ebib-users

[Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Jos E. <je...@gm...>]

Hi guys,

Has anyone used Ebib under Windows instead of Linux? I just stumbled
on the program and it sounds very interesting, since I normally use
Emacs/Latex for my work, but I cannot manage to get it working yet.
Ebib starts, although for some reason XEmacs ignores init.el :), and
it can find the config file after manually editing ebib.el, but when I
try to open my bibliography file, I get no error messages, but also no
content. Could it be due to using Windows? Or something else? My .bib
file is generated using another BibTex manager, JabRef, so it should
be syntactically correct :). I also never get errors when using it.

And yes, I know Windows is bad, but I am at work - no choice ;) ...

Jos

-- 
Jos Elkink
HMDC Fellow, Harvard University
http://jaeweb.cantr.net

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Joost K. <joo...@fa...>]

Jos Elkink schreef:
> Has anyone used Ebib under Windows instead of Linux?

Not myself, but i've known people to do it, yes. ;-)

> I just stumbled
> on the program and it sounds very interesting, since I normally use
> Emacs/Latex for my work, but I cannot manage to get it working yet.
> Ebib starts, although for some reason XEmacs ignores init.el :),

that's weird, although it's hardly a problem to do with ebib. ;-)
(though i must say, it's odd that ebib should start if init.el is really
being ignored...)

> and
> it can find the config file after manually editing ebib.el, but when I
> try to open my bibliography file, I get no error messages, but also no
> content. Could it be due to using Windows? Or something else?

i'd suspect something else. i see no reason why the OS should have
anything to do with it.

> My .bib
> file is generated using another BibTex manager, JabRef, so it should
> be syntactically correct :). I also never get errors when using it.

could you send me (part of) a bibtex file you're trying to load? send it 
(g)zipped as an attachment, not as a text file, because i need to have
the exact file byte-for-byte. i'm beginning to have a nasty suspicion on
what the problem might be...

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Jos E. <je...@gm...>]

Thanks for the reply!

> > Ebib starts, although for some reason XEmacs ignores init.el :),
>
> that's weird, although it's hardly a problem to do with ebib. ;-)
> (though i must say, it's odd that ebib should start if init.el is really
> being ignored...)

Oh, yes, I mean I had to manually load Ebib (load-file ...) instead of
having it automatically get loaded through init.el. But yeah, it's
certainly not an Ebib problem - I wasn't suggesting that :).

> > My .bib
> > file is generated using another BibTex manager, JabRef, so it should
> > be syntactically correct :). I also never get errors when using it.
>
> could you send me (part of) a bibtex file you're trying to load? send it
> (g)zipped as an attachment, not as a text file, because i need to have
> the exact file byte-for-byte. i'm beginning to have a nasty suspicion on
> what the problem might be...

I will send it right away in private email ...

Jos

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Joost K. <joo...@fa...>]

On Sun, Sep 10, 2006 at 01:15:13PM -0400, Jos Elkink wrote:
> > > My .bib
> > > file is generated using another BibTex manager, JabRef, so it should
> > > be syntactically correct :). I also never get errors when using it.
> >
> > could you send me (part of) a bibtex file you're trying to load? send it
> > (g)zipped as an attachment, not as a text file, because i need to have
> > the exact file byte-for-byte. i'm beginning to have a nasty suspicion on
> > what the problem might be...
> 
> I will send it right away in private email ...

ok, i got it. it turns out that the problem was not what i thought it was
(which makes me a little happier ;-) i tried loading your bib-file in ebib,
and got the same result: an error message stating "end of buffer" (i don't
know if you reported that) and apparently nothing is loaded. when i lowered
ebib and activated it again, i found that part of the file *had* been
loaded, however. it wasn't difficult to identify the entry where things go
wrong:

@ARTICLE{AntoniTorcini1998,
  author = {Micka"el Antoni and Alessandro Torcini},
  title = {Anomalous diffusion as a signature of a collapsing phase in two-dimensional self-gravitating systems},
  journal = {Physical Review E},
  year = {1998},
  volume = {57},
  pages = {6233-6236},
  number = {6},
  month = {JUN},
  owner = {elkinkj},
}

and the exact problem is with the diarhesis in the name `Micka"el'. ebib
takes the character " to be the start of a string, and tries to find the
matching double quote that ends the string. since this is never found, an
"end of buffer" error message is produced.

