GetARef 4.0 - Enhancements

    The policy of DatAid AB is to fix reported or discovered problems and make the improvements available as quickly as possible whether the modification is relevant to many users or not. Therefore, rather than to 'accumulate' a number of changes and intermittently publish a major 'patch' or 'update' (and charge the users!), the updated program version has been made available immediately via the web.
    Accordingly, through the 'life-time' of GetARef 4.0, numerous improvements have been implemented and made freely available to the users.
    The same policy will be applied with respect to GetARef 5.1.

Below is listed improvements (excluding bug fixes) that have been implemented incrementally in GetARef 4.0 in the main program and in the import routines.

Main programs: improvements (during the life-time of GetARef 4.0)

Due to subtle differences between different Windows versions, the sample references shown while a format file is edited did not always reflect the paragraph setting. This is expected to work properly now also with, for instance, Windows 2000.
When creating lists or completing documents it was previously possible to either select one of the format files of the current format library or change the format library. Now it is possible to directly select a particular format while changing the format library. This applies to the dialogs used to print references (File|Print), to create reference lists (Tools|Create Reference lists) and to complete documents (Tools|Complete a Document).
GetARef is now able to import files downloaded in both in the ANSI file format and the text file format often used in UNIX. The changes made to the main program relates only to displaying dump files; to benefit fully from the changes update also the import routines.
It is now possible to define a text line common to all references imported from a specific dump file.
GetARef now handles up to 65,532 references.
GetARef may automatically notify the user when a new version is available from this web site.
GetARef displays, allows editing and can format an 'unlimited' number of author names.
Macro commands in WordPerfect 8.0 that are used to launch cannot use long file names. To fix this problem, the macro files have been modified as well as the registry.
GetARef displays references in the single line display considerably faster than before.
GetARef keeps track of search terms specifically for each opened reference file.
Due to subtle differences between different Windows versions, the sample references shown while a format file is edited did not always reflect the paragraph setting. This is expected to work properly now also with, for instance, Windows 2000.

When creating lists or completing documents it was previously possible to either select one of the format files of the current format library or change the format library. Now it is possible to directly select a particular format while changing the format library. This applies to the dialogs used to print references (File|Print), to create reference lists (Tools|Create Reference lists) and to complete documents (Tools|Complete a Document).
GetARef is able to handle pseudo-citations referring to deleted references.
Improved handling of formally incorrect reference files, e.g., files that have unintentionally been corrupted. In addition, the interfaces now features color coding (a small 'LED' that indicates the formal structure of a reference).
It's possible to specify that the publication year in formatted references should be 'truncated' to accomodate formats such as (Brown '84; Smith '97).
GetARef makes use of file name aliases when opening files and when viewing references via Word's GetARef menu.
A quick way to find references containing a specific author: simply enter a string of characters and press ENTER and GetARef interprets this as a request to search for the character string in the author fields.
Users may now define file name 'aliases' that will replace the path (or the complete name) or reference files specified in pseudo-citations. This new feature markedly facilitates manuscript production and completion for users that work on several computers with different drive or folder organizations.
GetARef's installation (and update) program can properly install GetARef's Add-in for Microsoft Word 7.0.
In the dialog used to enter search expressions, when performing non-indexed searches, the user has the option to perform the search with or without respect to diacritic marks. If GetARef is requested to ignore diacritic marks, the letter 'e', for instance, is considered equivalent to not only 'E' but also 'é', 'É', 'è', 'ê', 'ë', etc. Searching wihtout respect to diacritic marks is useful when scanning references retrieved from databases that ignores diacritic symbols (e.g., Medline).

Import routines: improvements (during the life-time of GetARef 4.0)

PubMed has once again changed its download format and therefore the dump file recognition had to be modified.
PubMed has recently changed the downloading procedure and the formats of downloaded files; the procedure is even simpler before. GetARef's help file has been updated to reflect the changes (search for 'PubMed' in GetARef's on-line help).
GetARef was previously unable to import some sources from Agricola from Silverplatter (note that even if WinSPIRS allows dumping references from several databases in a single process, GetARef is not able to correctly import more than one kind of dumped records).
The import routines of Agris, Agricola, CAB, Analytical Abstracts and others from Silverplatter (WinSPIRS) have been adjusted to ensure that the original language of the references is included in abbreviated form in the identification string of the references. Moreover, the current download format of Agris and CAB from Silverplatter is very similar to that of Medline from Silverplatter but GetARef is now able to (almost always) recognize the correct source.
Adjusted the import routines of PsycINFO (and PsycLIT) in the Ovid format.
The download format that corresponds most closely to BIOSIS from Datastar supplied by EDINA BOSIS-Web has changed and the import routine has been modified accordingly.
The source format of records dumped from CINAHL in the Ovid format has been changed and the import routines modified accordingly.
GetARef is now able to import references recieved by e-mail in the 'Standard' format from CAB International (CABI Online Abstract Journals).
The source format of records dumped from PsycLIT in the Ovid format has been changed and the import routines modified accordingly.

GetARef is no able to import dump files of the text file format often used in UNIX. Accordingly, files downloaded from certain suppliers (e.g., http://www.bmn.com) that previously first had to be converted to a normal ANSI text file, now can be imported directly.
The download formats Igaku Chuo Zasshi has changed and accordingly the corresponding import routine has been updated.
GetARef is now able to import Agricola references downloaded from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts.
The download format of Chemical Abstracts on CD has changed and accordingly the corresponding import routine has been modified.
It is now possible to define a text string common to all references imported from a specific file.
The import routines for Medline from Medlars and Medline from Compuserve has been adapted to handle the modified 'Reprint/Medlars' format provided by Ovid.
GetARef is now able to import references downloaded from CINAHL in the Ovid format.
The download format of PubMed has changed and now includes additional text between references. This text was by GetARef's import routine inappropriately interpreted as part of the source.
GetARef is now able to import references downloaded from PsycINFO in the Ovid format.
GetARef is now able to import references downloaded from Internet Grateful Med (IGM). IGM offers a convenient way to download as many as 1000 references in a single step. The databases from which references can be retrieved and imported to GetARef include: Aidsline, Bioethicsline, HealthSTAR, Histline, Medline, Popline, SDILine, Spaceline and Toxline.
Improved detection of dump files in the formats 'Medline from Medlar' and the 'RIS import format'.
Importing author names from dump files of the type 'BIOSIS from Datastar' didn't work because the supplier had changed the download format.
Some database suppliers produce a download format that they call 'Medlars' format or 'Reprint/Medlars format'. These files can be imported by GetARef using the same routines as used for Medline from CompuServe. GetARef now recognizes some additional variants of this file format.