On 21-May-09, at 10:44 PM, David Nicholls wrote:
> Is this the best way to add an entry from SAO/NASA ADS? Or are there
> quicker ways?

This is a vexing problem for myself as well. Your procedure of using  
the services menu to import grab the bibtex in Bibdesk, and then copy  
the abstract separately, is robust. But it has a lot of friction  
between discovering a paper on ADS and reading it. Using a z39.50  
search group works, but I always find myself searching ADS via its web  
interface.

My solution was to write a Python script and wrap it in Applescript  
and Automator. You can download it from:
http://homepage.mac.com/jonathansick/notes/adstobibdesk.html

To use, simply view an article's page in ADS, or in arxiv:astro-ph,  
via Safari. Click on the "ADS to Bibdesk" automator action (I keep it  
in the dock), and it will look at the front-most Safari page. The  
internal Python script will attempt to grab both the bibtex  
information and the abstract by scouring the ADS html. The applescript  
part of the automator action then creates a new bib-entry in your open  
Bibdesk bibliography. The script even calls the 'generate cite-key'  
command so that your cite keys conform to your preferences.

Unfortunately, it is still up to you to download the pdf and copy it  
onto the bib-entry.

I've put it on the web so that other's might use it---but beware that  
it may fail on occasion. In those cases, I just fall back to using the  
Services menu to import the Bibtex, as you do already. I originally  
wrote this python script a couple years ago when I was still learning  
the language, so the HTML parser is not as robust as it could be. (I  
would be delighted to see suggested improvements; anyone can open the  
action up in Apple's Automator program to see the code).

Hope this helps,
Jonathan Sick

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