date field with non date data generates error #8747

ilippert · 2022-05-02T11:30:17Z

JabRef version

Latest development branch build (please note build date below)

Operating system

GNU / Linux

Details on version and operating system

JabRef 5.6--2022-04-25--5c9d898 Linux 5.17.4-200.fc35.x86_64 amd64 Java 17.0.2 JavaFX 18+12

Checked with the latest development build

I made a backup of my libraries before testing the latest development version.
I have tested the latest development version and the problem persists

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

generate new entry
enter non date data in date field, e.g. an b

Appendix

...

Log File

java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.time.temporal.TemporalAccessor.query(java.time.temporal.TemporalQuery)" because "<parameter1>" is null
	at org.jabref@5.6.60000/org.jabref.gui.util.component.TemporalAccessorPicker.getLocalDate(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref@5.6.60000/org.jabref.gui.util.component.TemporalAccessorPicker$InternalConverter.fromString(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref@5.6.60000/org.jabref.gui.util.component.TemporalAccessorPicker$InternalConverter.fromString(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.control.DatePicker.commitValue(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.control.DatePicker.lambda$new$2(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyBooleanPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Node$FocusedProperty.notifyListeners(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene$12.invalidated(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.markInvalid(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.set(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene$KeyHandler.setFocusOwner(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene$KeyHandler.requestFocus(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene.requestFocus(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Node.requestFocus(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.scene.control.behavior.TableViewBehaviorBase.mousePressed(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.scene.control.inputmap.InputMap.handle(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler$NormalEventHandlerRecord.handleBubblingEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene$MouseHandler.process(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/javafx.scene.Scene$ScenePeerListener.mouseEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler$MouseEventNotification.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.lambda$handleMouseEvent$2(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.QuantumToolkit.runWithoutRenderLock(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.GlassViewEventHandler.handleMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.glass.ui.View.handleMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.glass.ui.View.notifyMouse(Unknown Source)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.glass.ui.gtk.GtkApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
	at org.jabref.merged.module@5.6.60000/com.sun.glass.ui.gtk.GtkApplication.lambda$runLoop$11(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

ThiloteE · 2022-05-03T13:10:26Z

b like in 10 000 bc?

ilippert · 2022-05-03T13:18:28Z

well, maybe wrongly, I have been using the date field for information, too, like \autocap{f}orthcoming. So, the b was just to illustrate the non-date format.

Siedlerchr · 2022-05-03T14:18:03Z

As far as I remember, if you want to put in dates other than in the iso8601 format in that field, you have to use the way around the bibtex editor.
There should be a check preventing the date picker to popup for

ilippert · 2022-05-04T06:27:52Z

I believe that in earlier nightly versions I did not received an error message when entering non iso8601 data in that field.

LIM0000 · 2022-05-05T01:54:50Z

Hi, I have found that this issue is due to

null return from LocalDateTime.parse() if the text cannot be parsed.

@Override
public TemporalAccessor fromString(String value) {
        return LocalDateTime.parse(value, defaultFormatter);
}

dateTime will then be assigned with null from the parse function.

TemporalAccessor dateTime = getStringConverter().fromString(value);
temporalAccessorValue.set(dateTime);
return getLocalDate(dateTime);

In getLocalDate(), no validation for dateTime before .query() is called.

private static LocalDate getLocalDate(TemporalAccessor dateTime) {
        // Try to get as much information from the temporal accessor
        LocalDate date = dateTime.query(TemporalQueries.localDate());
        if (date != null) {
            return date;
        }

        try {
            return YearMonth.from(dateTime).atDay(1);
        } catch (DateTimeException exception) {
            return Year.from(dateTime).atDay(1);
        }
    }

Possible solution:
We could add a validation for dateTime before it is called to fix the error.

if (dateTime == null) {
    return null;
}

Hope this is helpful.

Siedlerchr · 2022-05-06T20:05:27Z

@LIM0000 Thanks for looking into this. As I was recently working on the DateTimeFormatter stuff for imports, I rememebred that we have this Date.parse class (from org.jabref.model.entry;)
which supports a lot more pattern. Maybe that can be reused here?

Proposal solution

If user's input cannot be converted from String to LocalDate by LocalDate.parse(), a dialog box pops up to inform user that the date pattern is unrecognizable. Previous date info will be restore in date field if there is any. Downside of this solution is that user not able to store any non date data into date field. Should we allow user to store non date input into date field?

I have also tried to look into Date.parse (from org.jabref.model.entry.Date) and could confirm that LocalDateTime.parse(value, defaultFormatter) could cover all patterns (in org.jabref.model.entry.Date) class.

ilippert · 2022-05-07T08:27:19Z

Hmm, I would greatly appreciate if non standard information is still allowed. Specifically I am thinking of information like `forthcoming` or `submitted`. But other users may want to use the field differently. If we do not want such information there, a popup would ideally inform the user on where else to submit such information. -- Sent from my LineageOS device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On 7 May 2022 05:12:35 CEST, Sim Teck Lim ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.*** Thank you for your comment.

…

I have looked into this issue again and come up with a solution. ## Solution If user's input cannot be converted from `String` to `LocalDate` by `LocalDate.parse()`, a dialog box pops up to inform user that the date pattern is unrecognizable. Previous date info will be restore in date field if there is any. Downside of this solution is that user not able to store any non date data into date field. Should we allow user to store non date input into date field? I have also tried to look into `Date.parse` (from org.jabref.model.entry.Date) and could confirm that `LocalDateTime.parse(value, defaultFormatter)` could cover all patterns (in org.jabref.model.entry.Date) class. -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #8747 (comment) You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Message ID: ***@***.***>

ThiloteE · 2022-05-07T09:28:35Z

There is a tradeoff between:

Standard info in date field
- preventing typos
- educates users about ISO / BibLaTeX date/time format.
having non-standard information in the date field.
- allows users to do "special things".

