Feature Request: Restrict refs to first line in URL field

jkr · Post by **jkr** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:17 pm

I tend to use the URL fields in Bookends now more frequently to store information such as email addresses and links to other applications (e.g., Papers). One problem I have now, is that Bookends uses the entire amount of information in the URL field when it uses the field in a reference. Would it be possible to change the use of the information in the URL field to only the first entry (or line) so I don't have to manually delete all the additional links?

Post by **Jon** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:58 pm

Hi,

Just right-click on the url. If there is more than one in the field, you can choose the one you want from the resulting contextual menu.

Jon
Sonny Software

jkr · Post by **jkr** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:06 pm

Thanks for the quick reply - yes, I am aware of the selection of the various links (it's one of the reasons I add more than one now). I meant the use of the URL field information in the creation of references. For example, my references now yield something like this:

Genetic Sequence Data Bank. 2002. GenBank Growth. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/genbankstats.html
journler://entry/333
mailto:info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (accessed March 12, 2002).

If Bookends would only select the first line (i.e., URL), I would not have to manually delete all the following entries and it would simply yield

Genetic Sequence Data Bank. 2002. GenBank Growth. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/genbankstats.html (accessed March 12, 2002).

Post by **Jon** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:17 pm

OK, I see. I don't see a very elegant way of doing this, and just restricting the output to the first URL may not be what others might want.

You could, of course, use one of the user defined fields for the "real" URL that you want to cite. Import filters in 10.x can download the same info to two different fields, so that might work for you (for refs you already have, you can do a Global Change -> Move and then remove the extra URLs from the destination field).

Jon
Sonny Software

jkr · Post by **jkr** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:27 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, Jon. I use that workaround now. I got really used to the convenience of the built-in browser and combination of online (browser) and PDF access to material from Papers, that I tend to keep a working URL around now in many cases and so a dedicated URL-bucket and a separate "reference URL" makes sense. Does Bookends have any plans to go in a similar direction in terms of integration as Papers? The PDF browser is such a great step in that direction (if only it would be based on the Apple web-kit or something that allows to view URLs as well as the quicktime material and especially would allow me to select material...).

Post by **Jon** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:41 pm

I can't say what we'll do in the future. I'll be looking into webkit.

Jon
Sonny Software

jkr · Post by **jkr** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:03 pm

Especially with all the wonderful things leopard will supposedly bring. I'd love to make Bookends my one-stop solution for all things reading sources. But the tandem Papers/Bookends works okay at the moment. Its the first application that made me read PDFs onscreen and be able to take notes. If Bookends could integrate some of that with the help of the use if the webkit it would be fantastic!