On 2/12/08 1:23 PM,
"dharv mail.optusnet.com.au[dharvmail.optusnet.com.au]"
wrote:
>> [*] A lengthy post about 'smart groups' (that is,
saved searches as
>> folders).
>>
>> David, I'm not sure really what the difference is
between what groups
>> can do now and what you seek.
>
> I'm used to the multiple views provided by ProCite
>
>>
>> In EndNote, I can already search by keyword,
author, etc.
>
> I like ProCite searches better because I can control
the order of
> execution with parentheses so I can have
>
> A And (B Or C)
>
> In EndNote the order of execution is fixed so you have
to rearrange
> your search. For the above you would need to put the (B
Or C) first.
> As I refine searches this can lead to a lot of
rearranging.
Ah, precisely my point. (And I know we're not debating a
point, just
continuing a conversation about our "dream search
features".)
Many searches -- that is, search queries -- are searches
that will
likely be repeated. Search queries, in any search
interface, are a
"mini language".
Search queries are little "coded instructions"
that have a very
different syntax across search tools (EndNote vs. Google vs.
etc.)
So...what more efficient thing that to provide the ability
to store
those queries, for future reference?
Either as 'saved queries', that you can 'execute' again
later, or as
constantly on patrol search queries, always looking for new
items that
match the query (that is: a smart search, a smart group, a
smart folder,
a smart list, whatever.)
> That being said, the search facilities are about equal
BUT in ProCite
> I can avoid many searches. In EndNote can you look at
the term lists
> (author, keyword, journals, titles, reference types)
and click on any
> term to see the references for that term?
I know. Better search in EndNote -- including interfaces to
that search
engine -- are much needed.
Currently, the best alternative I've found is the use of
AppleScript,
which opens up a new "interface" for writing
searches in EndNote.
An AppleScript, running in the background, can keep just
such a "smart
list"
of pre-programmed (i.e., "remembered" or
"stored") search queries.
As the AppleScript implementation gets better in EndNote [1]
there
should be any number of new tools to integrate EndNote.
Some may even
be as successful as CWYW, the best integration there is
right now.
(And as MS backs off of VBScript, I don't know what will be
the 'bridge'
between EndNote and Word now. Perhaps that will have to be
AppleScript
on the Mac and something else on Windows.)
--
Gary
[1] EndNote has a very severe deficit in its present
AppleScript
implementation. That deficit is the absence of a
"record" class of
object
in the AppleScript vocabulary of EndNote.
There is a "document" class, and that is all
(there is, of course, an
"application" class, but this is not the point).
This makes it
impossible to say things like:
record 2 of document "somedocument"
or
every record whose author contains "Smith"
AppleScript, like other languages of a similar kind, has
"nouns"
(classes of
objects) and "verbs" (commands you can perform on
those nouns).
So, it is typical in AppleScript, as in English (its model),
to want to
address things like:
set the author of this record to "Ehrenreich,
Barbara"
set the year of this record to "2003"
get notes of this record
Imagine how difficult it would be AppleScript-able email
clients did not
have a class of object called "message". That is
the essential
kernelized bundle of data but it is cumbersome to refer to
an object of
that class.
The introduction of a 'record' class will be a big step
forward, even
more so that the pretty good range of verbs (tasks) that
EndNote
exposes.
(Some of the examples I've created above are purely
hypothetical and are
not valid AppleScript for EndNote.)
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