Does bibtex-actions support opening pdfs based on the bibtex file field?

[teddygroves]

First of all, thanks for the great package. I have jumped into the vertico ecosystem mainly thanks to having a viable ivy-bibtex replacement and am generally having a great time. I can do nearly everything I want much more conveniently.

However I have been having trouble opening pdf files based on the file field in my bibtex entries and would like to know if this is currently supported or planned to be in the future.

To illustrate what I can't do, I have this entry in my bibliography file:

@book{albertyThermodynamicsBiochemicalReactions2003,
  title = {Thermodynamics of Biochemical Reactions},
  author = {Alberty, Robert A.},
  year = {2003},
  publisher = {{Wiley-Interscience}},
  address = {{Hoboken, N.J}},
  isbn = {978-0-471-22851-6},
  language = {en},
  lccn = {QP517.T48 A42 2003},
  keywords = {Bioenergetics,Physical biochemistry,Thermodynamics},
  file = {/Users/tedgro/Reading/Zotero/storage/LNAYX7S2/Alberty - 2003 - Thermodynamics of biochemical reactions.pdf}
}

When I run

(bibtex-actions-file-open-external
 (bibtex-actions-get-value
  "file"
  (bibtex-actions-get-entry "albertyThermodynamicsBiochemicalReactions2003")))

in the scratch buffer the pdf opens. However running either of these

(bibtex-actions-open '("albertyThermodynamicsBiochemicalReactions2003"))
(bibtex-actions-open-library-files '("albertyThermodynamicsBiochemicalReactions2003"))

produces the following message

"No file(s) found for (albertyThermodynamicsBiochemicalReactions2003)"

From a quick look at the code it seems like these both of these functions are designed around a workflow where the file names match the bibtex keys, which as you can see from the example above isn't how my files are organised (I think I just used the default settings for Zotero/better bibtex on macos for this).

I'd like to know if I have missed the right way to open pdfs based on the file field, or if this isn't currently supported whether it is planned in future.

For reference here is the relevant part of my init.el file:

(use-package bibtex-actions
  :ensure t
  :demand t
  :straight (:type git :host github :repo "bdarcus/bibtex-actions")
  :bind (("C-c b" . bibtex-actions-insert-citation)
         :map minibuffer-local-map
         ("M-b" . bibtex-actions-insert-preset))
  :after (embark parsebib bibtex-completion)
  :config
  (add-to-list 'embark-target-finders 'bibtex-actions-citation-key-at-point)
  (add-to-list 'embark-keymap-alist '(bib-reference . bibtex-actions-map))
  (add-to-list 'embark-keymap-alist '(citation-key . bibtex-actions-buffer-map))
  (advice-add #'completing-read-multiple
              :override #'consult-completing-read-multiple)
  (setq bibtex-actions-file-variable "file"
        bibtex-actions-bibliography '("/Users/tedgro/Reading/bibliography.bib")))

[bdarcus]

Hey - I added this as a feature request here.

#259

So the answer is we don't support now, but easy enough to add.

[teddygroves]

Thanks for answering so quickly!

[maasdorp]

I also want this feature to be added!

[bdarcus]

New answer: yes, as of a couple of months ago ;-)

[maasdorp]

LOL thanks! After posting, I followed the numbers and saw it got added with #260 -- now I just need to get it to work my side! ;-)