pastes links for those sites that cannot be archived due to security roadblocks.

    I *seriously* appreciate the input, on any day, but especially on Sunday!

    kazar
  • adamsmith
    there is a firefox plugin, I believe, that converts pages to pdf with one click - no promises, of course, especially not for the links, but might be worth a try.

    There is also the mht (?) format that saves whole webpages as one single file, which is natively supported by IE, but there are, again, FF, plugins that are able to save and open. No idea if/how that will deal with security, of course.

    I think there has been talk about replacing tinyMCE, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon, because it does what it's supposed to for most purposes.
  • kazar
    Nice thought! But this learning platform really has me stymied. The only FF plug-in that looked promising is Web2PDF Converter but the text on the page says it won't work on pages for which you must enter a password. I'm about 1/2 way through the 100 pages on my load/copy/create new doc in LO/paste/save/import to Zotero routine.

    Very nice of you to stick with me on this, Adam. If I eventually hit on anything easier I will post back for "the next guy". I'm half tempted to delve into the Z add-on to see if the antique TinyMCE editor can perhaps be replaced with CKE or something else. But "another day." Meanwhile I must satisfy these Incomplete grades!! Priority number one!

    thanks again.
  • dstillman
    Problems with TinyMCE in Zotero generally have very little to do with TinyMCE itself and more to do with its being designed for use in an HTML webpage. It requires a number of modifications to run in the XUL context of Mozilla-based apps. Nothing to blame TinyMCE for.

    Anyway, of course it's a bug, and it can probably be fixed, but it'll take some delving into TinyMCE code to do it.
  • kazar
    I'm in deep over my head, LOL
  • ajlyon
    The specific bug where links and image links are mangled in the rich text editor appeared several months ago, and it is a known issue that will hopefully be addressed in the relatively near future, but no one has had the opportunity to identify the cause and address it so far.

    You may find it useful to know that it will be possible to add an arbitrary URL as a link attachment in the next major release of Zotero-- this may cover some of the situations you've described.
  • kazar
    edited May 9, 2012
    Just posting back to note that links within the notes are fixed (since when I do not know, it's months since I tested).

    It would still be great, IMO, if links within the note editor would open the web page instead of having to create a report every time. When I blog on Blogger or Wordpress.com or in my Drupal websites that use CKEditor, clicking on a link in the WYSIWYG editor does open the URL (in my case: in another tab because of my browser prefs & TabMixPlus settings ... so I do not lose my work). This is often quite useful for being able to test the link before you publish the post.

    It would be that much more useful inside Zotero's note editor, imho, to be able to open a web page from a link in a note.

    kazar
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