Enhance customization of entry types by pluto-han · Pull Request #15290 · JabRef/jabref

pluto-han · 2026-03-07T13:12:18Z

Related issues and pull requests

PR Description

In this pr, I added a new data format jabref-entrytype-v2, which use | to separate field names with field properties.
In preference -> entry types, I added property selection checkbox for custom fields in custom entry types, and persisted them using the jabref-entrytype-v2 while keeping jabref-entrytype for compatibility.

Steps to test

Open preference -> entry types
Select Author field, PERSON_NAMES property shows up in field property selection checkbox, but cannot be modified.

Type Author1234 field, property can be modified as it is now a custom field. Check BOOK_NAME property and press "add" and save.

Add a new entry type Mytype. Add required field test with property BOOK_NAME, optional field "person' with property PERSON_NAMES and optional field title. Save bib file and restart jabref.
bib file should contain:

@Comment{jabref-entrytype-v2: mytype: req[test|BOOK_NAME] opt[person|PERSON_NAMES;title]}

@Comment{jabref-entrytype: mytype: req[test] opt[person;title]}

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 (if change is visible to the user)
I added a screenshot in the PR description showing a library with a single entry with me as author and as title the issue number
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 for up to dateness and submitted a pull request to our user documentation repository

Required verification screenshot

…-issue-9840

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects · 2026-03-07T13:12:38Z

Review Summary by Qodo

Add field property selection for custom entry types with v2 format support

✨ Enhancement

Walkthroughs

Description

• Add field property selection UI for custom entry types
• Implement new jabref-entrytype-v2 format with field properties
• Support parsing and serializing field properties using | separator
• Maintain backward compatibility with v1 format in preferences

Diagram

flowchart LR
  UI["UI: CheckComboBox<br/>Field Properties"]
  FieldVM["FieldViewModel<br/>Store Properties"]
  Serializer["MetaDataSerializer<br/>v2 Format"]
  Parser["MetaDataParser<br/>Parse v2"]
  Storage["Preferences<br/>v1 + v2"]
  
  UI -->|"Selected Properties"| FieldVM
  FieldVM -->|"Serialize"| Serializer
  Serializer -->|"Write to .bib"| Storage
  Storage -->|"Read from .bib"| Parser
  Parser -->|"Restore Properties"| FieldVM

File Changes

1. jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTab.java ✨ Enhancement +76/-1

Add field property checkbox UI and selection logic

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTab.java

2. jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java ✨ Enhancement +38/-7

Handle field properties when adding custom fields

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java

3. jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/FieldViewModel.java ✨ Enhancement +15/-0

Store and manage field properties in view model

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/FieldViewModel.java

View more (13)

4. jabgui/src/main/resources/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTab.fxml ✨ Enhancement +2/-0

Add CheckComboBox for field property selection

jabgui/src/main/resources/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTab.fxml

5. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/BibDatabaseWriter.java ✨ Enhancement +5/-0

Write both v1 and v2 entry type formats

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/BibDatabaseWriter.java

6. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/MetaDataSerializer.java ✨ Enhancement +12/-0

Add v2 serialization method with field properties

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/MetaDataSerializer.java

7. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java ✨ Enhancement +1/-1

Support parsing v2 entry type format

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java

8. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/MetaDataParser.java ✨ Enhancement +3/-0

Parse v2 format with field properties

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/MetaDataParser.java

9. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java ✨ Enhancement +63/-0

Parse and serialize fields with properties using separator

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java

10. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/metadata/MetaData.java ✨ Enhancement +1/-0

Add v2 entry type flag constant

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/metadata/MetaData.java

11. jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/preferences/JabRefCliPreferences.java ✨ Enhancement +39/-11

Store v2 entry types separately with backward compatibility

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/preferences/JabRefCliPreferences.java

12. jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/BibDatabaseWriterTest.java 🧪 Tests +33/-0

Add tests for v2 format with field properties

jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/BibDatabaseWriterTest.java

13. jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/MetaDataSerializerTest.java 🧪 Tests +54/-0

Test v2 serialization with field properties

jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/exporter/MetaDataSerializerTest.java

14. jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParserTest.java 🧪 Tests +46/-0

Test v2 parsing and property preservation

jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParserTest.java

15. jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/MetaDataParserTest.java 🧪 Tests +18/-0

Test v2 format parsing with properties

jablib/src/test/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/MetaDataParserTest.java

16. CHANGELOG.md 📝 Documentation +1/-0

Document new field property feature

CHANGELOG.md

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects · 2026-03-07T13:12:39Z

Code Review by Qodo

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

1. ~~findExistingField() uses Optional.get()~~ ✓ Resolved 📘 Rule violation ≡ Correctness

Description

findExistingField calls .findFirst().get() which can throw NoSuchElementException if the field
is not found. This risks runtime crashes and violates the requirement to avoid unsafe Optional
access.

