[ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Erik Hetzner]

Hi org-mode users,

zotero-plain is a system for using Zotero to include citations in
plain text documents.

At the moment it has 3 components: an emacs library for linking Zotero
with org-mode, an emacs library for easy insertion of citations into a
reStucturedText document, and a reStucturedText directive for using
Zotero to format citations,

I use this system with org-mode to keep track of my reading & notes on
my reading. I am sure that there are other things that could be done
with Zotero + org-mode, & would appreciate feedback or patches to help
it do what you want it to!

The code may be checked out using hg here:

  http://e6h.org/~egh/hg/zotero-plain

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Note: at the moment this integration depends on mozrepl, but with the
recent release of a zotero.org API for generating citations, it should
be possible to integrate with Emacs either via mozrepl or via the new
API.

best, Erik Hetzner

Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Christian Moe]

Hi,

This sounds interesting! I'd like to try it out, but haven't quite got 
it to work yet.

When I turn on MozRepl in Firefox, turn on org-zotero-mode in Emacs, 
and try `C-c z i', I get this error message:

make client process failed: Connection refused, :name, MozRepl, 
:buffer, *MozRepl*, :host, localhost, :service, 4242

However, MozRepl is running, and listening on port 4242. I've got an 
up-to-date Firefox on an aging Mac. Any tips?

Yours,
Christian

PS. There's a missing quote before load-path in the README 
installation instructions, it should be:

     (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/zotero-plain/elisp/")

It might be worth mentioning that one needs to install moz.el from the 
MozRepl project; it's a separate step.



On 12/17/10 7:00 PM, Erik Hetzner wrote:
> Hi org-mode users,
>
> zotero-plain is a system for using Zotero to include citations in
> plain text documents.
>
> At the moment it has 3 components: an emacs library for linking Zotero
> with org-mode, an emacs library for easy insertion of citations into a
> reStucturedText document, and a reStucturedText directive for using
> Zotero to format citations,
>
> I use this system with org-mode to keep track of my reading&  notes on
> my reading. I am sure that there are other things that could be done
> with Zotero + org-mode,&  would appreciate feedback or patches to help
> it do what you want it to!
>
> The code may be checked out using hg here:
>
>    http://e6h.org/~egh/hg/zotero-plain
>
> Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
>
> Note: at the moment this integration depends on mozrepl, but with the
> recent release of a zotero.org API for generating citations, it should
> be possible to integrate with Emacs either via mozrepl or via the new
> API.
>
> best, Erik Hetzner
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
>

Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Erik Hetzner]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1087 bytes --]

Hi Christian,

Many thanks for the feedback!

At Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:59:58 +0100,
Christian Moe wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This sounds interesting! I'd like to try it out, but haven't quite got 
> it to work yet.
> 
> When I turn on MozRepl in Firefox, turn on org-zotero-mode in Emacs, 
> and try `C-c z i', I get this error message:
> 
> make client process failed: Connection refused, :name, MozRepl, 
> :buffer, *MozRepl*, :host, localhost, :service, 4242
> 
> However, MozRepl is running, and listening on port 4242. I've got an 
> up-to-date Firefox on an aging Mac. Any tips?

Did you select “Start” from the Mozrepl submenu in the Tools menu? Can
you telnet to port 4242 on localhost?
 
> PS. There's a missing quote before load-path in the README 
> installation instructions, it should be:
> 
>      (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/zotero-plain/elisp/")
>
> It might be worth mentioning that one needs to install moz.el from the 
> MozRepl project; it's a separate step.

Thanks, I’ve fixed the error & added info about moz.el.

best, Erik

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/plain, Size: 53 bytes --]

Sent from my free software system <http://fsf.org/>.

[-- Attachment #3: Type: text/plain, Size: 201 bytes --]

_______________________________________________
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Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
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Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Christian Moe]

Hi, Erik,

Now I've got it working. Not sure what the problem was yesterday.

