BIBVIEW(1)BIBVIEW(1)NAMEbibview - an X based graphical user interface for manipulating BibTeX
databases
SYNOPSISbibview [standard options] [-file <bib file>] [-rcfile <conf file>]
[-bibdir <directory>]
DESCRIPTION
Bibview facilitates the manipulation of BibTeX databases (in the fol‐
lowing called BiB). It supports the user in making new entries, search‐
ing for entries and moving entries from one BiB to another. It is pos‐
sible to work with more than one BiB simultaneously. New types can be
defined and new fields can be added to existing types in a configura‐
tion file.
There are six types of windows in bibview:
The main window contains menus for customizing bibview and for working
with BiBs on the file level.
The bibliography window (one for every open BiB) contains commands for
manipulating the BiB.
The list window (at most one for every open BiB) shows a list of
entries. It displays the fields author, title, year, category and type.
The fields that are displayed and the layout of the fields can be
changed in the configuration file. The entries of the list window can
be sorted by all field by default. The fields by which a list can be
sorted can be set in the configuration file.
The card window (at most one for every entry) helps editing an entry.
It contains boxes for each field of the entry (according to the type).
The fields can be edited by putting the mouse cursor into the card win‐
dow. The field with the input focus has no border. The input focus can
be changed using the <tab> key (move to next field), the <esc> key
(move to preceding field) or by clicking the right mouse button in the
new input field. You can change this behaviour in the resource file or
in the file .bibviewrc. In this case input will go to the field in
which the mouse is placed.
The annote field of an entry can be edited in a separate window after
clicking 'annote' in the card window. The required fields are marked
by bold lines. A card window is displayed after clicking an entry in
the list menu (left mouse button), selecting a type in the `New` menu
of a bibliography window or duplicating an entry with the `Duplicate'
menu of the card window.
The macro window (at most one for every open BiB) helps editing the
STRING and PREAMBLE parts of a BiB.
The error window (at most one for every BiB) is displayed if a BiB can‐
not be opened because of syntax errors. The line with the error is
marked. The file can be edited and opened again.
Main Window
The main window is displayed at the start of bibview. It offers the
following menus.
File: Load and save BiBs. For choosing a name a file select box is
displayed. The file select box initially shows the content of the cur‐
rent working directory or of the default directory defined in the con‐
figuration file. A file is chosen by clicking a filename and the OK
button of the box or by entering a filename.
New Create a new BiB.
Open Read an existing BiB.
Close Close an open BiB.
Save Save an open BiB.
Save as Save an open BiB and select a new name for it.
Quit Quit a bibview session.
Services:
Consistency Check
Entries that don't contain all required fields for that
type are shown in the list window. If an entry contains
a crossreference, it is regarded as complete. (The
crossreference is not checked)
Unify Insert all entries of one BiB in another. If there are
key conflicts, a new key is generated by appending a
letter to the inserted key so the the new key is unique.
Print A LaTeX file with the entries of a BiB is created.
Edit Macros
Open macro window for editing the macros of a BiB.
Load Configuration
Load a configuration file.
Options: Change default options
Beep on Errors
Beep in case of an error (default: TRUE).
Backup Before writing a BiB on disk, a backup of the file with
the ending '.bak,i' is created, where is is a number so
that existing backups are not deleted (default: TRUE).
Icons on Desktop
Icons of list and card windows are layed down on the
corresponding bibliography window (default: FALSE). This
option doesn't work with all window managers.
Autom. Check
A consistency check takes place if a new BiB is loaded
(default: FALSE).
Required Fields
When saving an entry, a warning is displayed if it
doesn't contain all fields required by
BibTeX (default: FALSE).
Ignore Case
When searching for entries, uppercase/lowercase distinc‐
tions are ignored during comparisons (default: TRUE).
Print As Bib
When printing a file, a LaTeX file containing 0cite com‐
mands is created, otherwise the format of the LaTeX file
is fixed (default: TRUE). The default style file is
alpha. This default can be changed in the [StyleFile]
part of the configuration file.
Display Error Window
An error window is displayed if a syntax error occurs
(default: FALSE).
Window:
Cascade The windows belonging to the same BiB (bibliography win‐
dow, macro window, card windows) are grouped together.
This doesn't work with all window managers.
Help:
Help texts are offered to the following topics:
Survey
Main Window
Bibliography Window
List Window
Card Window
Macro and Error Window
Program Info
Bibliography Window
The menu bar of the bibliography window contains functions for manipu‐
lating the corresponding BiB:
New: Create a new entry. The type of the entry must be chosen
from a pulldown menu. An entry of a type different from
the standard BibTeX types can be made with the item
'OwnType' of this menu. The type can be entered in the
field 'Owntype' of the card window.
Search: Search for all entries that fullfill certain conditions.
A window is displayed in which for every field a regular
expression can be entered. The result of the search (the
entries that match all regular expressions) is shown in
the list window.
If a regular expression is entered in the field All‐
fields, the entries matching the expression in any field
are displayed.
A search for user defined fields can be made by entering
a field name (no regular expression allowed, case not
ignored) and a regular expression.
List: All entries of the BiB are shown in the list window. The
card window is displayed after clicking the correspond‐
ing entry.
Macros: The macro window for editing STRING and PREAMBLE macros
is displayed.
Print: A LaTeX file with the entries of the list is created
Save: Save the BiB on disk. The BiB remains loaded.
Close: Close the BiB.
List Window
The list window is displayed after clicking the menu item list of the
bibliography window, as result of a search or as result of a consis‐
tency check. The menu bar of the list window offers the following com‐
mands:
Save: The entries of the list are saved as a new BiB.
