Fix : Replace blocking fetcher dialogs with notifications by faneeshh · Pull Request #15099 · JabRef/jabref

faneeshh · 2026-02-11T22:29:42Z

PR Description

I replaced the blocking error and information dialogs in FetchAndMergeEntry with non intrusive notifications using the DialogService. This change ensures that when a bibliographic update fails like due to an invalid ISSN or server timeout, the user's workflow is not interrupted by a pop up that requires a manual click to dismiss.

Steps to test

Open a library (e.g., the Chocolate.bib mentioned in the issue).
Select an entry with an invalid or missing identifier (like an ISSN).
Right click the entry and select Update bibliographic information.
Observe that instead of a pop up dialog appearing, a notification toast appears at the bottom of the JabRef window describing the error.

Screenshots:

Checklist

I own the copyright of the code submitted and I license it under the [MIT license]
I manually tested my changes in running JabRef (always required)
[/] I added JUnit tests for changes (if applicable)
I added screenshots in the PR description
I described the change in CHANGELOG.md in a way that can be understood by the average user (if change is visible to the user)
I checked the [user documentation]

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects · 2026-02-11T22:29:54Z

Review Summary by Qodo

Replace blocking fetcher dialogs with notifications

✨ Enhancement

Walkthroughs

Description

• Replace blocking dialogs with non-intrusive notifications in bibliographic update process
• Improve user experience by eliminating workflow interruptions during fetch operations
• Apply consistent notification pattern across both ID-based and entry-based fetchers

Diagram

flowchart LR
  A["Fetch Operation"] --> B["Error Occurs"]
  B --> C["ID-Based Fetcher"]
  B --> D["Entry-Based Fetcher"]
  C --> E["Show Notification"]
  D --> E
  E --> F["Non-blocking User Experience"]

File Changes

1. jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java ✨ Enhancement +4/-4

Replace blocking dialogs with notifications

• Replaced showInformationDialogAndWait() calls with notify() for ID-based fetcher errors
 (FetcherClientException, FetcherServerException, generic exceptions)
• Replaced showErrorDialogAndWait() call with notify() for entry-based fetcher errors
• Simplified notification messages by removing fetcher name from dialog titles

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java

2. CHANGELOG.md 📝 Documentation +1/-0

Document notification change in changelog

• Added entry documenting the change from blocking dialogs to notifications in bibliographic update
 process
• Referenced issue #15097 for traceability

CHANGELOG.md

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects · 2026-02-11T22:34:07Z

Code Review by Qodo

🐞 Bugs (1) 📘 Rule violations (1) 📎 Requirement gaps (0)

✅ 1. ~~notify() exposes exception.getMessage()~~ 📘 Rule violation ⛨ Security

Description

The new user-facing notification includes exception.getMessage(), which can leak internal/system
details to end users. Detailed error information should be kept in logs while user messages remain
generic.

Code

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[105]

+                                                                 dialogService.notify(Localization.lang("Error occurred %0", exception.getMessage()));

Evidence
PR Compliance IDs 4 and 3 require that user-facing errors not expose internal details and that
failures be handled safely; the new notification directly surfaces the exception message to the UI.
Rule 4: Generic: Secure Error Handling
Rule 3: Generic: Robust Error Handling and Edge Case Management
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[105-105]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
A user-facing notification includes `exception.getMessage()`, which can leak internal/system details.
## Issue Context
This notification is shown to end users when fetching bibliographic information fails; detailed error information should be restricted to internal logs.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[105-105]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

2. Fetcher error lacks details 🐞 Bug ✓ Correctness

Description

The EntryBasedFetcher failure path now shows only a generic toast without the actual error reason or
guidance to check logs, making failures hard to diagnose. Since notify() toasts only display plain
text (no exception details), this is a UX/observability regression compared to the previous
exception dialog.

Code

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[191]
+                          dialogService.notify(Localization.lang("Error while fetching from %0", fetcher.getName()));

Evidence
On EntryBasedFetcher failure, the code logs the exception but shows a toast containing only the
fetcher name. JabRefDialogService.notify renders only the provided message text (no stack trace /
exception details), so users lose actionable context unless they know to inspect logs. Other parts
of the GUI either include the exception’s localized message in the toast or explicitly instruct
users to check the error log.
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[178-193]
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/JabRefDialogService.java[440-463]
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/WriteMetadataToSinglePdfAction.java[68-81]
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/CitationCountEditorViewModel.java[62-70]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

## Issue description
`FetchAndMergeEntry.fetchAndMerge(BibEntry, EntryBasedFetcher)` now shows only a generic notification on failure (fetcher name only). Since `DialogService.notify` toasts display plain text (no exception details), users don’t get an actionable reason or guidance.
### Issue Context
Other GUI flows either:
- include `exception.getLocalizedMessage()` in the notification, or
- show a toast that explicitly points users to the error log.
### Fix Focus Areas
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[178-193]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

ⓘ The new review experience is currently in Beta. Learn more

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects · 2026-02-11T22:34:08Z

+                                                                 dialogService.notify(Localization.lang("Server not available"));
                                                             } else {
-                                                                 dialogService.showInformationDialogAndWait(Localization.lang("Fetching information using %0", idBasedFetcher.getName()), Localization.lang("Error occurred %0", exception.getMessage()));
+                                                                 dialogService.notify(Localization.lang("Error occurred %0", exception.getMessage()));


1. notify() exposes exception.getmessage() 📘 Rule violation ⛨ Security

The new user-facing notification includes exception.getMessage(), which can leak internal/system details to end users. Detailed error information should be kept in logs while user messages remain generic.