Code

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java[R199-208]

+    public FieldViewModel findExistingField(Field field) {
+        String displayName = FieldTextMapper.getDisplayName(field);
+        return selectedEntryType.getValue()
+                                .fields()
+                                .stream()
+                                .filter(fieldViewModel ->
+                                        fieldViewModel.displayNameProperty().getValue()
+                                                      .equalsIgnoreCase(displayName))
+                                .findFirst().get();
+    }

Evidence
Compliance ID 28 requires avoiding unsafe Optional access patterns; the new code uses
Optional.get() directly on the result of findFirst() without safe handling.
jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java[199-208]
Best Practice: Learned patterns

Agent prompt

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

## Issue description
`findExistingField` uses `.findFirst().get()` which can throw at runtime if no matching field exists.
## Issue Context
The compliance rules require safe Optional access patterns to prevent crashes.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java[199-208]

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

2. ~~Blank properties can crash parse~~ ✓ Resolved 📘 Rule violation ≡ Correctness

Description

FieldFactory.parseField can throw IllegalArgumentException when parsing v2 field strings like
field| (blank property token). This fails to guard against empty/missing values and can crash when
reading malformed comments/preferences.

Code

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[R63-79]

+        if (fieldName.contains(FIELD_NAME_PROPERTY_SEPARATOR)) {
+            String[] fieldAndProperties = fieldName.split(Pattern.quote(FIELD_NAME_PROPERTY_SEPARATOR));
+
+            if (fieldAndProperties.length == 2) {
+                String unknownFieldName = fieldAndProperties[0];
+                String[] fieldProperties = fieldAndProperties[1].split(FIELD_PROPERTY_SEPARATOR);
+
+                if (fieldProperties.length == 0) {
+                    return new UnknownField(unknownFieldName);
+                } else {
+                    FieldProperty firstProperty = FieldProperty.valueOf(fieldProperties[0]);
+                    FieldProperty[] restProperties = Arrays.stream(fieldProperties, 1, fieldProperties.length)
+                                                           .map(FieldProperty::valueOf)
+                                                           .toArray(FieldProperty[]::new);
+
+                    return new UnknownField(unknownFieldName, firstProperty, restProperties);
+                }

Evidence
Compliance ID 28 requires guarding against missing/blank values before use; the new v2 parsing path
calls FieldProperty.valueOf(fieldProperties[0]) without checking for blank/invalid tokens, which
can throw.
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[63-79]
Best Practice: Learned patterns

Agent prompt

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

## Issue description
The v2 parsing logic in `FieldFactory.parseField` can throw if the property part is empty/blank (e.g., `name|`) or contains invalid enum names.
## Issue Context
This code parses data from comments/preferences, which can be malformed. Compliance requires guarding against missing/blank values.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[63-79]

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

3. Typo serializezOrFieldsV2 ✓ Resolved 📘 Rule violation ≡ Correctness

Description

The new method name serializezOrFieldsV2 contains a spelling typo, reducing readability and
discoverability. This violates the requirement for intent-revealing, correctly spelled identifiers.

Code

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[R156-167]

+    public static String serializezOrFieldsV2(OrFields fields) {
+        return fields.getFields().stream()
+                     .map(field -> {
+                         if (field instanceof UnknownField unknownField) {
+                             return serializeUnknownField(unknownField);
+                         } else {
+                             return field.getName();
+                         }
+                     })
+                     .collect(Collectors.joining(FIELD_OR_SEPARATOR));
+    }
+

Evidence
Compliance ID 8 requires correctly spelled, intent-revealing names; serializezOrFieldsV2
introduces a typo in a public method name.
AGENTS.md
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[156-167]

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 new API method name contains a typo: `serializezOrFieldsV2`.
## Issue Context
Naming consistency and correct spelling are required for maintainability.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[156-167]
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java[185-187]

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

4. ~~V2 properties dropped~~ ✓ Resolved 🐞 Bug ≡ Correctness

Description

When a .bib contains both v1 and v2 entrytype comments but v1 appears first, BibTeX parsing can
ignore the later v2 definition (losing properties) because entry types are stored in a HashSet and
equality ignores field properties (and even field priority).

Code

jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java[R386-389]

+        } else if (comment.startsWith(MetaData.ENTRYTYPE_FLAG_V2) || comment.startsWith(MetaData.ENTRYTYPE_FLAG)) {
// A custom entry type can also be stored in a
// "@comment"
Optional<BibEntryType> typ = MetaDataParser.parseCustomEntryType(comment);

Evidence
BibtexParser collects parsed entry types in a HashSet and blindly calls entryTypes.add(typ).
Since BibField.equals compares only field names (ignoring priority) and UnknownField.equals
compares only the name (ignoring properties), a v1 and v2 definition for the same entry type/fields
will compare equal, so whichever one is seen first wins. That makes v2-property loading dependent on
comment order in the file.
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java[208-213]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java[386-392]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/UnknownField.java[46-60]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/BibField.java[5-21]
jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/BibEntryType.java[123-140]

