Citation Key Generator does not work as described

[lionfood]

JabRef version

Other (please describe below)

Operating system

GNU / Linux

Details on version and operating system

JabRef 6.0--2024-12-16--a3b2efb / openSUSE Leap 15.6

Checked with the latest development build (copy version output from About dialog)

• I made a backup of my libraries before testing the latest development version.
• I have tested the latest development version and the problem persists

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

1. Configure Citation Key Generator to use [authorsAlpha]
2. Generate the citation key for an entry
3. According to the documentation for [authorsAlpha] the following should hold:
   • One author: The first three letters of the last name
   • Two to four authors: The first letter of the last name of each author
   • More than four authors: The first letter of the first three authors' last name. A + is added at the end if it is not in the list of unwanted characters.
4. Instead i get the following
   • One author: The first two letters of the last name (see Screenshot 1)
   • Two to four authors: The first letter of the last name of each author (the same as documented)
   • More than four authors: The first letter of the first four authors' last name. A + is not added at the end (and is not in the list of unwanted characters). (see Screenshot 2)

Appendix

Screenshots

• Screenshot 1:
  

• Screenshot 2:
  

Bib file

@InBook{Gre12,
  author     = {Grelck, Clemens},
  pages      = {207--278},
  publisher  = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
  title      = {Single Assignment C (SAC) High Productivity Meets High Performance},
  year       = {2012},
  isbn       = {9783642320965},
  booktitle  = {Central European Functional Programming School},
  doi        = {10.1007/978-3-642-32096-5_5},
  issn       = {1611-3349}
}

@Article{KAS+14,
  author     = {Kakkad, Vasvi and Attar, Saeed and Santosa, Andrew E. and Fekete, Alan and Scholz, Bernhard},
  journal    = {Software: Practice and Experience},
  title      = {Curracurrong: a stream programming environment for wireless sensor networks},
  year       = {2014},
  issn       = {1097-024X},
  month      = nov,
  number     = {2},
  pages      = {175--199},
  volume     = {44},
  doi        = {10.1002/spe.2165},
  publisher  = {Wiley}
}

[koppor]

@subhramit changed it in #11614.

You can check the current behavior at

jabref/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/citationkeypattern/CitationKeyGeneratorTest.java

Line 511 in 4b7ac10

static Stream<Arguments> authorsAlpha() {

(if Java code is OK)

Maybe you can (re-)join the discussion at #11614

I don't read out if you like the new behavior more or if you really like the old one more?

[subhramit]

Hmm parts of the CSL project still remain to be documented. This, however, was not something I expected to find JabRef-specific documentation on (especially now that we follow a more universal standard).

Updates needed:

1. No "+" anymore
2. Fix the numbers

[lionfood]

I don't read out if you like the new behavior more or if you really like the old one more?

Sorry for that.

I am more a fan of the old behavior. It allows me to better compare the references of my LaTeX documents (where I use the alpha style) and the JabRef database.

I would therefore like to ask whether it would be possible to reintegrate the old style into JabRef (this may of course be done under a different name).

[subhramit]

I would therefore like to ask whether it would be possible to reintegrate the old style into JabRef (this may of course be done under a different name).

Yes, that can be done.

@koppor We are back to an old question again - two "AuthorsAlpha" then? This seems to be the simplest way.
The old one stays as it is (was) for the CitationKeyGenerator. The new one should be for internal use confined to the utility of DIN/LNI styles in LibreOffice.

[koppor]

The new one should be for internal use confined to the utility of DIN/LNI styles in LibreOffice.

The feature to generate citation keys should be available on all places where citation keys can be used. This included LibreOffice and the filename patterns.

Thus, we need two variants.

Maybe AuthorsAlpha and AuthorsAlphaV2?

[subhramit]

Keeping this free to take for students. I'll come back to this in the next two weeks to if nobody takes it.

