Hyperlink Drag and Drop?

[whshep]

NEW in Version 9.2

• Drag and drop, or copy to the clipboard, a hypertext link to a reference and insert it into another application

Clicking on the link will open Bookends and highlight the corresponding reference. Some applications that accept drag and drop of Bookends hypertext links are TextEdit, DevonThink, Scrivener, Delicious Library, and OmniOutliner.

Copy to the clipboard, yes, but drag and drop (with control-option, rather than the expected command-option for a link) doesn't do it. I just get an abbreviated reference in TextEdit, DevonThink, and Mellel

[Jon]

Why would you expect Command-Option to work? That just extends the selection lists.

Dragging to Mellel doesn't work -- it can't display hypertext links.

I don't know what you mean by abbreviated reference. Please Control-Option drag and drop into a TextEdit file, zip that file, and send it to me (support@sonnysoftware.com).

Jon
Sonny Software

[whshep]

Why would you expect Command-Option to work? That just extends the selection lists.

It's the standard way to drop and drag an alias or hyperlink in the Finder and other programs.

[Jon]

You're right -- I had never noticed that. I'll play with it and see if that can be done for hypertext links in Bookends, too.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

whshep is reporting that dragging from the List View with the Control-Option keys held down is copying the citation text (in curly brackets), not the hypertext link.

I can't reproduce this.

Can anyone else reproduce this incorrect behavior on their system?

Jon
Sonny Software

[ozean]

Yes, I can. Using Bookends 9.2 on a MacBook Pro C2D with 10.4.9.
For me, creating hyperlinks using drag and drop does not work – it will always create a curly bracketed reference at the drop point instead of a hyperlink. (I tried dropping into OmniOutliner, TextEdit, Finder, and iCal and I used different key combos for the drag & drop operation.) Creating a hyperlink using the menu entry in Bookends works for me.

[Jon]

Hi ozean,

Thanks for the feedback. Please contact me directly so we can walk through this together...

Jon
Sonny Software

[nicka]

I get different results depending on whether ctl-opt is depressed before or after starting the drag.

Before: title of reference as hyperlink
After: bracketed descriptor, (eg '{Polak, 1999, #55320}') as hyperlink(Pasting into TextEdit, in both cases.)

Is this a feature?

[ozean]

I get different results depending on whether ctl-opt is depressed before or after starting the drag.

Ah, so true! I thought I tried this, but obviously I didn’t…

edit: typo

[danzac]

Jon,

What I think has been reported is particular to Word. I can't use the copy hyperlink and paste into Word, but I can control/option drag it into Word. The result is this:

file://localhost/bookends/::sonnysoftware.com:5733

and it is also hyperlinked but clicking the hyperlink does nothing. highlighting it and using 'Open URL' in the Services menu does nothing either.

I'm on a G4 iBook.

[Jon]

The hypertext links don't work in Word -- Word doesn't understand them.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

I get different results depending on whether ctl-opt is depressed before or after starting the drag. Is this a feature?

To be clear:

The contents of the drag are set (and fixed) as soon as the drag begins. Therefore, modifier key presses (Control-Option) must occur before beginning the drag. This is no different from pressing a Command key combinations -- the Command key must be pressed first.

Pressing the modifier keys after the drag has begun has no effect on the contents of the drag (and thus, you get a plain vanilla Copy Citation).

Jon
Sonny Software