Call for function: export the pdfs of all the selected entrys to a new folder

[Vaver]

some times, i want share some of the literature pdfs to friends, it is very easy to select the wanted entrys from the Jabref, but hard to pick out the seleted pdfs.

I hope there is a function to export the pdfs of the selected entrys to a new folder.

thanks

[AEgit]

I agree, that would a very nice feature to have. I guess, it is also already somewhat implemented in JabRef, as JabRef is already able to move files from one folder to another. Just copying (instead of moving) the files from one folder to another, user-specified folder would probably already do the trick, I guess.

[Siedlerchr]

@Vaver @AEgit I have implemented the export functionality that works for all linked files:

http://builds.jabref.org/exportPDF/

Please beware that the current dev versions are still in alpha state and still miss some functionality.
Do a backup of your db before testing.

You can use it like any other export function. Select the entries then choose Export -> Files Exporter
However there is currently one thing I can not change: You have to enter an arbitrary string in the save dialog as "filename". The entered name is ignored, it is just needed to get the directory.

[AEgit]

@Siedlerchr : Thank you very much! I can confirm that this feature works in the posted build!

And immediately a warning or potential improvement due to (my) typical noob behaviour. I went for "Export" instead of "Export selected". This lead to JabRef copying over all linked files (in my case ~100 GB) - even when you stop JabRef, it will continue copying over those files. Only by killing the relevant process I was able to stop the copy process.
To prevent this, it might be helpful to add a warning or something along the lines (or let the noobs be noobs ;)).

Thanks again!

[Siedlerchr]

Thanks for reporting. I will try to see if I can add a break to stop the process.

[Siedlerchr]

@Vaver @AEgit I recently finished an improved functionality of this feature. Could you please test and give feedback on it?
http://builds.jabref.org/exportPdf/

[AEgit]

JabRef 4.1-dev--snapshot--2017-10-26--exportPdf--88faa7ce3
Windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 1.8.0_151

@Siedlerchr This looks really good! Thank you very much!

I think the only thing that could be improved is the visual feedback during the copying process. Currently, if files of many entries are copied over to another folder, JabRef does not show, how long it will take to copy all the files. As far as I can tell, it is therefore currently also not possible to stop the copying process at a certain point in time, unless the relevant process is killed (copying over the files will continue even when JabRef is stopped - see #2539 (comment)).

But overall this is a massive improvement - I especially like the final table showing the results of the copying process including the full path. I also appreciated that files are not overwritten, when found in the same folder - you could add the possibility to ask the user whether she/he wants to overwrite preexisting files, but I don't think this is a big issue at all. After all, this can be sorted out before starting the copying process by the user with the folder manager of choice.

[Siedlerchr]

Thank you very much for your feedback, regarding Cancel, have you tried clicking cancel on the progress dialog? It should cancel the whole copying process. Regarding the duration, I will see if there is a way to calculate time

[AEgit]

Hmmm I didn't see any progress dialog, to be honest - if there's one, that would probably solve all my issues.

EDIT: I've checked it again, just to be sure. I definitely cannot see any progress dialog - I only see the final results table.

[Siedlerchr]

@AEgit I noticed that the progess dialog was not shown during progress due to the execution order, Changed that now. You can try it out in a couple of minutes, if the tests succed #3147

[AEgit]

Ok, I'll do that once the updated build is available.