[OS X TeX] How are bib-entries sorted in autocompletion?

[Herbert Schulz]

On Oct 5, 2013, at 12:08 PM, "Adam R. Maxwell" <amaxwell at mac.com> wrote:

> 
> On Oct 5, 2013, at 05:43 , Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Oct 5, 2013, at 7:31 AM, Themis Matsoukas <tmatsoukas at icloud.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> In the small example below, autocompletion gives me 6 options but I cannot figure by what rule they are sorted. With more references it becomes more difficult to locate the one I want. Is there a way to sort entries alphabetically? 
>>> 
>> As far as I know the plugin used by TeXShop is supplied by the folks from BibDesk. It might be worthwhile asking at their web site, <http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net>.
> 
> Right, none of them would think of monitoring this list to answer questions :). To be pedantic, it's actually not a plugin anymore; TeXShop uses the code that we used to ship as an input manager.
> 
> To answer Themis' question, I had a look at the code. There's no attempt made at sorting, and results are returned in the order in which they appear in the BibTeX database. I see a couple of reasonable options:
> 
> 1) sort by citekey, as that's the first element displayed
> 
> 2) sort items as they appear in the main table
> 
> The second is more flexible, obviously, but users would probably think it was non-deterministic. Before anyone asks, no, this won't be a preference in BibDesk :).
> 
>> I've been meaning to ask them if they could build in some expandability for commands they will fill. Maybe now I'll do that! :-)
> 
> The bibdesk-users list is really low-traffic these days, so that's a good place for BibDesk-specific discussion.
> 
> regards,
> Adam
> 

Howdy,

I wasn't really sure you monitored this list any more.

Just added a ticket for expansion of the code used by TeXShop.

> 
> "I don't understand women."  "Nobody does, Schultz, until they're married.
>   And then it's too late."  
>    -- Hogan to Schultz in "Sgt. Schultz Meets Mata Hari"
> 

Obviously not meant for me since I've been married for 30 years already, so it comes too late, and I don't spell my name with a `t' before the `z'. :-)

Yes, I remember Hogan's Heros! :-)

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)