Bugfix version of BibSonomy JabRef Plugin (2.5.2) available

As we've mentioned from time to time within our blog, we are maintaining a BibSonomy plugin for JabRef which basically makes it easy to keep your local .bib file (managed by JabRef) in sync with your online BibSonomy collection. We've just released a bugfix version of it - you can find it for download here:

http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/download.html

And here you can find more detailed information about the plugin:

• Installation instructions: http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/installation.html
• Version history: http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/changes-report.html
• General plugin help pages: http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/index.html

If you have any feedback, we'd be happy to hear from you!

Best regards & happy BibTeXing,

Dominik

New version 2.5 of JabRef Plugin available

Since a while, we are offering a BibSonomy Plugin for JabRef, the latter being a popular application to manage BibTeX-files locally. The plugin basically combines the advantages of an online system like BibSonomy with the comfortable editing facilities of a local standalone client.

We are happy to announce version 2.5.1 of this plugin, which contains several bugfixes and interface improvements; in addition, the file handling (i.e. the management of PDFs associated to entries) has been worked over and is much smoother now. Have a look at the new version here:

• http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/index.html

The list of changes is is found here:

• http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/changes-report.html

and the direct download link is

• https://gforge.cs.uni-kassel.de/frs/download.php/74/jabref-bibsonomy-plugin-2.5.1-bin.jar

We'd be happy about and comments or suggestions for improvements!

Best,

Dominik

Feature of the Week: New version of JabRef-plugin released!

As you will have noticed, we are maintaining a plugin for the open-source bibliography manager JabRef, which allows to easily download and upload entries from BibSonomy. We believe that this approach nicely combines the advantages of maintaining a local BibTeX-file with the comfort and usefulness of a centralized publication sharing platform like BibSonomy.

We have just now released a new version of this plugin, which offers some nice features to ease the maintenance of both collections (local + within BibSonomy)! Check it out:

• Added document management: In JabRef and within BibSonomy, it is possible to attach a private copy (PDF, PS, ...) to a publication entry. The new version of our plugin allows to download all your private documents present in BibSonomy by a single click (first image). Furthermore, you can control in the settings menu that local documents are automatically uploaded to BibSonomy when you storethe publication (second image).

• Automatic Synchronization: A typical problem is to keep both collections (your local .bib file and your BibSonomy account) synchronized. We are proud to offer a comfortable feature to automatically perform this task (third image on the right). This feature automatically checks for entries present in both collections if they are equal; if there is a difference, you can decide which version to keep. A 'diff-like' view helps you to see what has changed (4th image on the right).

• Full-text search: In prior versions, it was only possible to retrieve posts from BibSonomy by tag. Now you can also perform a full-text search in your personal or in the global collection.
• Further small additions & bugfixes: Apart from the above-mentioned new features, we improved the interface, fixed some bugs, and generally made the plugin more stable and better :)

You can download the latest version of the plugin here: The updated documentation can be accessed via http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/jabref-plugin/index.html. We hope this new release helps you to be more efficient in your personal and shared publication managent - we are as usual always happy about feedback, comments, suggestions!!

Best,
Dominik

Feature of the week: BibSonomy-Plugin for JabRef released!

JabRef is an open source bibliography reference manager, based (like BibSonomy) on the BibTeX-format. Starting with version 2.4b1, JabRef can be extended using a plugin system based on the Java Plugin Framework (JPF). We have been asked many times how the advantages of a local client like JabRef and a web-based platform like BibSonomy could be combined - now we think we found a nice solution: We built a BibSonomy-Plugin for JabRef!

This plugin enables you to

• fetch publication entries directly from BibSonomy,
• upload publications into your personal account at BibSonomy and
  
• delete entries from your collection.

All of the above integrates seamlessly into the usual workflow of JabRef - this means you don't have to visit the BibSonomy webinterface during the whole process. In order to use plugin, you need of course a BibSonomy account. Once you have that, you can follow these simple steps to experience the synergies of JabRef and BibSonomy:

1. Download JabRef: http://jabref.sourceforge.net/download.php
2. Download our BibSonomy-Plugin;
3. Put the Plugin jar-file into a sub-folder called plugins in your JabRef installation directory
   
4. Start JabRef and you can start working with the Plugin!
   

We've also created an extensive documentation of the plugin, along with a detailed description of each of its functionalities and the setup steps.

