Inputting references

References can be uploaded by three different methods. A BibTex file (.bib) can be uploaded, a BibTex string (containing any number of references) can be pasted into a text field, or references can be inputted manually, one by one, using a form.

The BibTex file is limited to 1mB, which should be sufficient for any purposes. References in many formats can be converted to BibTex files, and most reference database software lets you export to the format.

Don’t forget to select a category when uploading the file, if you have not yet defined categories but plan to use them you should set them up before continuing.  More than one category can be selected for each reference by holding shift or ctrl when selecting them from the list.

The string input lets you simply copy and paste a BibTex string containing any number of references, perhaps copied from citeseer or similar.

Both these methods then parse the BibTex string into the database, but the original string is also stored.

If you select the manual input, then you can create a new reference entry by filling in a table of fields. You will be asked for the number of authors so that the correct number of author fields will be present in the form. None of the fields are compulsory, however a reference should really at least have an author or editor and a title or book title as well as a year.

Managing References

The main view references page lets you edit references, add new references, add new categories, delete references or clear the references completely.

Editing References

When you open a reference for editing, either by selecting the checkbox and using the edit button on the toolbar, or simply by clicking on the title hyperlink, an editing page is opened. The reference is then checked out to you user ID, and must be saved or cancelled to check it back in. If this is not done, the reference will remain checked out, and uneditable for other users, until you open it up and save or cancel. A global Joomla check in all will not check in the checked out references.

The edit page is much like the manual input page, with a text box for each BibTex field. If you need to add an extra author, the “add author” button at the bottom will reload the page with an extra set of fields for a new author, it will also clear any changes you have made though, so save changes first or use the “add author” button before making any other changes. If a field is left blank, it will be removed from the reference, so an author can be removed by leaving all of the corresponding author fields blank.

When a reference edit is saved, the new data is saved in the bibliography database, and the stored BibTex string is updated. Any unusual or custom fields in the original BibTex string are retained so that the full string is available for download at the frontend.