minor feature suggestions

[Jon]

BTW, you can preview the formatted reference while you are in the Reference window. Press Command-E.

Jon
Sonny Software

[jadrain]

That's not a bad idea, but may be hard to implement well. It makes sense if you create a new reference and then immediately close it. But the reference window can stay open while you perform other tasks, and you may not want the reference selected in the List View when you finally close that window.

There are many workarounds for this. One that immediately comes to mind is to mark the reference when you add it, and then it will appear in the Hits group.

Jon
Sonny Software

Hi Jon

Scrolling to and highlighting the reference just entered is how every other bibliography manager that I've ever tried behaves, but obviously they all use a different paradigm in which the "Reference" window is a one-use for one-reference window opened directly from a single reference in the "List" window (i.e., you can't navigate references from a reference window in EndNote or whatever).

Well, I appreciate this and all, but I too would love to have the reference just entered navigated to and highlighted when I close the reference window. It's a continual drag to have to manually navigate to find its place in the List after entering a reference. Marking the reference isn't much of a workaround, as often part of the point is seeing the reference in context in the List.

I understand there may be some users for whom changing this behaviour would a Very Bad Thing (though I have never in my personal use encountered a situtation where I didn't want the reference I was looking at highlighted in the list on closure). I know you're averse to preference bloat, but any possibility this behaviour could be implemented as an option in Preferences? It would bring Bookends into line with the behaviour of I think all of its competitors and possibly make it easier for "switchers" to adopt.

Best,
Jonathan

[Jon]

What if you have a group selected and the reference you are viewing isn't in it? Would you have Bookends change to All? Or just don't do anything in that case?

I may implement this and see how it feels...

Jon
Sonny Software

[jadrain]

What if you have a group selected and the reference you are viewing isn't in it?

Jon - Well, in my usage of the program that would never happen, except inadvertently. I would always want to "launch" the Reference window from whatever I was doing in the List window. I guess, just as far as how I work, that if for some reason I had the Reference window open in the background while I switched groups (unlikely/never happens) then I'd like it to just close without focusing on the reference it was showing if the reference is not among those in the current group. If the reference is among those currently active in the List view, I'd like it to focus on the reference when closed. I don't know how other users might feel about this. I'm pretty sure, though, that this is how anyone who started out on EndNote will tend to operate.

Jonathan

[Jon]

So you want the reference to be selected in the list *whenever* it is opened and closed? Not just when a new reference is created and then the window closed?

Jon
Sonny Software

[jadrain]

So you want the reference to be selected in the list *whenever* it is opened and closed? Not just when a new reference is created and then the window closed?

Jon
Sonny Software

Sorry, I thought that was the case you were asking about. If it's a question of what to do only when a new reference is created and the window closed, my personal answer is that I'd like it to select the new reference in the List. However, just for me personally, it really doesn't make any difference what the behaviour is if the List is showing a group other than All at time of new reference entry, because I never enter new references except when All is chosen in the list view. What to do when a particular group is showing in List and a new reference is created and the window closed I guess I don't really know. I guess if at time of creation the user assigns the new reference to the same static group that's chosen in List, the reference could be selected in List on close without switching to All. For the remaining case, in which the user creates a new reference that *isn't* in the group currently selected in List view, I don't really know what anyone would prefer because it's just not something I personally ever do.

I personally never use the Reference window to navigate references - I always use the List window for this, so apart from entering new references, the only time the Reference window opens for me (and probably anyone else who switched from EndNote) is when I've invoked it by double-clicking a Reference in List. Hence the reference is always already visible and highlighted in List. So I have no reason to request a change (optional? pref-toggled?) in behaviour in this case, only for entering new references.

Jonathan

[Jon]

OK, to be clear then: when the reference window is closed, Bookends should highlight that entry (changing whatever might have been selected) in the List View, assuming it is showing in the list. If it's not showing in the list, the selection isn't changed. Whether the reference was just created or not, simply closing the reference window will do this. Is that the gist of it? Do other's agree this is a good thing (I'm willing to go with the consensus, if there is one -- it shouldn't be difficult to implement, I think).

Jon
Sonny Software

[eleuteruiz]

If it's not showing in the list, the selection isn't changed. Whether the reference was just created or not, simply closing the reference window will do this.

What about this:

1) If the new reference is created while a STATIC group is selected: the new created reference joins this group and is highlighted.

2) If the new reference is created while a DINAMIC group is selected:
- if the reference meets the criteria of that group, remains there and is highlighted.
- otherwise the selection isn't changed.

Does it sound too complicated?

[eleuteruiz]

Sorry, in 2) I meant "smart" group...

[Jon]

#2 wouldn't work. You can't ensure a reference is part of a smart group -- it has to have data that meet the criteria for the smart group. #1 would work, but may easily lead to mistakes. Since there are so many easy ways to add references to static groups, I think this is best left as a conscious decision made after a reference has been created.

Jon
Sonny Software