Bookends 8.1 public beta 1 released

[Jon]

Hi all,

Bookends 8.1 public beta is finally here. Note the word beta. Although we have tested it extensively, there may still be bugs that can cause nasty problems. So, please do not use this version if you are faint of heart. And if you do use it, please use it on a COPY of your main Bookends database! That way, if it is eaten by Bookends 8.1 beta, there will be no permanent scars on your psyche.

Please report any bugs to us at support@sonnysoftware.com. Feel free to discuss the new features and look on this forum, if you like.

Bookends public beta 1 will expire July 10, 2005. It has the same restrictions as the release version: unlimited references for registered users, a limit of 50 for unregistered users.

You can get it here: http://www.sonnysoftware.com/Bookendsb1.sit

What's new (not listed in any particular order):

1. Substitute dashes for repeated authors. When consecutive references in a bibliography have the same authors, you can have Bookends substitute text (usually a series of emdashes) for the authors' names.

2. Standardize Names (Global Change). Bookends will search the Authors and Editors fields for names in surname-last form (that is, without commas, such as John Doe) and change them to surname-first form (e.g. Doe, John). Changed fields will revert to the default reference font and plain text style, and that compound surnames have to be fixed after conversion (e.g. Ralph Vaughan Williams will be converted to Williams, Ralph Vaughan).

3. Configurable name display in List View: first author only (default), multiple authors (et al. if more than 2), first…last authors, or all authors.

4. Open attachments when in the List View. If an attachment is indicated in the List View, right-clicking (Control-clicking) on it will bring up a contextual menu offering to open it.

5. Attachments are now opened in the application that created them by default. To display them in a Bookends window, click on the Attach button (or select the attachment from the pop-up menu) with the Shift key held down. This is the opposite behavior from earlier versions of Bookends.

6. Add references to a static group in the List View by drag and drop.

7. Info Drawer. Clicking on the Info icon in the List View opens a drawer that contains either a Concise view of the selected reference or the information in the reference's Notes field. The text is read-only for now.

8. Action pop-up menu. An action icon (gear) in the List View provides the same functions as a right-click in the reference list: e-mail selected references, open attachments belonging to the first selected reference (if 'indicate attachments' is selected in Preferences and the selected reference has one), and add the selected references to a static group.

9. Remove references from the Internet Search window list by pressing Delete or using the Edit -> Clear menu.

10. Better suggestions for attached file names. When attaching a file, the suggested name will vary according to the number of authors/editors (e.g. Smith 2005, Smith & Jones 2005, or Smith et al 2005).

11. Pressing Command-M in the List View will toggle the first selected reference's Hit status

12. Reference navigation menus are enabled when the List View is in front.

13. Editing List View preferences does not close open databases.

14. Source parsing can be used with MARC records.

15. For a Book Chapter, the Title case setting applies to both the chapter and book title.

16. If you are using cited pages with compound pages (e.g. Smith@4, 6, 10-12), Bookends will use the text after the ^ (if present) in the before pages field.

17. Quote marks are pruned out more efficiently in certain BibTeX imports.

18. In the Internet Search window, selecting a saved search with the Shift key held down will fill out the search but not execute it. This is useful if you want to edit a search without running it first.

19. Text entered from the keyboard in the default font and style will change to reflect a new default font or size specified in Preferences.

20. The minimum database cache size has been increased to 8 MB. The maximum possible has been increased to 200 MB.

21. You can have Bookends automatically create temporary citations that will be excluded from the final document after a scan (i.e. preceded by the ! character). This setting is in Preferences (Scan & Bibliography tab).

22. Place the current date in a reference field with the Insert Date menu option.

23. E-mail selected references. A right-click (or Control-click) in the reference pane of the List View window will bring up a contextual menu that contains the option E-Mail Selected References. If chosen, Bookends will copy the selected references to the clipboard in the currently active format, launch your e-mail application, and create a new message window containing the reference(s). The references will be in plain text; if you want them in styled text, paste the references from the clipboard into the body of the e-mail.

24. When List View is in front, pressing Command-Option-F places the cursor in the Live Search field.

25. When the List View is in front, pressing Command-Shift-O (the letter "Oh") will the selected reference's attachments. If the reference does not have any attachments, you will be prompted for a file to attach.

26. Import filters that use capital letters at the beginning of a line to define a field will accept numbers as well. This is useful for sources that use RIS output, for example.