Agent prompt

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

## Issue description
BibTeX import stores custom entry type definitions in a `HashSet&amp;amp;lt;BibEntryType&amp;amp;gt;`. Because `BibField` and `UnknownField` equality ignore properties, a v1 and v2 definition of the same type/fields compare equal; if v1 is encountered first, the later v2 definition is ignored and properties are lost.
## Issue Context
This affects parsing of .bib files containing both:
- `@Comment{jabref-entrytype: ...}` (v1)
- `@Comment{jabref-entrytype-v2: ...}` (v2)
When the v1 comment appears first (e.g., manual edits, merges, external tools reordering comments), v2 properties will not be applied.
## Fix Focus Areas
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java[386-398]
- jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/fileformat/BibtexParser.java[208-213]
## Suggested approach
1. In `BibtexParser.parseJabRefComment`, after successfully parsing an entry type:
- If the comment starts with `MetaData.ENTRYTYPE_FLAG_V2`, remove any existing entry type for the same `EntryType` name (case-insensitive) from `entryTypes` and then add the v2 one.
- Keep current behavior for v1 (just `add`), so v1 never overwrites v2.
2. Implement removal by matching on `typ.get().getType().getName()` rather than relying on `equals`, to handle cases where v1/v2 field lists differ.
3. Add/extend a test where the file contains both comments but with v1 first, and assert that properties from v2 are present in the resulting `ParserResult.getEntryTypes()`.

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

…-issue-9840

pluto-han · 2026-04-10T00:01:44Z

If the problem above is solved, this idea would be great. Now adding field logic will be:

Users add a new field, click "add". A new field is added.

Users select property for the field, click "cancel" to return to the latest save. Click "Save" to update property.

Users click "revert" to clear the properties of the field.

I'm still thinking about it. Mybe we can use this:

users add a new field, and press "add':

users modify properties of the field, press "save", properties in checked boxes are saved.
users modify properties again, but are not happy about this modification, so they press "revert" to go back to the latest save.

Siedlerchr · 2026-05-05T18:36:01Z

Can you take a look at the failing Windows test? And also take a look at the QODO point regarding the parsing order?

* upstream/main: (21 commits) chore(deps): update dependency com.konghq:unirest-modules-gson to v4.10.0 (JabRef#15715) Add manual tests (JabRef#15351) Refactored the comments for UnlinkedFilesCrawler (JabRef#15709) Replace inline styles with CSS classes (JabRef#15694) add test case for multiple authors in csl citaiton (JabRef#15707) fix invalid desktop file for linux (JabRef#15702) Change FileKeystore and Folder fields to disable/enable (JabRef#15685) Chore(deps): Bump org.openrewrite.recipe:rewrite-recipe-bom from 3.30.0 to 3.30.1 (JabRef#15696) New Crowdin updates (JabRef#15693) Chore(deps): Bump dev.langchain4j:langchain4j-bom in /versions (JabRef#15698) Chore(deps): Bump org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-to-slf4j in /versions (JabRef#15700) chore(deps): update dependency org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-to-slf4j to v2.26.0 (JabRef#15699) Chore(deps): Bump org.openrewrite.rewrite from 7.32.1 to 7.32.2 (JabRef#15697) Chore(deps): Bump jablib/src/main/resources/csl-locales (JabRef#15689) Fix month checker regex (JabRef#15678) Chore(deps): Bump com.dlsc.gemsfx:gemsfx in /versions (JabRef#15692) Chore(deps): Bump org.hisp.dhis:json-tree in /versions (JabRef#15691) Chore(deps): Bump jablib/src/main/resources/csl-styles (JabRef#15690) New Crowdin updates (JabRef#15687) Chore(deps): Bump com.konghq:unirest-java-core in /versions (JabRef#15683) ...

pluto-han · 2026-05-11T18:06:55Z

Can you take a look at the failing Windows test? And also take a look at the QODO point regarding the parsing order?

I'm sorry for the late response, just saw this comment. GitHub did not notify me:(

Edit: The Windows test fails again, I'll work on it.

Siedlerchr · 2026-05-11T18:11:28Z

My bet is something with the OS.newline stuff somehwere in writing or you have a harcoded \n somewhere

Siedlerchr · 2026-05-11T18:12:49Z

+
+        databaseWriter.writeDatabase(bibtexContext);
+
+        assertEquals("""


I think textblocks use internally \n that could explain the windows failure

Yes the internally \n is the culprit

…-issue-9840

okay now

pluto-han and others added 12 commits March 3, 2026 22:48

new format of entry type in .bib file($MetaDataParser)

d65a149

new format of entry type in .bib file($MetaDataSerializer)

6dffddf

Merge branch 'main' into fix-for-issue-9840

e21aa30

Enhance customization of entry types

8bcf43c

fix typo

0ccbea5

add more tests

324de06

use both v1 and v2 to parse and serialize

4412769

update tests

77c9097

Merge branch 'JabRef:main' into fix-for-issue-9840

20ab550

optimize listener logic

18927a4

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/fix-for-issue-9840' into fix-for…

d5a55a9

…-issue-9840

update CHANGELOG.md

c80fbab

github-actions Bot added the good third issue label Mar 7, 2026

qodo-free-for-open-source-projects Bot reviewed Mar 7, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread .../src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/preferences/customentrytypes/CustomEntryTypesTabViewModel.java Outdated

Comment thread jablib/src/main/java/org/jabref/model/entry/field/FieldFactory.java