@ilippert I am not quite sure what prevents you from creating new custom fields like "forthcoming" or "submitted"? (I know you already have some custom fields and know how to do it). Would that not be a workaround? Is it because these new custom fields are not detected by standard citation styles and you would want them to show in your final document? Sorry, just curious.

ThiloteE · 2022-05-07T09:28:50Z

related: #2753

Siedlerchr · 2022-05-07T11:46:36Z

I agree with @ThiloteE here. This information should NOT belong in the date field. for example for the status there are extra fields 4.9.2.11 Publication State, biblatex manual

inpreparation The expression ‘in preparation’ (the manuscript is being prepared for publication).
submitted The expression ‘submitted’ (the manuscript has been submitted to a journal or
conference).
forthcoming The expression ‘forthcoming’ (the manuscript has been accepted by a press or
journal).
inpress The expression ‘in press’ (the manuscript is fully copyedited and out of the author’s
hands; it is in the final stages of the production process).
prepublished The expression ‘pre-published’ (the manuscript is published in a preliminary form or
location, such as online version in advance of print publication).

ThiloteE · 2022-05-07T12:27:24Z

Ah, Christoph, I do not have an opinion on this yet xD I just wanted to mention the tradeoff and was curious if this could be solved with a workaround. I was not aware forthcoming, submitted etc. are supported by biblatex.

What do you mean with "this information should belong in the date field"? - What info exactly?

Siedlerchr · 2022-05-07T12:44:15Z

I meant "NOT". Edited my comment.

LIM0000 · 2022-05-09T04:58:36Z

Thank you for the comments.
May I ask that any action needed for this issue?
For example, a popup dialog informs user that date field does not accept non date data, please input valid date format.

ilippert · 2022-05-09T07:09:09Z

Hi, ok, just looked at the biblatex and biblatex-chicago manuals. The latter also prefers like the biblatex manual the use of pubstate for information like inpress. However, it also notes the possibility to add in year \autocap{f}orthcoming (which is something I had "inherited").

Anyway, moving forward, I think for the date field:

either non standard information should be gracefully accepted OR
if non-standard date information is provided, a date-picker should be provided.

However, as a user, I want to be free to add, say, something like 2008 or 10 BC (because I only have that information) or forthcoming in the date field, even if that is not recommended.

So, the first option is that JabRef trusts the user that they know what they want to input, while the second option risks forcing a date on the user, while the user might not want a full date at all.

claell · 2022-05-09T11:15:45Z

There are options in between, I'd say. So maybe inform the user that the action they are trying to do is not recommended and allow them to proceed anyway after acknowledging this. (If there are really use cases where this option is needed and that are acceptable)

ilippert · 2022-05-09T12:50:57Z

Well, maybe far too demanding, but a great popup would consist of

date/year/month selector, allowing "partial" date information (which, in my experience is the normal; I rarely ever have a full date of the publication)
a dropdown menu with the known/available pubstates; and a "custom text" option

huangderek02 · 2022-10-21T03:44:17Z

Hi @ilippert , can you please assign me this issue?

Siedlerchr · 2022-11-08T19:32:53Z

The issue is now fixed and as a side effect the chooser also can display negative dates (BC)
(Some more info https://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/iso8601.php)

ThiloteE added the entry-editor label May 3, 2022

m-haug mentioned this issue May 4, 2022

Date field truncates information #8754

Open

2 tasks

Siedlerchr added the bug Confirmed bugs or reports that are very likely to be bugs label May 6, 2022

ThiloteE assigned huangderek02 Oct 21, 2022

huangderek02 mentioned this issue Oct 27, 2022

Fix for issue 8747: date field change causes an uncaught exception #9314

Closed

6 tasks

Siedlerchr mentioned this issue Nov 8, 2022

Fix date field change causes an uncaught exception #9365

Merged

6 tasks

Siedlerchr closed this as completed in #9365 Nov 8, 2022

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date field with non date data generates error #8747

date field with non date data generates error #8747

ilippert commented May 2, 2022

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date field with non date data generates error #8747

date field with non date data generates error #8747

Comments

ilippert commented May 2, 2022

JabRef version

Operating system

Details on version and operating system

Checked with the latest development build

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

Appendix

ThiloteE commented May 3, 2022

ilippert commented May 3, 2022 • edited Loading

Siedlerchr commented May 3, 2022

ilippert commented May 4, 2022

LIM0000 commented May 5, 2022

Siedlerchr commented May 6, 2022 • edited Loading

LIM0000 commented May 7, 2022 • edited Loading

Proposal solution

ilippert commented May 7, 2022 via email

ThiloteE commented May 7, 2022 • edited Loading

ThiloteE commented May 7, 2022

Siedlerchr commented May 7, 2022 • edited Loading

ThiloteE commented May 7, 2022

Siedlerchr commented May 7, 2022

LIM0000 commented May 9, 2022 • edited Loading

ilippert commented May 9, 2022

claell commented May 9, 2022 • edited Loading

ilippert commented May 9, 2022

huangderek02 commented Oct 21, 2022

Siedlerchr commented Nov 8, 2022 • edited Loading

ilippert commented May 3, 2022 •

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Siedlerchr commented May 6, 2022 •

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LIM0000 commented May 7, 2022 •

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ThiloteE commented May 7, 2022 •

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LIM0000 commented May 9, 2022 •

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claell commented May 9, 2022 •

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