[OS X TeX] MathSciNet to BibDesk

[Michael McCracken]

Hi, This is really good feedback. I think the only reason it doesn't  
do something more like what you suggest is that we are all used to  
the current way of doing things, and the 'new publication from  
pasteboard' command is relatively new to most bibdesk users,  
especially the developers. I just always thought of it as a special  
case.

I've forwarded your mail to the developers mailing list for discussion.
There's still time to beat us to it and submit a patch, though! :)

I'd like to specifically encourage this kind of feedback - even if  
there is another way to do what you want to do (and there are lots of  
ways to enter data in BibDesk), if it doesn't do the first thing you  
think of, I'm curious what we're missing.

Thanks,
-mike

On Jul 18, 2005, at 7:02 PM, Vinayak Vatsal wrote:

> Thanks. I now understand what to do. I just didn't understand the  
> documentation properly.
>
> I think the confusion is that "new publication from pasteboard"  
> should do different things automatically, depending on whether it  
> receives a structured or non-structured input. If it gets BibTex/ 
> RIS, it should add it automatically. If it gets something it can't  
> parse, it should offer the present behavior.
>
> After all, both ways give new publications from the data in the  
> pasteboard -- there's no reason why there should be two different  
> commands to enter it.
>
> Anyway, just an idea.
>
>
>
> The point should be to make very clear that certain kinds of  
> structured data can be entered
>
> --On July 18, 2005 6:35:47 PM -0700 "Adam R. Maxwell"  
> <amaxwell at mac.com> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 18:23, Vinayak Vatsal wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I guess this is my question -- what is the "main pub list"?
>>>
>>
>> The main window that lists all of your publications, with one row for
>> each pub.  Technically it's an NSTableView, if that helps.  Just   
>> bring
>> BibDesk to the front by clicking BibDesk's icon on the dock,  and hit
>> paste (if you have BibTeX or RIS on the clipboard).
>>
>>
>>>
>>> All I can figure out to do is copy the listing provided by
>>> MathSciNet, select "New publication from pasteboard" and then
>>> manually add each field. But surely there's a smarter way?
>>>
>>
>> Any of the ways I mentioned are better; if you can offer  
>> suggestions  or
>> rewrites of our documentation to be more friendly for new users,   
>> that
>> would be most welcome!
>>
>> My recommendation is this:  if you're using a web browser which   
>> supports
>> Services, select the BibTeX or RIS, go to the application's  menu  
>> (e.g.
>> OmniWeb) -> Services -> BibDesk -> Add to bibliography  (you  
>> should have
>> a bibliography open for this).
>>
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 5:58 PM, Adam R. Maxwell wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 17:51, Vinayak Vatsal wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Right, it's easy (but sometimes painful if there are many
>>>>> records) to copy and paste stuff in to the right places.
>>>>>
>>>>> But I was wondering if there's some way for BibDesk to parse the
>>>>> BibTex entry provided by MathSciNet and put everything in the
>>>>> right place.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Copy a BibTeX entry (or multiple entries) such as
>>>>
>>>> @book{whole-set,
>>>>     Author = {Knuth, Donald E.},
>>>>     Note = {Seven volumes planned (this is a cross-referenced set
>>>> of BOOKs)},
>>>>     Publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
>>>>     Series = {Four volumes},
>>>>     Title = {The Art of Computer Programming},
>>>>     Year = {{\noopsort{1973a}}{\switchargs{--90}{1968}}}}
>>>>
>>>> and paste the text as BibTeX into BibDesk's main pub list; same
>>>> thing works for RIS.  You can also drag the selected BibTeX or RIS
>>>> text in to BibDesk, or use the Services menu to add to the
>>>> frontmost bibliography.  All of this should be covered clearly in
>>>> the online help under 5.1 "Adding References".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 5:12 PM, Fernando Pereira wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Jul 18, 2005, at 6:53 PM, Claus Gerhardt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Copy and paste.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> He said "efficiently" ;-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you have suggestions for improving the efficiency of the
>>>> process as outlined, please let us know.
>>>>
>>>> Adam
>>>> --------------------- Info ---------------------
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> ------------
> Vinayak Vatsal
> Department of Mathematics
> University of British Columbia
> Vancouver, BC
> Canada --------------------- Info ---------------------
> Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
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>
>
>

--
     Michael McCracken
     michael_mccracken at mac.com
     http://michael-mccracken.net/


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