Sort: The entries of the list are sorted. The way in which the
list is sorted can be chosen from a menu.
Copy: The entries of the list can be inserted into another
BiB.
Print: A LaTeX file with the entries of the list is created.
Close: The list window is closed.
Card Window
The card window is used to create new entries or to edit existing
entries.
The field with the input focus has no border or (in the colour version)
a red border. It can be moved using the <tab> and <esc> keys or by
clicking the right button of the mouse in a field.
You can change this behaviour in the resource file or in the file .bib‐
viewrc.
The contents of the fields are entered without the surrounding brack‐
ets. If you want to enter a macro, '@' or '#', you have to use a pre‐
ceding '@'.
You can change this behaviour in the resource file or in the file .bib‐
viewrc.
The menu bar of the card window offers the following commands:
Duplicate:
A new card window is opened in which the field contents
(except mainkey) are taken from the actual card window.
The actual card window must have been saved, otherwise
the new card window is empty.
User Data:
The card window is extended with the fields defined by
the user.
Annote: The annote field of an entry can be edited in a window.
Delete: The entry is deleted from the BiB.
Save: The entry is saved in the BiB.
Copy: The entry is copied into another BiB.
Crossref:
Open the card that contains the entry pointed to by the
crossref field.
Close: Close the card window.
Macro Window
The menu bar of the macro window offers the following commands:
Save: Save the macros and preambles of the macro window.
Close: Close the macro window.
Error Window
The menu bar of the error window offers the following commands:
Save: Save the content of the error window.
Close: Close the error window.
Configuration File
With the configuration file it is possible to customize bibview. The
standard configuration file is the file .bibviewrc in the home direc‐
tory of the user. The configuration file can contain the following
parts:
[Options]: Lines of the form
<option name> : <bool>
can be used to set the default of the options.
<option name> can be BeepOnError, IconsOnDesk, MakeBackups, AutoCheck‐
Bib, RequiredFields, IgnoreCase, PrintAsBib, Focus or DisplayErrWin.
<bool> can be true or false.
[Types]: This section of the configuration file is used to define new
types, change existing types or add fields to all types.
Type definitions start with lines of the form
t : <type name>
(define new type <type name> or add fields to the existing type <type
name>)
tc : <type name>
(define new type <type name> or add fields to the existing type <type
name>, clearing already defined fields)
t : all
(add the following fields to all defined types).
A type definition is followed by a number of field definitions of the
form
f : <field name>
(add <field name> to the newly defined type or to all types (if `all'
is specified))
rf : <field name>
(add <field name> as required field to the newly defined type or to all
types (if `all' is specified)).
[UserFields]: This section is used to define user defined fields for
certain types or for all types. It contains lines of the form
<type name> : <field name>
or
all : <field name>
[SortFields]: This section is used to define the fields by which a list
can be sorted. A sort order can be specified. The section contains
lines of the form
<field name>
or
<field name> : <sort order>
If $clear$ is used as <field name>, all already defined sort fields are
discarded.
<sort order> can be n for names or d for dates. If no sort order is
specified, lexicographic order is used.
[SearchFields]: This section is used to define the fields which are
displayed in the search window. The section contains lines of the form
<field name>
If $clear$ is used as <field name>, all already defined search fields
are discarded.
[ListFields]: This section is used to define the fields which are dis‐
played in the list window and the layout of the list window. The sec‐
tion contains lines of the form
<field name> : <field width>
<field name> can be mainkey, cardtype or the field names defined by
BibTeX or in previous [Types] sections.
<field width> is the number of characters that is used to display the
field.
[Predefines]: This section is used to define data that can be used in
the search window. It contains lines of the form
<field name> : <data>
<field name> can be allfields, mainkey, cardtype or a field defined by
BibTeX or in previous [Types] sections.
[LatexHeader] and [LatexFooter]: In these sections header and footer of
the LaTeX file produced by the Print command can be defined.
[BibDir]: This section contains the absolute pathname of the directory
where the BibTeX files are.
[StyleFile]: This section contains the style file that is used in the
LaTeX file produced by the Print command.
[AnnoteField]: This section contains the name of the field with annota‐
tions.
[SortedBy]: This section contains the name of the field by which a list
is sorted by default.
[Indent]: This section contains information concerning the layout of
the BibTeX file produced by bibview.
It contains lines of the form
<parameter> : <number>
<parameter> can be FldIndent (number of characters by which the field
names are indented), ContIndent (number of characters by which the
first line of the field content is indented), NewlineIndent (number of
characters by which the following lines of the field content are
indented) and MaxLinelen (maximum length of a line when printing files
as LaTeX files with 0cite commands).
The Options part is not evaluated if a configuration file is loaded by
'Load Configuration'. Options can be changed using the 'Options' menu.
Resource File
The resources (width and height of windows, foreground, colours,
texts,...) can be customized with a file BibView in the home directory.
A sample file is included.
OPTIONS
standard options:
The standard options are -display, -geometry, -iconic and others.
-file <bib file>:
The BibTeX database <bib file> is loaded at the start of bibview.
-rcfile <configuration file>:
Instead of .bibviewrc in the home directory the file <configuration
file> is used.
-bibdir <directory>:
A search for BibTeX files starts in <directory>.
LIMITATIONS
Because of a bug in the Athena List Widget there are problems with
files with more than ca. 1000 entries. The consistency check is not
sophisticated enough. Entries are sorted only by BibTeX key.
Ideas for more features are welcome.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1992 Technische Universitaet Muenchen
AUTHORS
Holger Martin, Peter Urban and Armin Liebl.
Send bug reports and ideas for enhancement to
liebla@informatik.tu-muenchen.de
Jun 1993 BIBVIEW(1)