I can insert a Zotero link with `C-c z i', but it's very touch and go 
-- sometimes it's inserted, sometimes nothing happens, most of the 
time I don't get a description part, and `C-c z u' doesn't necessarily 
work, though sometimes it does.

Below is an excerpt from the MozRepl buffer. Much of the time, though, 
there is no error message, just multiplying "repl>" prompts.

So on a quick test drive, it's not as stable as I'd like. Otherwise, I 
think zotero-plain could be a boon for Org-mode and Zotero users. We 
already could insert Zotero links just as easily with Scott Campbell's 
ZotSelect translator 
(http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8306/testing-zoteroselect/). But 
with the added updating of formatted bibliography items, zotero-plain 
has the makings of a full solution.

My own preference has been to export my Zotero collections to BibTeX 
and insert citations with Reftex (fast and minimally disruptive to the 
writing flow, as long as all the needed references are already 
collected.) But it's good to have an alternative.

Yours,
Christian

PS. I may mail you separately about the reST components -- that's 
off-topic here, I guess.

-----begin excerpt------------

   message: data is null
   fileName: chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js -> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js
   lineNumber: 7
   stack:
 
writeFile("/var/folders/JV/JVNxBfnMGkWC9Aw0BZa8Kk+++TI/-Tmp-/zotero205d0z",null)@chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js 
-> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js:7
     @chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js -> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js:1
   name: TypeError

repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> repl> 
repl> repl> repl> repl> !!! TypeError: data is null

Details:

   message: data is null
   fileName: chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js -> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js
   lineNumber: 7
   stack:
 
writeFile("/var/folders/JV/JVNxBfnMGkWC9Aw0BZa8Kk+++TI/-Tmp-/zotero205Dnb",null)@chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js 
-> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js:7
     @chrome://mozrepl/content/repl.js -> 
file:///Users/CM/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.pq0/mozrepl.tmp.js:1
   name: TypeError

repl> repl> !!! TypeError: data is null

-----end excerpt-----


On 12/18/10 11:22 PM, Erik Hetzner wrote:
> Hi Christian,
>
> Many thanks for the feedback!
>
> At Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:59:58 +0100,
> Christian Moe wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> This sounds interesting! I'd like to try it out, but haven't quite got
>> it to work yet.
>>
>> When I turn on MozRepl in Firefox, turn on org-zotero-mode in Emacs,
>> and try `C-c z i', I get this error message:
>>
>> make client process failed: Connection refused, :name, MozRepl,
>> :buffer, *MozRepl*, :host, localhost, :service, 4242
>>
>> However, MozRepl is running, and listening on port 4242. I've got an
>> up-to-date Firefox on an aging Mac. Any tips?
>
> Did you select “Start” from the Mozrepl submenu in the Tools menu? Can
> you telnet to port 4242 on localhost?
>
>> PS. There's a missing quote before load-path in the README
>> installation instructions, it should be:
>>
>>       (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/zotero-plain/elisp/")
>>
>> It might be worth mentioning that one needs to install moz.el from the
>> MozRepl project; it's a separate step.
>
> Thanks, I’ve fixed the error&  added info about moz.el.
>
> best, Erik
>
>
>
> Sent from my free software system<http://fsf.org/>.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Erik Hetzner]

At Sun, 19 Dec 2010 12:27:32 +0100,
Christian Moe wrote:
> 
> Hi, Erik,
> 
> Now I've got it working. Not sure what the problem was yesterday.
> 
> I can insert a Zotero link with `C-c z i', but it's very touch and go 
> -- sometimes it's inserted, sometimes nothing happens, most of the 
> time I don't get a description part, and `C-c z u' doesn't necessarily 
> work, though sometimes it does.
> 
> Below is an excerpt from the MozRepl buffer. Much of the time, though, 
> there is no error message, just multiplying "repl>" prompts.
> 
> So on a quick test drive, it's not as stable as I'd like. Otherwise, I 
> think zotero-plain could be a boon for Org-mode and Zotero users. We 
> already could insert Zotero links just as easily with Scott Campbell's 
> ZotSelect translator 
> (http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8306/testing-zoteroselect/). But 
> with the added updating of formatted bibliography items, zotero-plain 
> has the makings of a full solution.
> 
> My own preference has been to export my Zotero collections to BibTeX 
> and insert citations with Reftex (fast and minimally disruptive to the 
> writing flow, as long as all the needed references are already 
> collected.) But it's good to have an alternative.

