Citation keys are always overwritten when importing through web search

[k3KAW8Pnf7mkmdSMPHz27]

The citation key generator never preserves citation keys while importing from sites such as INSPIRE HEP. The citation keys are overwritten even if "Overwrite existing keys" is disabled in preferences and always without warning.

JabRef version

JabRef 5.3--2021-02-03--242a494
Mac OS X 10.15.7 x86_64 
Java 15.0.2 
JavaFX 15.0.1+1

• Mandatory: I have tested the latest development version from http://builds.jabref.org/master/ and the problem persists

Relevant links

1. JabRef renaming keys?! (I don't think these options exist anymore)
2. InspireHEP and SAO/NASA ADS Bibtex Key Catch (feature request)
3. Can I use Inspire citation keys when importing via jabref?
4. There is a mention of unwanted key formatting in Issue with INSPIRE web search #7274

Temporary workaround

It is possible to keep citation keys by using the citation key pattern [CITATIONKEY] during the import.
: must also be removed from the "Remove the following characters" field in preferences.
It should be possible to use the regexp in #7111 (comment) to create a workaround where a different pattern is used when there is no citation key in the imported entry. (If someone manages with this approach, feel free to add a comment and perhaps others will also find it useful)

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Unmark "Overwrite existing keys"
2. Make a web-search on INSPIRE and import any entry
3. Note that the citation key is overwritten

[bulmust]

Same issue for me. I always manually rewrite bibtex-key which i fetch from inspire or ads

[k3KAW8Pnf7mkmdSMPHz27]

@bulmust, the workaround(s) work for now?

[bulmust]

No, still problematic. Bibtex-key is not fetched from Inspire.

My configs and version are:

[k3KAW8Pnf7mkmdSMPHz27]

I meant using the citation key pattern [BIBTEXKEY] or [CITATIONKEY] while importing. (discussed here on discourse)
However, that might not be convenient for you unless you always want to keep the imported keys.

[Siedlerchr]

I debugged a bit and the problem seems to be that this import handler doesn't check the preferences if the key should be overwritten or not. And further down there isn't any check either.

So the solution would be to add a check for the setting from the CitationKeyPrefereces.

jabref/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/ImportHandler.java

Lines 196 to 210 in 86d52cd

	/**
	* Generate keys for given entries.
	*
	* @param entries entries to generate keys for
	*/
	private void generateKeys(List<BibEntry> entries) {
	CitationKeyGenerator keyGenerator = new CitationKeyGenerator(
	bibdatabase.getMetaData().getCiteKeyPattern(preferencesService.getCitationKeyPatternPreferences()
	.getKeyPattern()),
	bibdatabase.getDatabase(),
	preferencesService.getCitationKeyPatternPreferences());
	for (BibEntry entry : entries) {
	keyGenerator.generateAndSetKey(entry);
	}

[bulmust]

I meant using the citation key pattern [BIBTEXKEY] or [CITATIONKEY] while importing. (discussed here on discourse)
However, that might not be convenient for you unless you always want to keep the imported keys.

Thank you. It is solved.

Before Jabref 5.x versions, this option was default. Solution is following:

[LucasF-42]

Hey, I've (possibly) been able to fix this, but I'm not sure if it's according to JabRefs intended behaviour for this feature (more details on that can be found in the Pull Request).