1 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
8 <h1>The entry editor</h1>
10 <p><em>Opened from main window by
11 double-clicking anywhere on the line of the entry, or selecting
12 the entry and pressing ENTER. The panel is closed by pressing
15 <p>In this panel you can specify all relevant information on a
16 single entry. The entry editor checks the type of your entry,
17 and lists all the fields that are required, and the ones that
18 are optional, for referring the entry with <em>bibtex</em>. In
19 addition, there are several fields termed <em>General
20 fields</em>, that are common to all entry types.</p>
22 <p>You can fully customize which fields should be regarded as
23 required and optional for each type of entry, and which fields
24 appear in the General fields tab. See
25 <a href="CustomEntriesHelp.html">Customizing entry types</a>
26 for more information about this.</p>
28 <p>For information about how the fields should be filled out,
29 see <a href="BibtexHelp.html">Bibtex help</a>.</p>
31 <h2>The entry editor's panels</h2>
33 <p>The entry editor contains six
34 panels: <em>Required fields</em>, <em>Optional fields</em>,
35 <em>General</em>, <em>Abstract</em>, <em>Review</em> and
36 <em>BibTeX source</em>, where <em>General</em>,
37 <em>Abstract</em> and <em>Review</em> can be customized (see
38 <a href="GeneralFields.html">Customizing general fields</a> for
39 details). Inside the three first panels, TAB and SHIFT-TAB are
40 used to switch focus between the text fields.</p>
42 <p>Switch panels by clicking on the tabs, or navigate to the
43 panel to the left or right using the following key
44 combinations: CTRL-TAB or CTRL-PLUS switch to the tab to the
45 right, and CTRL-SHIFT-TAB or CTRL-MINUS switch to the tab to
46 the left. You can also switch to the next or previous entry by
47 pressing CTRL-SHIFT-DOWN or CTRL-SHIFT-UP, respectively, or by
48 clicking the appropriate toolbar button.</p>
50 <p>The <em>bibtex source</em> panel shows how the entry will
51 appear when the database is saved in <em>bibtex</em> format. If
52 you wish, you can edit the <em>bibtex</em> source directly in
53 this panel. When you move to a different panel, press CTRL-S or
54 close the entry editor, JabRef will try to parse the contents
55 of the source panel. If there are problems, you will be
56 notified, and given the option to edit your entry further, or
57 to revert to the former contents. If <strong>Show source by
58 default</strong> is checked in the <strong>General
59 options</strong> tab of the <strong>Preferences</strong>
60 dialog, the source panel will be the one shown each time you
61 open the entry editor. If you prefer editing the source rather
62 than using the other four panels, you should check this
65 <p><strong>Tip:</strong> If your database contains fields
66 unknown to JabRef, these will be visible in the source
69 <p><strong>Tip:</strong> the <i>pdf</i> and <i>url</i> fields
70 support Drag and Drop operations. You can drop there an url
71 from your browser. either a link to a pdf file (that JabRef can
72 download for you) or you can keep the link.</p>
74 <h2>Field consistency checking</h2>
76 <p>When the contents of a field
77 is changed, JabRef checks if the new contents are acceptable.
78 For field types that are used by <em>bibtex</em>, the contents
79 are checked with respect to the use of the '#' character. The
80 hash symbol is <em>only</em> to be used in pairs, wrapping the
81 name of a <em>bibtex</em> string that is referenced. Note that
82 JabRef does not check if the referenced string actually exists
83 (this is not trivial, since the <em>bibtex</em> style you use
84 can define an arbitrary set of strings unknown to JabRef).</p>
86 <p>If the contents are not accepted, the field will turn red,
87 indicating an error. In this case the change will not be
90 <!--<h2>Word/name autocompletion</h2>
92 <p>The entry editor offers autocompletion of words. In the Preferences dialog
93 you can enable or disable autocompletion, and choose for which fields
94 autocompletion is active.</p>
96 <p>With autocompletion, JabRef records all words that appear in
97 each of the chosen fields throughout your database. Whenever you write
98 the beginning of one of these words, it will be suggested visually. To
99 ignore the suggestion, simply write on. To accept the suggestion,
100 either press <em>ENTER</em> or use your arrow keys or other keys to
101 remove the selection box around the suggested characters.</p>
103 <p><em>Note:</em> the words considered for suggestion are only the ones
104 appearing in the same field in entries of the same database as the one you
105 are editing. There are many ways to realise this kind of feature, and if you feel
106 it should have been implemented differently, we'd like to hear your suggestions!</p>
108 <h2>Copy <em>bibtex</em> key</h2>
110 <p>Pressing CTRL-K or the 'key' button causes the <em>bibtex</em> key for your entry
111 to be copied to the clipboard.</p>
114 <h2>Autogenerate <em>bibtex</em> key</h2>
116 <p>Press CTRL-G or the
117 'gen key' button (the magic wand) to autogenerate a
118 <em>bibtex</em> key for your entry based on the contents of its
121 <p>For more information on how JabRef generates <em>bibtex</em>
122 keys, see <a href="LabelPatterns.html">Customizing the BibTex
123 key generator</a>.</p>
125 <h2>Word/name autocompletion</h2>
127 <p>JabRef offers autocompletion of words and names. Autocompletion can be
128 set up in <b>Options -> Preferences -> Entry editor</b>, and is by default
129 activated for several of the common fields.</p>
131 <p>When editing a field for which autocompletion is activated, JabRef will
132 try to suggest word completions as you write, based on which words are used
133 for that specific field elsewhere in your database. The suggestion appears
134 as a highlighted block of text completing the word. If there are several
135 possible completions, you can use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to cycle
136 through the possible suggestions. To accept a suggestion, press ENTER once.
137 To ignore the suggestion, just keep typing.</p>