JabRef 5.1--2020-05-26--0d7156b
Windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 14.0.1
I had troubles with understanding of the logic of "Edit"-"Manage field names & content" menu today. I was trying to get rid of certain fields, but they were not disappearing, in the end I figured out that to use "Clear fields" or "Set fields" you need to tick the box "overwrite existing field values", which is quite obvious now. But "Append" and "Rename" options actually work without this box (why? because old values are still there?).
I think I got confused for two reasons:
- hard to imagine what should be the behaviour if I clear or set field without overwriting it (?)
- gray color of the box made me think it is inactive at first, however it seems to be a default color for all the unticked boxes.
I think this box is simply confusing and should be removed, if you want some safety, a warning "fields will be overwritten" may be enough (with an option "do not show me this warning again"). And even that may be too much, because a person who is going to Set or Clear fields should understand that the value will change... In any case Ctrl+z will still help if something goes wrong.
Maybe also change the color of the unticked box? I don't know if I am the only one thinking that gray box is not active and cannot be ticked.
The last is a feature request: is it possible to make some real-time suggestions in the "Field name" box?
For example if I start typing "d", to drop down a list with only fields starting with "d", i.e. "date" and "doi".
This would be also useful in other places where you select one option from a list.
JabRef 5.1--2020-05-26--0d7156b
Windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 14.0.1
I had troubles with understanding of the logic of "Edit"-"Manage field names & content" menu today. I was trying to get rid of certain fields, but they were not disappearing, in the end I figured out that to use "Clear fields" or "Set fields" you need to tick the box "overwrite existing field values", which is quite obvious now. But "Append" and "Rename" options actually work without this box (why? because old values are still there?).
I think I got confused for two reasons:
I think this box is simply confusing and should be removed, if you want some safety, a warning "fields will be overwritten" may be enough (with an option "do not show me this warning again"). And even that may be too much, because a person who is going to Set or Clear fields should understand that the value will change... In any case Ctrl+z will still help if something goes wrong.
Maybe also change the color of the unticked box? I don't know if I am the only one thinking that gray box is not active and cannot be ticked.
The last is a feature request: is it possible to make some real-time suggestions in the "Field name" box?
For example if I start typing "d", to drop down a list with only fields starting with "d", i.e. "date" and "doi".
This would be also useful in other places where you select one option from a list.