[subhramit]

Implementation notes for anyone interested:

1. Rename current authorsAlpha to authorsAlphaV2 (including tests) and replace its uses in OO classes to the V2.
2. Revert Fix authorsAlpha #11614 (including tests). This will give us back the original authorsAlpha.
3. Add an option to Citation Key generator so that [authorsAlphaV2] is available to use (for hints, see how current [authorsAlpha] is used there).
4. Update documentation for [authorsAlphaV2] at https://docs.jabref.org/v5/setup/citationkeypatterns#special-field-markers.

[kushagradwi]

I am interested in this issue- can i be assigned this?

[github-actions]

Welcome to the vibrant world of open-source development with JabRef!

Newcomers, we're excited to have you on board. Start by exploring our Contributing guidelines, and don't forget to check out our workspace setup guidelines to get started smoothly.

In case you encounter failing tests during development, please check our developer FAQs!

Having any questions or issues? Feel free to ask here on GitHub. Need help setting up your local workspace? Join the conversation on JabRef's Gitter chat. And don't hesitate to open a (draft) pull request early on to show the direction it is heading towards. This way, you will receive valuable feedback.

⚠ Note that this issue will become unassigned if it isn't closed within 30 days.

🔧 A maintainer can also add the Pinned label to prevent it from being unassigned automatically.

Happy coding! 🚀

[koppor]

This refs JabRef/user-documentation#453

[kushagradwi]

@subhramit "Revert Fix authorsAlpha #11614 (including tests). This will give us back the original authorsAlpha." Can you please elaborate this. Do i need to rollback any changes?

[subhramit]

@subhramit "Revert Fix authorsAlpha #11614 (including tests). This will give us back the original authorsAlpha." Can you please elaborate this. Do i need to rollback any changes?

Open the linked PR. Look at the changes there. They need to be reverted.

[lionfood]

@kushagradwi This issue does not seem to making any progress...

Since i am waiting for this feature (and can spare some time at the moment): Do you need any help with the realisation of this?

[subhramit]

@lionfood alright, I'll take this up. Should be fixed by the weekend.

@kushagradwi since this has been asked for, I am un-assigning you. You can take up any other first issue.

[koppor]

Since i am waiting for this feature (and can spare some time at the moment): Do you need any help with the realisation of this?

We always need help 😅

Be it improving documentation, reviewing pull requests (including testing of the feature), and working on a good first issue.

It seems you are both a developer and a user with UX feeling @lionfood, thus I would really appreciate if you would look into our pull requests - https://github.com/jabref/jabref/pulls 😅

[subhramit]

Hi @lionfood, should be fine now. You can check the latest development version (https://builds.jabref.org/main/).

[lionfood]

Thank you very much. Did you have any idea, when there will be an JDK-EA version including this changes?

[koppor]

Thank you very much. Did you have any idea, when there will be an JDK-EA version including this changes?

You are using JabRef's JDK-EA builds (availble at https://builds.jabref.org/jdk-ea/). Do they work better for you?

They should be generated on each Monday at 6pm - https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/blob/87f3f43e9c0da2412b7b88a17cff858d102b5d1b/.github/workflows/deployment-jdk-ea.yml#L8C14-L8C24.

[lionfood]

You are using JabRef's JDK-EA builds (availble at https://builds.jabref.org/jdk-ea/). Do they work better for you?

They work better for me because of the problem described in #11668.

They should be generated on each Monday at 6pm - https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/blob/87f3f43e9c0da2412b7b88a17cff858d102b5d1b/.github/workflows/deployment-jdk-ea.yml#L8C14-L8C24.

Many thanks.

[koppor]

You are using JabRef's JDK-EA builds (availble at builds.jabref.org/jdk-ea). Do they work better for you?
They work better for me because of the problem described in #11668.

Interesting... I commented there to move a step forward.

They should be generated on each Monday at 6pm - 87f3f43/.github/workflows/deployment-jdk-ea.yml#L8C14-L8C24.
Many thanks.

I manually re-triggered a build - should be available now 😅

And I changed the workflow to update that daily. (Since you seem to rely on these builds)

65305e6