Please note: Right after releasing our API, we also presented a prototype of a customized JabRef-Client which allowed up- and downloading of entries (see e.g. this post). With the release of the plugin described above, we stop the further development of this customized client. If you are using it, we highly recommend to migrate to a newer JabRef version, combined with our plugin - it contains bugfixes and improved functionality. You will like it :)

We hope this plugin enables you to get the most out of BibSonomy and JabRef - some example tasks which are now easy are:

1. Download your complete BibSonomy collection into JabRef, use its built-in bibtex-key generator to unify the bibtex keys of your publicatons, and upload all entries again
2. Download your complete BibSonomy collection into JabRef and perform integrity checks on it (missing fields,...), and upload all entries again
3. Use JabRef's web search facility to import entries (e.g, from PubMed), edit them locally to your needs, and bulk-upload them to BibSonomy
4. ...

Enjoy,
Dominik

Feature of the Week: Update of JabRef Client

Dear BibSonomy API users,

just in time before Christmas we finished an update of the BibSonomy version of our JabRef-Client. Its main new features include:

- new (fancy :)) look of tag cloud
- only tags are being displayed in the tag cloud which belong to
publications, not to bookmarks
- as well as further minor bugfixes

Find the client available for download at:

http://www.bibsonomy.org/help/doc/download/JabRef2.3b-BibsonomyEdition.jar

Have fun with it! We hope we were able to make live easier for you in 2007 with our BibSonomy services and this JabRef-Client. Now, we wish you a wonderful Christmas time and a good start into 2008!

Best,
Your BibSonomy Team

Feature of the Week: API and JabRef Connectivity

People have been asking us about this for a while, and now we are happy to announce it: BibSonomy now has an application programming interface (API) which allows you to code external applications that interact with BibSonomy.

So for example, assume you have a standalone tool for managing BibTeX entries which you use on a daily basis. Now you want your tool to be able to interact with BibSonomy, so that you can publish references from your desktop to BibSonomy at the push of a button.

JabRef: Standalone BibTeX Manager now Interacts with BibSonomy

Actually, this is what we have implemented as a first application ;-) Have a look at the API download page. There you will find a customized version of the great JabRef reference manager which has been extended to interface with the BibSonomy API. This version is able to publish your entries to BibSonomy, retrieve references with a specific tag, or modify references in a fully-fledged desktop application rather than using a web interface.

This also means that you can use your references on your laptop, say, when you do not have network connectivity, and synchronize them with BibSonomy when you reconnect.

REST API for Programmers

For the more technically minded: the API offers a REST-type interface to BibSonomy resources. So for example, to get all users, you'd say "GET /users" over HTTP. To modify a particular user, you'd say "PUT /users/<username>" with an appropriately formatted XML document with the user data. The API documentation documents the possible operations and their current status — not all of them are finished yet.

So this allows you to code an application against BibSonomy in about any programming language, although you'd have to write all the HTTP and XML wrangling yourself (at the moment). For the Java language, we are also offering a client library which lets you write applications against BibSonomy that handle elements of BibSonomy, such as posts etc., as proper Java objects and hides all the gory details.

Getting an API Key

Of course, all this only works within the bounds of proper authorization. To be able to use the API, you have to obtain an API key: just check the second settings pages.

Feature of the Week: Customizable Publication Exports

Many of you may already be using the export facilities for publication entries that BibSonomy offers; until recently, there were options to export your BibTeX as RSS, RDF, Endnote, or one particular plain HTML format.

Now we've revamped the export facilities by including the export layout engine from the great JabRef stand-alone BibTeX manager. Clicking on the more button next to the publication column header will take you to a list of publication output formats that are now available—right now there are 17! These include an RTF export for standard text processors such as Word, CSV which is easily imported to spreadsheets, as well as fancy HTML tables with sorting capabilities that you can integrate right into you web site.

Here are some examples:

• CSV for spreadsheets
• Fancy HTML table
  
• RTF for Word and other text processors
  
• DocBook XML

If there is still a layout missing that you need for your particular application, you can make your own! The JabRef documentation describes how custom export filters can be written using a special markup language. Once you've written your filter, you can upload three files: the piece of markup for formatting each entry, plus a custom header and footer; thus, you can get a complete, valid HTML page with your custom publication list out of BibSonomy which can directly be linked to without further processing. The URL scheme for these layouts is as follows: http://www.bibsonomy.org/layout/[filter]/[rest of BibSonomy URL] e.g. if I want to format my own publications of 2006 with the html filter: http://www.bibsonomy.org/layout/html/user/schmitz/myown+2006 See also Mark Schenk's page for some great examples of JabRef layouts.

Have fun!

Christoph