Agent Prompt

## Issue description A user-facing notification includes `exception.getMessage()`, which can leak internal/system details. ## Issue Context This notification is shown to end users when fetching bibliographic information fails; detailed error information should be restricted to internal logs. ## Fix Focus Areas - jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/mergeentries/FetchAndMergeEntry.java[105-105]

ⓘ Copy this prompt and use it to remediate the issue with your preferred AI generation tools

testlens-app · 2026-02-11T22:40:38Z

✅ All tests passed ✅

🏷️ Commit: 1003f5e
▶️ Tests: 11192 executed
⚪️ Checks: 50/50 completed

Learn more about TestLens at testlens.app.

koppor · 2026-02-11T22:49:01Z

Which AI system is this replacing - by* in the pr description?

faneeshh · 2026-02-11T23:09:17Z

Which AI system is this replacing - by* in the pr description?

Gemini it is

jabref-machine · 2026-02-11T23:13:30Z

Note that your PR will not be reviewed/accepted until you have gone through the mandatory checks in the description and marked each of them them exactly in the format of - [x] (done), - [ ] (yet to be done) or - [/] (not applicable). Please adhere to our pull request template.

koppor · 2026-02-11T23:15:50Z

We are currently not willing to adapt our scripts to AIs - thus, please, update the checklist syntax manually ^^

faneeshh · 2026-02-11T23:21:02Z

We are currently not willing to adapt our scripts to AIs - thus, please, update the checklist syntax manually ^^

Understood and fixed the syntax. Also the test that is failing, if I standardize both fetcher paths to use consistent notifications would that be sufficient?

Siedlerchr · 2026-02-13T19:01:35Z

Fix the failing tests or we will close this PR

faneeshh · 2026-02-13T20:59:18Z

Fix the failing tests or we will close this PR

I'm working on it

* upstream/main: Add names to output (JabRef#15102) Try other token Be less strict on ourselves Very short self unassigment text Fix review check Fix trigger

* upstream/main: Refine Automatic Field Editor filtering logic (fixes JabRef#15066) (JabRef#15094) Output URL to workflow Fix token Refine stats message Quick fix to reduce load on runners "Debug" output for assign-issue-action Streamline pr-comment.yml (and remove status: stale label) Feature provide insights citation fetcher (JabRef#15093) Automatic Grouping By Entry Type (JabRef#15081) Minor test fixes for arXiv (JabRef#15100) New Crowdin updates (JabRef#15101) recomment linked files handler (JabRef#15105) Chore(deps): Bump jablib/src/main/resources/csl-styles (JabRef#15087) Streamline binaries (JabRef#15085)

Replace blocking fetcher dialogs with notifications

0927835

github-actions Bot added the good first issue An issue intended for project-newcomers. Varies in difficulty. label Feb 11, 2026

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects Bot reviewed Feb 11, 2026

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github-actions Bot added the status: changes-required Pull requests that are not yet complete label Feb 11, 2026

github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Feb 11, 2026

Update bibliographic information using identifier(s): Notfiy on wrong ISSN, not a dialog #15097

Closed

Fixed the security concern regarding internal details exception

b34d41a

faneeshh and others added 4 commits February 13, 2026 14:54

Cleanup: remove obsolete localization keys and fix changelog formatting

d8778e5

fix changelog

21528e1

Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into fix-15097

309cb28

* upstream/main: Add names to output (JabRef#15102) Try other token Be less strict on ourselves Very short self unassigment text Fix review check Fix trigger

Siedlerchr approved these changes Feb 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

Siedlerchr enabled auto-merge February 14, 2026 17:19

Siedlerchr added this pull request to the merge queue Feb 14, 2026

github-actions Bot added the status: to-be-merged PRs which are accepted and should go into the merge-queue. label Feb 14, 2026

Merged via the queue into JabRef:main with commit 5851742 Feb 14, 2026
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Fix : Replace blocking fetcher dialogs with notifications#15099

Fix : Replace blocking fetcher dialogs with notifications#15099
Siedlerchr merged 6 commits into
JabRef:mainfrom
faneeshh:fix-15097

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PR Description

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Review Summary by Qodo

Walkthroughs

File Changes

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Code Review by Qodo

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✅ All tests passed ✅

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