Free reference software for linux

The cb2Bib reads the clipboard text contents and process it against a set of predefined patterns. If this automatic detection is successful, cb2Bib formats the clipboard data according to the structured BibTeX reference standard.

Otherwise, if no predefined format pattern is found or if detection proves to be difficult, manual data extraction is greatly simplified by cb2Bib. In most cases, such manual data extraction will provide with a new, personalized pattern to be included within the predefined pattern set for future automatic extractions.

Once the bibliographic reference is correctly extracted, it is added to a specified BibTeX database file. Optionally, article PDF files, if available, are renamed to its citeID and moved to a desired directory as a personal article library

Major Features:

1. Select the reference to import from the email or web browser: On Unix machines, cb2Bib automatically detects mouse selections and clipboard changes. On Windows machines, copy or Ctrl-C is necessary to activate cb2Bib automatic processing.
2. cb2Bib automatic processing: Once text is selected cb2Bib initiates the automatic reference extraction. It uses the predefined patterns from file regexp.txt to attempt automatic extraction. See Configuring Files section for setting the user predefined pattern matching expression file. After a successful detection bibliographic fields appear on the cb2Bib item line edits. Manual editing is possible at this stage.
3. cb2Bib manual processing: If no predefined format pattern is found or if detection proves to be difficult, a manual data extraction must be performed. Select individual reference items from the cb2Bib clipboard area. A popup menu will appear after selection is made. Choose the corresponding bibliographic field. See BiBTeX Entry Types available as cb2Bib fields. Selection is post-processed and added to the cb2Bib item line edit. cb2Bib field tags will show on the cb2Bib clipboard area. Once the manual processing is done, cb2Bib clipboard area will contain the matching pattern. The pattern can be further edited and stored to the regexp.txt file using Insert Regular Expression, Alt+I. See the Extracting Data from the Clipboard and The Regular Expression Editor sections.
4. Download reference to cb2Bib: The cb2Bib has the built-in functionality to interact with publishers "Download reference to Citation Manager" service. Choose BibTeX format, or any other format that you can translate using External Clipboard Preparsing Command. See Additional, Keyboard Functionality, Alt C. Click "Download" from your browser. When asked "Open with..." select cb2Bib. The cb2Bib will be launched if no running instance is found. If already running, it will place the downloaded reference to the clipboard, and it will start processing. Make sure your running instance is aware of clipboard changes. See Buttons Functionality. For convenience, the shell script c2bimport, and the desktop config file c2bimport.desktop are also provided.
5. Adding documents: PDF and other documents can be added to the BibTeX reference by dragging the file icon and dropping it into the cb2Bib's panel. Optionally, document files, are renamed to its citeID and moved to a desired directory as a personal article library (See Configuring Documents section). Linked to a reference documents correspond to the BibTeX tag file. Usual reference manager software will permit to retrieve and visualize these files. Download, copy and/or moving is scheduled and performed once the reference is accepted, e.g., once it is saved by pressing Save Reference button.
6. Multiple retrieving from PDF files: Multiple PDF or convertible to text files can be sequentially processed by dragging a set of files into cb2Bib's PDFImport dialog. By starting the processing button, files are sequentially converted to text and send to cb2Bib clipboard panel for reference extraction. See PDF Reference Import for details.
7. Journal-Volume-Page Queries: Takes input Journal, Volume, and first page from the corresponding edit lines and attempts to complete the reference. Additionally, queries consider Title, DOI, and an excerpt, which is a simplified clipboard panel contents. See Configuring Network section, the distribution file netqinf.txt, and Release Note cb2Bib 0.3.5 for customization and details.
8. BibTeX Editor: cb2Bib includes a practical text editor suitable for corrections and additions. cb2Bib capabilities are readily available within the editor. E.g., the reference is first sent to cb2Bib by selecting it, and later retrieved from cb2Bib to the editor using 'right click' + 'Paste Current BibTeX'. Interconversions Unicode LaTeX, long abbreviated journal name, and adding/renaming PDF files are easily available. BibTeX Editor is also accessible through a shell command line.
   
9. Advanced features, and processing and extraction details are described in the following sections:
   • Extracting Data from the Clipboard
   • Processing of author's names
   • Processing of journal names
   • Field Recognition Rules
   • The Regular Expression Editor
10. Configuration information is described in the following sections:
    • Configuration
    • Predefined cite ID placeholders
11. Utilities and modules are described in the following sections:
    • Search BibTeX files for references
    • Embedded File Editor
    • PDF Reference Import
    • The cb2Bib Command Line
    • Reading and writing bibliographic metadata
    • The cb2Bib Annote
    • The cb2Bib Citer

Enhancements:

• Added Check Repeated functionality for current reference
• Fixed parser not processing last field in inverted comma style BibTeX
• Set netqinf.txt to use internal XML parser for PubMed
• Fixed packaging, double copying scripts and initial external tool setting
• Fixed c2bciter script not passing all arguments (Thanks to F. Rusconi)

Requirements:

To compile cb2Bib, the following libraries must be present and accessible:

• Qt 4.4.0 or higher from Trolltech. On a Linux platform with Qt preinstalled, make sure that the devel packages and Qt tools are also present.
• WebKit library (optional) to compile cb2Bib Annote viewer. It is already included in Qt > 4.4.0 library. No special action/flag is needed during compilation.
• X11 header files if compiling on Unix platforms. Concretely, headers X11/Xlib.h and X11/Xatom.h are needed.
• The header files fcntl.h and unistd.h from glibc-devel package are also required. Otherwise compilation will fail with reference list.cpp:227: `close' undeclared.