Citekey fails to fully refresh if pattern changed before restarting Zotero

[dstark]

Debug log ID

MWP4MBT9-fio-ISSA4sfP2y8i

What happened?

This has always been the behavior of shortTitle. shortTitle picks from the Zotero Title field of the item, and by instructing it to take two words, you end up with SemanticsBiblical. If you want the Zotero Short title in the citekey, you must use ShortTitle. The leading capital instructs BBT to take a Zotero field, verbatim.

Thanks so much! I've been searching for this off and on. One thing I'm seeing though in Zotero 7.0.5 stable and 7.0.6 beta (Windows 10) is that if I

• already have an item with a citekey,
• change the citekey from a different pattern to use ShortTitle, and
• refresh a citeky with this new pattern,

then the citekey

• still displays as the old citekey in the library pane and
• the citation key box in the item info pane goes blank

It is just a matter of the display to the user, though. The change to the citekey actually does get applied. If I duplicate the item, it will that duplicate will reflect the old citekey. If I then refresh the duplicate's citekey to apply the new pattern to it, I'll get a to differentiate it from the old item. And after restarting Zotero after the change in the citekey pattern, the display to the user shows the current citekeys for both items and other citekey refreshes display instantly as expected.

Originally posted by @dstark in #2985 (comment)

[github-actions]

Hello @dstark,

@retorquere is ready to assist you with Better BibTeX. In order to do so efficiently, a debug log is generally required. The information it containst is key to him understanding, replicating, and resolving your issue.

Here’s how you can share your debug log:

1. If your issue involves specific references, citekey generation, or exports, right-click on the relevant item(s) and select "Better BibTeX -> Submit Better BibTeX debug log" from the menu.
2. For issues where items do not play a role, follow these steps:

• Restart Zotero with debugging enabled (Help -> Debug Output Logging -> Restart with logging enabled).
• Reproduce the problem.
• Choose "Send Better BibTeX debug report..." from the help menu.

After these steps, you will receive debug ID displayed in red. Please share this ID with @retorquere in this issue thread. If your query is about an export, include both the actually exported result and your expected/desired outcome.

Sharing your debug log gives @retorquere a view of your Better BibTeX configuration and the elements contributing to the issue. This helps him address your concerns more efficiently.

Thank you.

PS: If the Debug Log menu is not available, or if it fails to send the debug log, you can use the option under “Help” > “Send debug log to file.io”.

[highnze]

Did you try to select an entry -> right-click -> Better BibTex -> Refresh BibTex Key (in German: Aktualisiere BibTex Key; I assume it says Refresh)

[retorquere]

This escaped my attention. Debug logging was off so MWP4MBT9-fio-ISSA4sfP2y8i doesn't contain anything. Can you turn on debug logging in the Help menu, reproduce the error, and send a new log?

[dstark]

This escaped my attention. Debug logging was off so MWP4MBT9-fio-ISSA4sfP2y8i doesn't contain anything. Can you turn on debug logging in the Help menu, reproduce the error, and send a new log?

Thanks so much @retorquere. Let's try JEFUXEYD-euc/6.7.236-7. The item pane citekey field still goes blank. Though, this time, the citekey in the library pane refreshed as expected. I haven't been able to get the "old citekey stuck in the library pane" behavior that I was seeing the other day.

[dstark]

Did you try to select an entry -> right-click -> Better BibTex -> Refresh BibTex Key (in German: Aktualisiere BibTex Key; I assume it says Refresh)

@highnze, yes, thanks. The refresh of the citation key that I mentioned above was a manual refresh from the context menu.

[astoeffer]

JCNZB5B9-euc/7.0.5

I sent the report log with above ID.
Zotero is the latest version

"Refresh Citekey" in context menu deletes the citekey. It isn't possible to add a citekey manually to the fiels "citekey". After restarting Zotero the citekey is added again to the textfield "citekey".

Hope you find a solution.
Thanks a lot for your work!

[github-actions]

🤖 this is your friendly neighborhood build bot announcing test build 7.0.5.7558 ("more logging")

This update may name other issues, but the build just dropped here is for you; it just means problems already fixed in other issues have been folded into the work we are doing here. Install in Zotero by downloading test build 7.0.5.7558, opening the Zotero "Tools" menu, selecting "Add-ons", open the gear menu in the top right, and select "Install Add-on From File...".

[retorquere]

new log please

[retorquere]

@dstark can you also install 7.0.5.7558 and send a new log?

[astoeffer]

I sent a new log with ID: NYXSPIEG-euc

[retorquere]

@astoeffer I see no activity in the log that indicates you are typing in the citekey field (just to check: very few items have a citekey field, only 3 I think)

[retorquere]

"Refresh Citekey" in context menu deletes the citekey

In what sense does it delete the citation key?

[astoeffer]

Attached you find a short video with the steps I processed, and I saved a new Debug Log: 5D774FBI-euc
Maybe this helps.

BetterBibTex_Citekey.mp4