Hi Christian,

Thanks for the feedback. mozrepl interaction is definitely
troublesome; my experience has not been as bad as yours, but there can
be problems.

I have changed zotero.el to reset the mozrepl process frequently; it
is a bit of a hack, but it seems to improve things a bit.T

I am hoping that using the recently announced zotero.org API for
citation generation will be more stable than using mozrepl.

best, Erik

Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Christian Moe]

On 12/20/10 12:52 AM, Erik Hetzner wrote:
> At Sun, 19 Dec 2010 12:27:32 +0100,
> Christian Moe wrote:
>> I can insert a Zotero link with `C-c z i', but it's very touch and go
>> -- sometimes it's inserted, sometimes nothing happens, most of the
>> time I don't get a description part, and `C-c z u' doesn't necessarily
>> work, though sometimes it does.
(...)
>> So on a quick test drive, it's not as stable as I'd like. Otherwise, I
>> think zotero-plain could be a boon for Org-mode and Zotero users.
(...)
>
> Hi Christian,
>
> Thanks for the feedback. mozrepl interaction is definitely
> troublesome; my experience has not been as bad as yours, but there can
> be problems.
>
> I have changed zotero.el to reset the mozrepl process frequently; it
> is a bit of a hack, but it seems to improve things a bit.T
>
> I am hoping that using the recently announced zotero.org API for
> citation generation will be more stable than using mozrepl.
>
> best, Erik

Hi, Erik,

That's solved it for me. It still does not happen /every/ time I 
insert a Zotero link that the link is expanded with a full biblio 
description, but it happens most of the time, and for when it doesn't, 
`C-c z u' seems to work reliably now.

(Firefox taxes my old system a bit, and runs with frequent pauses, 
which may account for my having more trouble communicating with 
MozRepl than you're seeing. Looking forward to the API.)

One more issue I see is with Unicode characters. They are preserved 
when I command-shift-copy a reference from Zotero into an Org buffer 
(I have current-language-environment set to UTF-8). Org-zotero-mode 
does not preserve them. I've had a quick look at the code but haven't 
pinned it down why not.

I may have some more feedback in a week's time when I've cleared my 
Christmas deadlines, but for now, thanks for this!

Yours,
Christian

Re: [ANN] Zotero for plain text (including org-mode)

[Erik Hetzner]

At Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:19:21 +0100,
Christian Moe wrote:
> Hi, Erik,
> 
> That's solved it for me. It still does not happen /every/ time I 
> insert a Zotero link that the link is expanded with a full biblio 
> description, but it happens most of the time, and for when it doesn't, 
> `C-c z u' seems to work reliably now.
> 
> (Firefox taxes my old system a bit, and runs with frequent pauses, 
> which may account for my having more trouble communicating with 
> MozRepl than you're seeing. Looking forward to the API.)
> 
> One more issue I see is with Unicode characters. They are preserved 
> when I command-shift-copy a reference from Zotero into an Org buffer 
> (I have current-language-environment set to UTF-8). Org-zotero-mode 
> does not preserve them. I've had a quick look at the code but haven't 
> pinned it down why not.
> 
> I may have some more feedback in a week's time when I've cleared my 
> Christmas deadlines, but for now, thanks for this!

Hi Christian,

Unicode characters seem to work for me, with
current-language-environment set to English or UTF-8. That is,
citations are inserted & updated with the proper characters.

This is Emacs 23.1.1, Firefox 3.6.13, Zotero 2.0.9, all on Ubuntu
Maverick.

best, Erik