GetARef 4.0

Main program: 

Update to last release of 4.0 (GetARef 4.0.39; 2001-02-22; 2.4 MB) 

Import routines: 

Update to last release of 4.0 (GetARef 4.0.29;2001-02-25; 2.9 MB)

Notes: 

The updates are not 'patches' - a complete new version of the software will be downloaded.
Therefore, if you have GetARef 4.0 installed you can safely update it using the link above.

History: 

Main program
Import routines

Bug fix #1: GetARef did not make use of the journal name database when comparing references while, for instance, sorting the display order.

Bug fix #2: When a search expression included the year and it was highlighted in the list view, '0000' was erroneously inserted before the year.

Adjustment: 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.

Improvement: 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).

Bug fix: When printing lists of references from reference files with unusually long path and file names, GetARef crashed when attempting to output the default header. Also, previously, GetARef did not actually used user-defined titles when printing references (File|Print).

Quirk fix: Minor discrepancies between the actual interface and what is described in the help file have been corrected.

Bug fix: The command Formats|Suppress RTF format was inactive. The command could be executed from the Output formats tab of the dialog Tools|Customize GetARef.

Enhancement #1: It is now possible to define a text line common to all references imported from a specific dump file.

Enhancement #2: GetARef now handles up to 65,532 references.

Bug fix: GetARef did not produce formally correct RIS import files (command Tools|Export).

Enhancement: GetARef may automatically notify the user when a new version is available from this web site.

Quirk fix: During normal installation the user name, company name and serial number is not always correctly stored in the registry. This may have caused problems for users running Windows NT 4.0 because GetARef refused to start without this user-related information; this problem is now ignored by the updated GetARef.

Enhancement: GetARef displays, allows editing and can format an 'unlimited' number of author names.

Bug fix: GetARef erratically caused system errors if the identification string consisted of a single character.

Quirk #1: When GetARef encountered a pseudo-citation without a valid reference number, the error message in earlier versions wasn't all that helpful and no help was provided from GetARef's help file.

Quirk #2: Although the correct source could be identified and import would procede normally, GetARef didn't update the comboxes containing suppliers and databases after the user had clicked the button Detect Source.

Adjustment: 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.

Bug fix: The final citation that resulted from pseudo-citations with the 'Year only' switch activated did not incorporate letter suffixes. A normal citation such as (Smith, 1979a) with the 'Year only' switch activated incorrectly appeared in previous versions as (1979) instead of (1979a).

Quirk #1: GetARef allowed users to copy single or tagged references to the file of origin (i.e., to copy files from a file to the end of the same file). This is no longer possible.

Quirk #2: As soon as the year, volyme, issue or pages had been edited, the journal name match button was inappropriately inactivated in the dialog used for adding or editing single references. Now this button is inactivate only if the journal name matches a name in the journal name database.
Note that whether the Match button is active or not, the dialogs menu always give access to journal name matching (Edit|Match journal name, shortcut key is Ctrl+M).

Quirk #3: The description in the help file of the rules for identifying identical references was incomplete. The correct description is as folllows: two references with the same author names, source, year, voume and first page are considered identical. The identification string, title, and last page are not considered and the issue is considered only for references lacking a volume. Two references differing only by the name format of the journal name (e.g., complete and abbreviated name form) are recognized as identical only if use of the journal name database has not been suppressed by the user.

Quirk #4: Under some circumstances it was possible to click the 'Create List' button although the indicated reference file didn't exist.

Enhancement #1: GetARef displays references in the single line display considerably faster than before.

Enhancement #2: GetARef keeps track of search terms specifically for each opened reference file.

Bug fix: GetARef failed to highlight search terms.

Enhancement: GetARef is able to handle pseudo-citations referring to deleted references.

Bug fix: A serious bug was introduced with version 4.000.019 in that GetARef often failed to created useful reference files after sorting and after deleting or editing references.

Enhancement #1: It's possible to specify that the publication year in formatted references should be 'truncated' to accomodate formats such as (Brown '84; Smith '97).

Enhancement #2: GetARef makes use of file name aliases when opening files and when viewing references via Word's GetARef menu.

Bug fix #1: Exports in Medlar and RIS formats were deficient.

Bug fix #2: Reference files with some non-English characters could not be handled during manuscript production.

Bug fix #3: When printing single references, an incorrect reference was sometimes printed when the display order was some other than the 'original' order.

Bug fix #1: GetARef was unable to create pseudo-citations from references containing many authors (>25).

Bug fix #2: Multi-argument operators didn't always work properly (e.g., ALL(), NONE(), etc.).

Bug fix #1: The command Edit|Delete tagged references didn't delete the first reference in a file even if this reference was tagged.

Bug fix #2: The list view was not always updated following the command File|Compress file.

Bug fix #3: When completing a Word document containing a group of hidden citations not all citations were actually hidden in the out document.

Bug fix #1: GetARef sometimes didn't highlight all search terms included in a Boolean expressions.

Bug fix #2: When comparing reference files GetARef didn't take into account that one and the same journal name can be represented in both an abbreviated and a complete form.

Enhancement: 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.

Bug fix: If a blank line was inserted between paragraphs in the abstract/comment area of a reference while using the editing dialog, the text following the blank line was not saved with the abstract.

Bug fix #1: GetARef didn't produce lists in the order specified in the drop-down list box (Tools|Create reference Lists)

Bug fix #2: GetARef failed to include abstracts in lists generated in the Microsoft Word document format (*.doc files)

Bug fix #3: GetARef inserted the wrong citation numbers when the reference was a numbered list sorted alphabetically or chronological

Bug fix #4: GetARef reported an error messages when printing (File|Print) alternatively with and without using a style or when attempting to print after a disk file had been created using Tools|Create reference Lists

Bug fix #5: GetARef reported an error messages when completing LaTex documents (Tools|Complete a Document)

Bug fix #1: GetARef incorrectly displayed the last tagged repeatedly in the list view after certain operations.

Bug fix #2: GetARef incorrectly restored the tag status once a reference had been edited and saved.

Enhancement: 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.

For more information, give the command Edit|File name aliases and click the Help button of the displayed dialog.

Bug fix #1: GetARef didn't work properly with Microsoft Word 7.0.

Bug fix #2: GetARef ignored single pages in the dialog used to edit and enter individual references.

Enhancement: GetARef's installation (and update) program can properly install GetARef's Add-in for Microsoft Word 7.0.

Bug fix #1: GetARef didn't always print the references requested by the user.

Bug fix #2: GetARef was unable to find text strings containing some types of diacritic symbols when not performing indexed search.

Enhancement: 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).

Improvement #1: If GetARef unexpectedly doesn't recognize dump files downloaded from PubMed, a user may now explicity select PubMed as a supplier to identify Medline from Medlar.

Improvement #2: GetARef is now able to import references retrieved from several databases using WebSPIRS (Multiple databases from WebSPIRS). Note that this import mode requires that record numbers and database names are included for each downloaded record (this is an option available in WerbSPIRS).

Adjustment: PubMed has once again changed its download format and therefore the dump file recognition had to be modified.

Bug fix:GetARef was able to recognize but unable to import INSPEC from Silverplatter.

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.

Enhancement: 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.

Adjustment: The download formats Igaku Chuo Zasshi has changed and accordingly the corresponding import routine has been updated.

Bug fix: GetARef sometimes run into problems when importing references in the Ovid format.

Enhancement: 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.