In Proceedings vs Conference Proceedings

[mwra]

BE doesn't have an 'In Proceedings' type so imported Bibtex of the '@inproceedings' type (e.g. most ACM DL papers) ends up in the wrong type as 'Conference Proceedings' are exported to bibtex as type '@proceedings' rather than '@inproceedings' leading to downstream formatting errors.

I set up an 'In Proceedings', and in the import filter moved the existing 'InProceedings' mapping from 'Conference Proceedings' to 'In Proceedings'. Unfortunately input failed until I set the mapping to

Code: Select all

InProceedings,inproceedings

Import then worked. I can't now figure out if the manual is wrong - it implies Bibtex imports are non-case-sensitive, or a bug in the import filter. Other parts of the Bibtex workflow are case-insensitive when it comes to Bibtex '@' data types so it looks like a poor configuration choice in BE, AFAICT.

Knock on problem. How do I select 500+ wrongly typed references and set them to BE- type 'In Proceedings'? Currently, I seem to be forced to change them one at a time which seems oddly laborious given the above and the inbound coercion to the wrong (export) type.

[Jon]

It should be case insensitive, but I'll take a look.

Always look in Refs -> Global Change for batch functions. In this case there is a "Change Reference Type".

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

Mea culpa. I figured I had to be overlooking such a feature. Type changes now done. Many thanks.

[Jon]

I can't reproduce the problem. Where did you make the change in the import filter -- Define Import Types?

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

• I used File -> Import Filter Manager.
• I then selected 'BibTeX.fltr. I then clicked the "Define import Types" button
• In that dialog, I then selected and cut 'Inproceedings' from the right column for the 'Conference proceedings' list item.
• I then pasted the cut string into the right column for 'In Proceedings' (on of my my user-created Types.
• I closed the dialog and and saved.
• I then went to dl.acm.org and copied a bibtex reference to the clipboard - it uses typestrings in all-lowercase.
• I used Cmd+Shift-i to open the import dialog and selected the 'from clipboard' option and Bibtex format.
• I then re-opened the import filter manager and edited the Tags for Type 'In Proceedings' to 'Inproceedings,inproceedings', i.e. adding an all-lowercase string as well.
• I exited, saved, and re-tested an import. This time it worked.

Based on the fact the import data used the type-string preamble '@inproceedings{....', presumed the fact the first import failed and the second worked to be down to the fact that the import filter was parsing the @-tag case-sensitively.

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Now the Web's over 25 years old not having 'Internet' (i.e. a web page/URL) as a pre-defined import/export reference type does seem a bit out-dated. Some articles that aren't formal academic items never get published on paper these days so the only correct reference type is as a 'Internet' reference. Bibtex certainly supports such.

[Jon]

I can't reproduce the case sensitivity issue I'm afraid.

Bookends includes the 13 (? I think that was it) defined reference types. Anything else can be added by the user. Has there been formal inclusion of more types with specific names? Otherwise it could be "internet", "URL", "web", or whatever. BibTeX is ungoverned AFAICT, so I've let users decide for themselves how they want to extend it.

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

Thanks. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but there are three parts to this: inbound mapping, internal type, outbound mapping. The first and last are internal to the per-format filter, as you fairly point out. Whether a web reference is 'url' in one format and 'internet' in another is done by the filters. What I was referring to was that the default internal types lack a type for online/web references. By this I mean things like blog posts, articles on websites (that aren't 'newspaper articles').

This process has surfaced a further glitch. I use BE across 2 Macs (serial use, not parallel). I added an 'In Proceedings' type to my main database on my home Mac. Opening the same database on my University Mac the new reference type has disappeared. As both installations are set to use Dropbox for storage (via the BE prefs), it appears the list of in-database types is stored locally in prefs and not in the (Dropbox) shared customisations.

I've since added the extra 'In Proceedings' type on the second mac, and mapping now appears to work. However, this issue seems another good argument for having a larger set of default internal named types set up.

[Jon]

There is an internal "Internet" Type (and you know you can create your own).

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

Apologies, that's quite right, I'd got my wires crossed while trying to fix the issue of having a properly working 'In Proceedings' type. Now I've set it locally in prefs in both Macs, the database now seems to show data types correctly.

[Jon]

I hope you're not using Dropbox to store your library (PDFs yes, library no). Use cloud sync instead.

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

As it happens, I have been using Dropbox for the bdb file for 3-4 years now without any trouble. I could move it to the (Apple) cloud though I'd stayed away from it as it seemed very flakey compared to Dropbox.

[Jon]

Dropbox is fine until it isn't. As long as you use it as, you say, sequentially it's probably OK. Problems (collisions) can arise when you edit the db on two different Macs and then sync -- which one "wins"? So if you're happy with it, keep using it. Note that the cloud sync is atomic (only the bits that change are updated). Dropbox is file sync (perhaps 10 MB are transferred even if only one character was edited). Given network speeds it's not a big deal, but FYI.

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwra]

Quite understand, time to shift to (Apple) cloud. I do get the point about collisions and am careful that I only open the doc in one Mac at a time, even if only because I have a single licence. Many thanks.