Bug 153350

Summary: Allow user to change bibliography citation number structure
Product: LibreOffice Reporter: dolezvo1
Component: WriterAssignee: Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs>
Status: NEW ---    
Severity: enhancement CC: dgp-mail, libreoffice-ux-advise, page74010-sf, vermelhusco1904
Priority: medium Keywords: needsUXEval
Version: 7.3.2.2 release   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
Whiteboard:
Crash report or crash signature: Regression By:
Bug Depends on:    
Bug Blocks: 101258    

Description dolezvo1 2023-02-03 13:31:26 UTC 
Description:
In the bibliography settings, you are allowed to change the type of the brackets around the bibliography citation numbers and while I can see how that would be enough for most people, it doesn't allow anything like inserting spaces between the number and the brackets, adding leading zeroes or even mixing bracket types. I think the structure of the citation should be customizable in the same way the entries of the bibliography table are.

This might be topic for another issue, but it would also allow huge flexibility in terms of linking the citation back to the entry in the table, because one might be able to decide (using the LS and LE) whether they want the citation to link back, and which parts of it should be the link (for example only the number, not the brackets, or the whole citation, or something else).

Steps to Reproduce:
N/A

Actual Results:
N/A

Expected Results:
N/A


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
N/A
Comment 1 Heiko Tietze 2023-02-22 09:46:20 UTC 
Can you name a format that requires adding a space before/after the entry? 

In technical areas it's common to just use sequential numbers in square brackets like

Lorem ipsum [1].

But the APA, for example, requires bibliographical entries to consist of "(<authors name>, <year>)"; with a lot of exceptions. And there are many other publication standards around.

Lorem ipsum (Foo, 2001)
Foo said, Lorem ipsum (2001)
Lorem ipsum (Foo & Bar, 2001)
Foo and Bar said, Lorem ipsum (2001)
Lorem ipsum (Foo et al., 2001) (Foo,Bar,Baz,Qux...)


So besides I asked for details above, I agree with more flexibility. The option does not belong to the ToC dialog anyway, we have to create a separate dialog. And I could imagine to use the same layout paradigm as for the ToC entries with a couple of predefined tags (AN,CH,YE...) and the option to insert any character(s) in between.

Ultimately this could be made a duplicate of bug 73275.
Comment 2 dolezvo1 2023-03-04 18:39:37 UTC 
I admit I don't know format that would require the spaces, that part was more of a speculation, however I do believe it should be possible in case someone does need actually it. Since the marks cannot be edited in the same way as the index can be, it could make life of someone who needs it pretty miserable.

I also don't believe it is a duplicate of 73275, since I don't see anything like this mentioned in there. Might be just overlooking it, though.
Comment 3 Dieter 2023-03-04 18:43:15 UTC 
If we donÄt have a real life use case and don't know, if anybody would use it, I don't see a reason to implement it into LO.
Comment 4 dolezvo1 2023-03-04 18:49:01 UTC 
Personally I don't agree, however that doesn't matter in this case.

Heiko has a good example of where the extended editing really is needed, and introducing the extended editing options naturally brings option to add spaces, regardless if someone needs them.
Comment 5 QA Administrators 2023-03-05 03:33:37 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2023-03-06 09:32:28 UTC 
It seems to be a FAQ https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/writer-how-to-insert-bibliography-entry-showing-number/33081 where even the experts struggle with the answer.

Currently we insert shortname entry from the bibliography database entry, eg. ARJ00. Alternatively one can switch to sequential numbers but very unfamiliar at the bibliography (aka ToC) insertion dialog. And this dialog allows to change the brackets. We need an extra dialog that allows ad-hoc and more fine-grained definitions.