Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

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johnny366
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Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by johnny366 »

Hi,

I want to make minor tweaks in some of my citations, like add @page no or \text comment\, which are already formatted (ie after scanning the doc). I have 200 references in it, and I dont want to unscan-rescan every time.

How do I get to the raw code? I'm sure I used to be able to click on the citation and the raw code would open in a window, with the ref# etc. and I could add it there. I cant make this open, is it no longer a feature? I've tried clicking the link (alt, cmd etc), and it either just selects the name or it takes me to Bookends.

sorry if this is a dumb question but I have looked for an answer.
rpcameron
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by rpcameron »

If I remember correctly, the raw code is only available before the document is scanned. As far as I can tell, your only option is to unscan/rescan.
— Robert Cameron
DylanMuir
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by DylanMuir »

Maybe I'm not understanding the question.

In a Mellel document, if I double-click on a citation I get an "edit citation" dialog with two fields: "citation" (containing the raw codes, reference number, etc) and "formatted citation" which is exactly what appears in the document.

I can edit either of them to whatever I want, which I do sometimes to tweak a citation (removing brackets, etc) without having to re-scan the entire document. If you make a complex change in "code land", you would have to re-scan anyway, right?

Is that what you want to accomplish?

DRM
johnny366
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by johnny366 »

Dylan you understand exactly. That's the dialog I was trying to get. I thought I was going crazy. That's what I always did, but now double-clicking just highlights the author's name. That is what want to achieve, and...

hold on!

I just tried again to check, and it is working. Although sometimes it still goes 'in' to the formatted citation, and I can edit directly - changes are lost on rescanning. Seems to be a secret hidden spot where clicking will do something different. Is it just me? Is this a feature or a bug? :roll:
If you make a complex change in "code land", you would have to re-scan anyway, right?
Well, yes, but if it's something simple and I'm confident I've got it right I'd prefer to leave the edited one raw and keep the rest of the doc scanned.
DylanMuir
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by DylanMuir »

You're not crazy, you can also double-click (but slowly) to edit the citation text directly within the document. If you click to highlight the entire citation, then click again, you get the in-document edit mode. If you double-click without the citation highlighted you get the edit citation dialog. Sometimes you might have to de-select and try again. It works the same way with the auto-titles.

DRM
johnny366
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by johnny366 »

Thanks Dylan, I see how it works now. Problem was that selected citations, once I'm 'in' it are not visibly any different. Clicking outside does the trick.
johnny366
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by johnny366 »

one more thing :)

Is there a way to distinguish unverified citations (which have a "?" in their edit dialog) from the others? A different colour perhaps? I cant find a way. Surely, opening the dialog for all the citations can't be the way this information is meant to be used (can it?).

Thanks guys
DylanMuir
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by DylanMuir »

The only visual indicator is if the "non formatted" citation is displayed, it's a lighter shade of blue than if the "formatted" citation is displayed. Obviously, if you've edited the citation but not re-formatted, this answer is not helpful. :(

DRM
laup
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by laup »

I guess I'm dull because I still haven't cracked the code. I can bring up the edit-citation pane about 20% of the time by double-clicking on the scanned citation (that is, on about one of five citations that I try to edit). To me, this apparent inconsistency is an implementation bug (unless one is simply not supposed to do such editing, except after unscanning). I have wasted quite some time on this. Even if there is a magic way to click successfully so as to bring up the pane, one shouldn't have to work at it. Fortunately, unscanning is very quick.
Paul
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by kjmatthews »

A related question: is there a way to rescan only the references whose "raw code" has been added or modified since the last time a document was scanned? Since Bookends still doesn't properly format consecutive citations from the same source as MLA requires, I have to manually delete a lot of author's names from the formatted citations. If I insert a new citation after doing all that work and scan, ALL the names I deleted get added back in, and I weep. Is this already possible, or should I make a feature request?
DylanMuir
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by DylanMuir »

I don't think it's possible, but your better option is probably to ask Jon from Bookends about it. He responds relatively quickly to bug reports, in my experience.

DRM
jda
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by jda »

You can't just rescan citations that have been modified since the last scan. But the reason that kjmatthews wanted to do this will soon be moot, since Bookends will handle consecutive citations in the MLA format correctly in the next update.

Jon
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kjmatthews
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by kjmatthews »

Hallelujah!
kjmatthews
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Re: Editing a citation, after doc is scanned

Post by kjmatthews »

jda wrote:But the reason that kjmatthews wanted to do this will soon be moot, since Bookends will handle consecutive citations in the MLA format correctly in the next update.
Well, almost moot. Bookends will never be able to format MLA citations 100% correctly. If mention is made of the author in the prose immediately preceding a citation, the author's name can be suppressed and only the page numbers shown. Currently the only mechanism for suppressing the author's name in Mellel forces the date to be shown, which is undesirable for us MLA types.

What are the chances Mellel can implement a marker that suppresses the author's name and shows only a page range? This would make the Bookends/Mellel combo unstoppable for MLA.
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