Getting stuck in compiling the front end

[philohistoria]

I very much like the idea to have a sync between Zotero and Bookends since I also found both strength and weakness of two apps.

I am stuck in this step:

cd html/bibSync/
./generate.py source-hybrid
cd ../..

There seems to be no html/ folder and generate.py in the repo. Is there anything I missed?

[cboulanger]

Hi! I am sorry, the code is probably completely broken at the moment because I am in the middle of switching between version 5 and 6 of the qooxdoo library.

Try the qooxdoo_v5 branch if this works for you: https://github.com/cboulanger/bibsync/tree/qooxdoo_v5

However, be warned: the code is more a proof of concept than a usable app.

I am currently reimplementing the same idea as a CLI without the GUI to be able to concentrate on the synchronization: https://github.com/cboulanger/bookends-api/blob/master/examples/bookends-zotero-sync

But nothing is anywhere near production-ready.

[philohistoria]

@cboulanger Thank you for your quick response! Really appreciate it.

I think my main user case is exactly for synchronization (though I mostly perform an one-way manual sync from Zotero to Bookends, since I use Zotero to manage my PDF files and only use Bookends to better handle global citations). I will be watching the updates. Thanks a lot!

SO I followed your qooxdoo_v5 branches and get the following error or no file exists in the configuration file.

[08-27 3:18:09] ➜  bibSync git:(master) ✗ ./generate.py source-hybrid

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Initializing: bibSync
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Processing configuration
<type 'exceptions.IOError'> :
2
No such file or directory

I presume that it is the problem in the config.json under bibsync/. And I am not clear about whether this line is the cause of the problem:

    filename : "/Users/cuments/Bookends/Library_from_zotero_no_attachments.bdb"
  },

Should I provide my Bookends library here? Thanks for the help!

[cboulanger]

Oh dear --- I fear the code is very much dependent on a very specific setup that would need to be replicated for it to run. I'd love to help you to get the code running (since it is a cool app despite its instability), but I have a deadline to keep and cannot do that at the moment.

I recommend using the CLI command (https://github.com/cboulanger/bookends-api/blob/master/examples/bookends-zotero-sync) but cannot provide much help ATM. Maybe next weekend --- very sorry!

[philohistoria]

@cboulanger No problem at all! Thanks for the prompt responses.

[joshuawagner]

Thank you for building this! I'm also trying to do a one-way sync from Zotero to Bookends. Zotero is brilliant for pdf management but Mellel's live bibliography feature only works with Bookends. :( I look forward to watching what happens here. Thanks again.

[cboulanger]

Hi, I have quickly updated the readme for the CLI command: https://github.com/cboulanger/bookends-api . Maybe you can try that for a one-way-sync and tell me if it works for you! As stated, do not expect perfect results. I have used it successfully to transfer Zotero groups and my user library into Bookends with little or no loss of data. Collections are not yet translated into Bookends groups, but that's on the list.

[cboulanger]

I just tried it and it worked. When creating a new Bookends library, make sure to add one empty item first otherwise you will get an error. If you have questions/bug reports, please enter them at the bookends-api repo.

[philohistoria]

also worked for me. That's great!

[cboulanger]

@philohistoria Glad to hear that. Please enter any problem that you encounter over at the bookends-api repo. Thanks!