Some notes on initially trying out this new tool. I have some reservations as to whether it use it. There are certain good reasons in its favor.
This works to both store bibtex database entries and export to .bib files. I REALLY like the automagical harvesting of data using cb2Bib. It is unique, and I don't see how to recruit it to produce a database in an org file, or pipe it into this org-bibtex tool.
The need to represent the bibtex database entry as a PROPERTY list would appear to me to limit its usefulness to me.
A nit: I would prefer to be free to enter any optional field type I wished, when I am entering the data. Of course, the tool as it stands helped me to filter out duplicate fields and unused optional fields from the one bibtex entry I tried using org-bibtex-read: the output of org-bibtex-write was cleaner, and correctly incorporated aligning tabs where I'd carelessly left them out.)
My INPUT ENTRY
@INCOLLECTION{AED-IER-CR,
author = {Junior Noitall},
title = {Specific disruption strategies},
booktitle = {How to annoy the teacher},
publisher = {Noitall Notes},
year = {2011},
editor = {Senior Noitall},
chapter = {13},
pages = {218--243},
address = {Concentric Orbit},
altauthor = {John Smith},
alteditor = {Carl Pumpkin},
isbn = {1-8777753-31-9},
optaddress = {Room X777},
optpages = {\frac{1}{2}}
}
In the following output, the isbn field is missing.
OUTPUT from org-bibtex-write
@incollection{AED-IER-CR,
author = {Junior Noitall},
title = {Specific disruption strategies},
booktitle = {How to annoy the teacher},
publisher = {Noitall Notes},
year = 2011,
editor = {Senior Noitall},
type = {incollection},
chapter = 13,
pages = {218--243},
address = {Concentric Orbit}
}
I understand I may add to the types variable. When using org-bibtex-create, I can enter any arbitrary field as a PROPERTY; however, org-bibtex ignores anything outside of the universe it knows about. Would it be bad practice to allow the export of any arbitrary field type one has recorded? I think the emacs bibtex-mode may recognize erroneous bibtex entries. Somewhere there is code that does that. It would be a huge and excellent addition to be able to pass other types, while checking for proper formatting. Bibtex itself, and the .bst files (at least for bibtex itself; I don't know about biblatex, etc.) will cherry pick the needed fields. Am I wrong about this?
I am confused by the duplication of file names, though I can see that at some point one of the two will lose. (Gauss's law of competitive exclusion, referring to the biological case of two species occupying the same ecological niche).
Alan Davis