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dev:scaffold [2011/04/05 16:35] – add more troubleshooting ajlyondev:scaffold [2018/05/07 13:09] (current) – bwiernik
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-====== Scaffold - an IDE for Zotero translators ====== +See [[dev/translators/Scaffold]].
- +
-Translators in Zotero 2.x are stored as individual JavaScript files in the "translators" subdirectory of the [[:zotero_data|Zotero data directory]]. While translators can be edited with any tool, Scaffold is a Firefox add-on dedicated to writing Zotero translators, offering advantages such as real-time testing and debugging. +
- +
-===== Installation ===== +
- +
-Separate versions of Scaffold exist for Zotero 2.0 and 2.1: +
- +
-[[http://bitbucket.org/rmzelle/scaffold/downloads/scaffold2.1-20110227.xpi|Install Scaffold 2.1]]  +
-(compatible with Zotero 2.1.x, released February 27, 2011) +
- +
-[[http://bitbucket.org/rmzelle/scaffold/downloads/scaffold2.0-20100606.xpi|Install Scaffold 2.0]] (compatible with Zotero 2.0.x, released  June 6, 2010) +
- +
-===== Interface ===== +
- +
-After installation, the "Tools" menu in Firefox should contain a "Scaffold" item. Selecting this item opens the main Scaffold window: +
- +
-{{:dev:scaffold2.0-metadata.png?640&nocache&nolink|}} +
- +
-==== Top buttons ==== +
- +
-{{:dev:load.png?nocache&nolink|}} **Load** \\  +
-Opens the "Load Translator" window. Select one of the currently installed translators, and load the translator metadata and code into Scaffold. +
- +
-{{:dev:save.png?nocache&nolink|}} **Save** \\ +
-Saves the translator you are currently working on. Provide a unique label and translator ID for your translator if you don't want to overwrite an existing translator. New translator IDs can be automatically generated via the "Generate" button. +
- +
-{{:dev:detectweb.png?nocache&nolink|}} **Run detectWeb** \\  +
-Saves and runs the ''detectWeb'' function of the translator code on the site loaded in the most recently selected tab. +
- +
-{{:dev:doweb.png?nocache&nolink|}} **Run doWeb** \\  +
-Saves and runs the ''doWeb'' function of the translator code on the site loaded in the most recently selected tab. +
- +
-==== Tabs ==== +
- +
-**Metadata** \\ Shows the translator metadata. Translator IDs can be generated via the "Generate" button. The target regular expression can be tested with the "Test Regex" button. +
- +
-**Code** \\ The text box in this tab contains the translator's JavaScript code: +
- +
-{{:dev:scaffold2.0-code.png?640&nocache&nolink|}} +
- +
-==== Debug Output ==== +
- +
-The main strength of Scaffold is its ability to provide you with immediate feedback, which can dramatically speed up translator development. After a code change, a single click suffices to run the modified translator and generate debug output. The following types of debug output can be generated: +
- +
-=== Metadata === +
-When the "Test Regex" button in the "Metadata" tab is clicked, the regular expression in the target field is applied to the site loaded in the most recently selected Firefox tab. The debug window at the right of the Scaffold window will show whether the regular expression matches (''true'' for a match, ''false'' for no match), e.g.: +
- +
-<code> +
-09:54:11 ===>true<===(boolean) +
-</code> +
- +
-=== detectWeb and doWeb === +
- +
-When the "Run detectWeb" button is clicked, the ''detectWeb'' function of the translator will be executed. Similarly, clicking the "Run doWeb" button executes the translator's ''doWeb'' function. +
- +
-Debug output for the ''detectWeb'' function shows what type of item is found on the loaded webpage, e.g.: +
- +
-<code> +
-19:19:43 detectWeb returned type "book" +
-</code> +
- +
-Debug output for the ''doWeb'' function shows all the item data that would be saved if the translator would be run by Zotero (when testing translators with Scaffold, no items are actually saved to your Zotero library), e.g.: +
- +
-<code> +
-19:24:21 Returned item: +
-             'itemType' => "book" +
-             'creators' ... +
-                 '0' ... +
-                     'firstName' => "Herman" +
-                     'lastName' => "Melville" +
-                     'creatorType' => "author" +
-             'notes' ... +
-             'tags' ... +
-             'seeAlso' ... +
-             'attachments' ... +
-                 '0' ... +
-                     'title' => "Google Books Link" +
-                     'snapshot' => "false" +
-                     'mimeType' => "text/html" +
-                     'url' => "http://books.google.com/books?id=cYKYYypj8UAC" +
-                     'document' => "[object]" +
-             'date' => "1851" +
-             'pages' => "504" +
-             'ISBN' => "1603033742, 9781603033749" +
-             'publisher' => "Plain Label Books" +
-             'title' => "Moby Dick" +
-             'repository' => "Google Books" +
-             'complete' => function(...){...}  +
-          +
-19:24:21 Translation successful +
-</code> +
- +
-If running ''detectWeb'' or ''doWeb'' results in an error, the debug window will show an error message. For debugging, additional debug output can be added to the code by adding ''Zotero.debug(string);'' statements. +
- +
-===== Scaffold Troubleshooting ===== +
-  * **Why does my translator work in Scaffold but not when I click on the address bar icon in my browser?** +
-Scaffold runs the functions ''detectWeb'' and ''doWeb'' against the active document in the top Firefox window. Outside of Scaffold, clicking the address bar icon runs the first web translator with a matching ''target'' regular expression that returns a non-false value from the function ''detectWeb'', when run on that document and URL. +
- +
-This can differ from the active document in Firefox when the ''target'' expression or ''detectWeb'' conditions are too lax, which can allow embedded documents, such as IFRAMES used for advertising or sharing panes, to be detected as content pages. To see if this is what is happening, look at the debug output for a save attempt from Firefox proper and check the URL that is being processed. +
- +
-  * **Why won't my attachments save?** +
-  * **Why do some fields show in the output pane but not in the created item?** +
-The output pane in Scaffold shows the item object as Zotero is about to save it-- it does not in fact save the object. As an item is saved, the contents of some fields may change. +
- +
-The attachment information in the output pane of Scaffold merely says what Zotero is going to try to save; as the attachments are saved, they may be discarded if their actual MIME type differs from the one specified, as can happen when PDFs or other attachments are hidden by providers behind an interstitial terms or copyright notice page. +
- +
-Fields that are not allowed for the specified item type will be discarded, even if they show up in the output pane of Scaffold.+
dev/scaffold.txt · Last modified: 2018/05/07 13:09 by bwiernik