27. A disclosure triangle in the upper left hand corner of the List View window lets you show/hide the list of Groups.

28. The Live Search field in the List View has a new appearance.

29. If the Option key is pressed when changing groups in the List View, any text in the Live Search field will be preserved and applied to the newly selected group. Changing groups without the Option key held down clears the Live Search field.

30. Bug fixes: Fixed: custom citations would sometimes use the wrong form when Ibid. and a secondary order were specified. Fixed: smart searches for a particular reference Type now work. Fixed: unsorted List View windows remain unsorted after an SQL search. Fixed: Quote marks are pruned out more efficiently in certain BibTeX imports. Fixed: a crash that could occur when formatting a reference in which the journal name is > 255 characters long. Fixed: a crash when importing very large abstracts. Fixed: very long abstracts are no longer truncated. Fixed: scanning text files for citations that contain accented characters works. Miscellaneous minor bug fixes and many small interface enhancements.

[Tacitus]

Hi all,

Bookends 8.1 public beta is finally here.............

Is it possible to have an option (preference setting) for the information window to appear to the left or right of the list window?

No problems so far

cheers,

Tacitus

[Jon]

Yes...is this something others want, too? A Preference option for opening the drawer on the left or right?

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

Hi all,

If you haven't already, please report any problems you have with the beta to

support@sonnysoftware.com

All known issues have been resolved (so no need to report an issue of which we have already been notified).

Thanks,

Jon
Sonny Software

[martinkerz]

Yes...is this something others want, too? A Preference option for opening the drawer on the left or right?

Jon
Sonny Software

I would love it to behave like the drawer in pre-Tiger Mail.app behaved: To open on the side where it has been, except when there isn't enough space left to let it be seen completely.

[martinkerz]

Would it be possible to reorganize the folder, so that Bookends could be a single app, not a folder? Couldn't all the supporting folders be put to "Library/Application Support/Bookends" (the custom styles already are in "~Library/Application Support/Bookends"? Would it then be possible to package all the other files into one app package, so that you just the Bookens icon in the main app folder?

This would mean a big improvement in usability for me!

Other than that, the release seems to be fantastic...

[Jon]

Would it be possible to reorganize the folder, so that Bookends could be a single app, not a folder? Couldn't all the supporting folders be put to "Library/Application Support/Bookends" (the custom styles already are in "~Library/Application Support/Bookends"? Would it then be possible to package all the other files into one app package, so that you just the Bookens icon in the main app folder?

This would mean a big improvement in usability for me!\

It will probably be possible in a future upgrade. But why would this have any affect on usability? What difference does the number of files in the folder make -- you only need access to one (the application, which I (in any case) keep in the dock))?

Jon

[martinkerz]

Would it be possible to reorganize the folder, so that Bookends could be a single app, not a folder? Couldn't all the supporting folders be put to "Library/Application Support/Bookends" (the custom styles already are in "~Library/Application Support/Bookends"? Would it then be possible to package all the other files into one app package, so that you just the Bookens icon in the main app folder?

This would mean a big improvement in usability for me!\

It will probably be possible in a future upgrade. But why would this have any affect on usability? What difference does the number of files in the folder make -- you only need access to one (the application, which I (in any case) keep in the dock))?

Jon

I don't like to bother with things that I don't need to. I guess that's what the whole concept of app packages in Mac OS X is all about. That's why I think it indeed is an improvement in usability.

But I really like how Bookends evolves and appreciate your great work that deserves to be honoured.

[martinkerz]

Unfortunately Bookends is still delivered as a sit-file. Stuffit Expander is not bundled with Mac OS X Tiger anymore. It even gets deleted when you upgrade. So it is not possible to open the downloaded disk image espacially for not so experiences users, as it is hard find the download for Stuffit Expander on the Allume website.

Would it be possible to offer it as a zip-file, too? Perhaps as an alternative link? Although I would prefer it to have it as a zip-file as standard.

[Jon]

We may go to zip in the future. We haven't yet for two reasons: (1) there are a lot of links out there to the Bookends download, and changing to .zip would break them, and (2) zipped files are considerably larger than stuffed ones.

But I agree that as folks move away from Stuffit (Allume has been sold) we will have to move to zip.

I can upload a zipped version and link to it here for now, if you need that.

Jon
Sonny Software