Sonny Software

Ok, after some more research I was able to shrink the remaining problems that I have with Z39.50 access to issues regarding search attributes:

Most databases are different concerning the way they assign search attributes. Sometimes a generic search in all fields is assigned to the attribute number 1016, sometimes it is number 21. Sometimes author has # 1003, 1004 or even 1. And so on and so forth with all the different search fields.

(You can check this site to get a glimpse of the different assignments - just check the English screenshots and ignore the German text.)

A possible – and hopefully easy to implement – solution would be to (optionally) allow users to configure the assignment of search attributes to different fields in Bookends (as shown on the above website for Reference Manager).

Hi ozean,

That is possible. However, we have tried to make Internet Search easy to use and configure. That means hiding some of the more complex options. Yes, there may be a few power users who would like to get at them, but for the large majority simple is better. Bookends still provides a good deal of configurability for each filter.

I guess I'm saying that I'd rather hide the gory details. It is possible to have a simple/advanced option, but that sort of thing does add up in terms of complexity. If enough people want it, of course, I will reconsider.

Jon
Sonny Software

I definitely see your point there. This is the exact reason why I like Bookends so much and why I prefer it to other solutions. (The same is true for Mellel, OmniOutliner, and Camino, three of my other favorite OS X applications.)

The only reason why I would think this might be a valid option to include is that the process of creating input filters is highly complex anyway. Seeing that there is such a thing as search attributes in the interface itself might actually make the process of creating import filters for Z39.50 interfaces easier, because potential problems are not hidden and the solution is accessible. Considering the amount of variation that I encountered in just two databases, I would think that encountering the potential problem in real life is quite likely. Well, at least that was the case for me…



Thanks a lot for your kind, considerate, and prompt replies Jon!

Hi ozean,

I'll think about this. At the moment I'm busy trying to fix the problematic issues that are coming in. But let us discuss it again when things have quieted down -- I'd be especially interested in your thoughts after you've had a chance to use the Internet Search feature for a bit. If there are searches you want to do but can't do because of limitations in the filter, I'll see what we can come up with.

Jon
Sonny Software

For whatever reason, I could not get your COPAC filter to work. I created a new one with details from the COPAC site:

server address z3950.copac.ac.uk
port 210
database name COPAC

and it worked perfectly.

Thanks, I've updated the filter and will include it with 8.0.2.

Jon
Sonny Software