there is a work-around and a solution for this. the work-around involves
writing \" rather than " in your bib-file. the solution would be to recode
ebib so that it knows about this way of writing accented characters.

the former may have disadvantages that i'm not aware of. the latter has one
big disadvantage: it's not straight-forward. in order to read a field
contents, ebib finds the opening { that marks the beginning of the field
contents, and then looks for the matching }: everything in between is
considered the field contents. in order to find the matching }, ebib uses
the function FORWARD-LIST, which is a standard elisp function. it is this
function that knows about strings and string delimiters, and that causes
the problem in your case.

i obviously cannot alter existing elisp functions. therefore, in order to
solve the issue, i'd have to write an alternative to FORWARD-LIST, and make
it smart enough to ignore accented characters written in this fashion. i do
have (still rather vague) plans to largely rewrite the code that loads
bibtex files. when i get to that, i'll certainly think about how i can get
this right, but right now, i suggest you use the work-around...

sorry that i can't offer a better solution right now, but at least we know
where the problem lies.

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Jos E. <je...@gm...>]

Hi Joost,

Thanks for your extensive help / explanation! Much appreciated!

Jos

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Steve Y. <st...@sx...>]

* Joost Kremers <joo...@fa...> writes:

  > and the exact problem is with the diarhesis in the name `Micka"el'. ebib
  > takes the character " to be the start of a string, and tries to find the
  > matching double quote that ends the string. since this is never found, =
an
  > "end of buffer" error message is produced.

  > there is a work-around and a solution for this. the work-around involves
  > writing \" rather than " in your bib-file. the solution would be to rec=
ode
  > ebib so that it knows about this way of writing accented characters.

(modify-syntax-entry ?\" "w")



=2D-=20
|---<Steve Youngs>---------------<GnuPG KeyID: A94B3003>---|
|                 I am Dyslexic of Borg.                   |=20
|    Fusistance is retile. Your arse will be laminated.    |
|------------------------------------<st...@sx...>---|

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Joost K. <joo...@fa...>]

On Mon, Oct 02, 2006 at 11:20:31PM +1000, Steve Youngs wrote:
> (modify-syntax-entry ?\" "w")

ok, and once again i underestimate emacs. ;-) thanks for the hint, it works
beautifully.

for those who need it, add the above line to the function
ebib-find-bibtex-entries, directly after the documentation string:

#v+

(defun ebib-find-bibtex-entries ()
  "Finds the BibTeX entries in the current buffer.

The search is started at the beginnig of the buffer. All entries found are
stored in the hash table DATABASE of EBIB-CUR-DB. Returns a three-element
list: the first elements is the number of entries found, the second the
number of @STRING definitions, and the third is T or NIL, indicating
whether a @PREAMBLE was found."
  (modify-syntax-entry ?\" "w")
  (let ((n-entries 0)
	(n-strings 0)
	(preamble nil))
...

#v-

i assume (but correct me if i'm wrong) that bibtex only allows this
notation if the field value is written in {}, not when it's written in
"". i know for a fact that ebib will get confused in the latter case...

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments

Re: [Ebib-users] ebib under Windows

[Steve Y. <st...@sx...>]

* Joost Kremers <joo...@fa...> writes:

  > On Mon, Oct 02, 2006 at 11:20:31PM +1000, Steve Youngs wrote:
  >> (modify-syntax-entry ?\" "w")

  > ok, and once again i underestimate emacs. ;-)=20

A most unrewarding pastime. :-)

  > thanks for the hint, it works beautifully.

You're welcome.

=2D-=20
|---<Steve Youngs>---------------<GnuPG KeyID: A94B3003>---|
|                 I am Dyslexic of Borg.                   |=20
|    Fusistance is retile. Your arse will be laminated.    |
|------------------------------------<st...@sx...>---|