Papers' write & cite

[aechallu]

In the past I had suggested some mechanism to cite through a service or something like that, along the lines of what Bibdesk has (or used to have). Now I see that Papers has an excellent implementation. In Papers one hits ctrl twice, a search box opens, and ibe selects the citation and inserts it "à la quicksilver". Even better than the Service or InputManager implementation in Bibdesk.

I think that Bookends can implement this type of citation mechanism ---and with BE's formatting/scanning power it'd beat any other existing option imho.

[Jon]

Thanks for the suggestion. It would only save one step (switching to Bookends to do the search), but I agree it's slick. I'll think about this.

Jon
Sonny Software

[w.yaqoob]

Seconded, this would be really good.

[aechallu]

Thanks for considering this, Jon.

What I like of this approach is that it is "non intrusive". Another thing I like from Papers' implementation is how each hit is formatted in two lines (they remind me of sparrow.app's email snippets). In the context of citing, I like this better than having entries displayed as a table.

[Jon]

Then you'll be happy with an upcoming version of Bookends...

Jon
Sonny Software

[aechallu]

Looking forward to it! Thanks!

[Jon]

I think I was a bit more cryptic than I meant to be -- single row reference display was added in development several months ago, and if things go as we plan will be introduced in version 11.2. Here's an example of a similar (not identical) view in Reference Miner, which is now on the Mac App Store:




Jon
Sonny Software

[w.yaqoob]

On this note, it'd be nice if Bookends provided some other os x services, e.g. I have a kludgy applescript packaged as an automator workflow, which I run with a keyboard shortcut, to do a bookends online search using a reference highlighted in another app (e.g. in a pdf article in preview). e.g. When I come across a reference I'm interested in a pdf in preview, I highlight it and use the keyboard shortcut for the service. This then
- switches to bookends
- opens online search
- pastes the reference and presses enter (with a slight delay)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2844601/Search% ... rkflow.zip

Code: Select all

tell application "System Events"
	key code 8 using {command down} -- c key
end tell
tell application "Bookends"
	activate
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	key code 13 using {command down, control down} -- w key
	key code 9 using {command down} -- v key
	key code 36 -- enter key
	delay 2
	key code 36 -- enter key
end tell

It uses GUI scripting in system events, so is v.slow - suggestions would be much appreciated.

Jon, IIRC, you mooted setting up a forum section or repository devoted to bookends-related applescripts. If this could be done, and include general academic workflow related scripts and services, that would be fantastic. E.g. I have another crude script that copies text from Preview into MS Word, then inserts a citation with modifiers from Bookends....

[Jon]

An AppleScript forum isn't a bad idea (we don't distribute any, but I know our users have created them)...

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

I've created an empty (for now) forum for AppleScripts. Please read the Announcement there, and if you'd like to contribute, please do so. I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure others will, too.

Jon
Sonny Software

[aechallu]

I have a question about citing multiple references. It is somewhat related to the original intent of this thread, which is to facilitate the "cite as you write" process.

The way I regularly cite in BE is by hitting command-Y from the word processor, then typing a live search, and selecting the references. then I select the citations, press command-Y and BE inserts {cit #1; cit #2; cit #3}. But say that I want to locate two references that are not easily retrievable in one list, or that I want to insert more than one citation with specific page ranges. Then I have to press 1) command-Y; 2) run a live search the first reference; 3) select and press command-Y, BE switches to Scrivener and pastes the citation; 4) repeat 1-3 for every citation; 5) remove extra curly brackets and add semicolons: {cit #1}{cit #2}{…} should become {cit #1; cit #2; …}. This last step is prone to errors.

I wonder if there's an easier method to do this that I'm missing. If not, may I suggest to have a sort of "shift-command-Y" command that copies the citation into the clipboard without switching and pasting it into the word processor. When the user finally presses command-Y, BE pastes all citations from the buffer into the word processor in a clean format. Ideally, the solution in Papers 2 is better, but something along these lines would help.

[Jon]

You can use this form to create a citation group

{cite1}{cite2}{cite3}

as long as there are no spaces, punctuation, or text between the individual citations.

Jon
Sonny Software

[aechallu]

thanks!