# display attribute values

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729>\
**Category:** CSL Development\
**Created:** [August 13, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729 "2009-08-13T02:33:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Frank\_Bennett](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/frank_bennett/32/198_2.png) [@Frank\_Bennett](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Frank_Bennett)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/1 "2009-08-13T02:33:51Z")

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I’ve checked in a patch that extends and modifies the display  
attribute values, as discussed with Bruce. The patch includes  
commentary that explains the new values in presentational terms. To  
keep things more strictly presentational, I changed the name of "body"  
to “right-inline”. Seems like this one is getting close.

The patch view:  
[http://xbiblio.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbiblio/csl/schema/branches/split/csl.rnc?r1=1114&r2=1113&pathrev=1114](http://xbiblio.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbiblio/csl/schema/branches/split/csl.rnc?r1=1114&r2=1113&pathrev=1114)

Frank

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**Author:** ![Sean\_Takats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sean\_Takats](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Sean_Takats)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/2 "2009-08-13T05:36:18Z")

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We’ve started a planning document for the API to access Frank’s  
citeproc-js engine server-side. If you would like to contribute/edit,  
please feel free to contact me and to invite others if you already  
have access. Many thanks.

> **[cite.zotero.org](https://docs.google.com/document/d/107cPXzdnghwzWPklJuLNhgvD_LmUZOj8yroLgtSvz0U/edit)**
>
> Web Service Specification for cite.zotero.org The cite.zotero.org service employs Frank Bennett's CiteProc-JS to convert bibliographic data into formatted citations. Citation styles are defined using CSL. do we have a list of use cases for this...

Best regards,

Sean Takats  
Assistant Professor of History  
Director of Research Projects  
Center for History and New Media, George Mason University  
@Sean_Takats | [http://chnm.gmu.edu](http://chnm.gmu.edu) | 703 993 927

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/3 "2009-08-13T17:30:04Z")

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Thanks Sean.

FWIW, I think it’s probably time that we start figuring out a standard  
API for this stuff, and this is a good opportunity to do that.

Also, I started a wiki page on trac while back to brainstorm on this.

[https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/xbiblio/wiki/ApiDesign](https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/xbiblio/wiki/ApiDesign)

Bruce

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/4 "2009-08-14T17:06:24Z")

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One major (and one more minor) issue that is unclear to me (which I  
noted on this doc) is the basic inputs and outputs for the API.

Let’s say such a service allows people to add citations to blog  
entries. How would a user encode a citation reference in their post,  
what would get sent to the service, and what would get returned?

I still can’t seem to get away from the conclusion that citation  
references should be identified by URI. Maybe the answer is as simple  
as sending a list of either URIs, or URI + locator tuples? So either:

info:doi:10/1234.r324&page=22

… or:

( “info:doi:10/1234.r324”, { “page”: 22 } )

The practical PITA is not so much the bibliography, but the individual  
citation groups.

Bruce

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**Author:** ![Sean\_Takats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sean\_Takats](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Sean_Takats)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/5 "2009-08-14T17:18:12Z")

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I’ve added some comments to the API doc which might address some  
aspect of your question. Moreover, users that want to draw on Zotero-  
server-hosted bibliographic data will be able simply to drag  
references from the Zotero client into the blog editing pane. The  
Zotero client generates a URI. We already have this working with  
ScholarPress ([scholarpress.org](http://scholarpress.org)). What you’re proposing is somewhat  
different, however, since you’re talking about canonical data. In its  
present iteration, the [cite.zotero.org](http://cite.zotero.org) service is aimed at formatting  
user data, not canonical data. We’re very close to offering something  
that will more or less serve as de facto canonical data, and when it’s  
available that service will not require any major changes to the  
architecture I’ve outlined.

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/display-attribute-values/729/6 "2009-08-14T17:31:09Z")

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> I’ve added some comments to the API doc which might address some  
> aspect of your question. Moreover, users that want to draw on Zotero-  
> server-hosted bibliographic data will be able simply to drag  
> references from the Zotero client into the blog editing pane. The  
> Zotero client generates a URI. We already have this working with  
> ScholarPress ([scholarpress.org](http://scholarpress.org)). What you’re proposing is somewhat  
> different, however, since you’re talking about canonical data. In its  
> present iteration, the [cite.zotero.org](http://cite.zotero.org) service is aimed at formatting  
> user data, not canonical data.

Yeah, this is what I was worried about 😉

I think this notion of “canonical vs. user data” may be confusing things.

Why not instead think that there are sources (with identities), and  
users simply collect, annotates, etc., those sources. The purpose of  
the URI is _only_ to identify the source.

So the question of the source data (what actually gets run through the  
service) is a question of thinking in terms of a hierarchy of trusted  
sources, where the pinnacle may well be my zotero (or other) user  
account, and google scholar may be somewhere down that list.

So, for example if I send the service “info:doi:10/12132.1234” then  
the service might be able to know to first look in my user account  
(and maybe related groups I subscribe to) for the item with the doi  
“10/12132.1234” and then fall back to other options as needed.

Yes, I know, there are all kinds of hairy details, but this is the  
only way I see to decouple citations from particular data sources,  
which is a big limitation in the current landscape.

> We’re very close to offering something  
> that will more or less serve as de facto canonical data, and when it’s  
> available that service will not require any major changes to the  
> architecture I’ve outlined.

OK, good. But while I might be wrong, but I still think the  
canonical/user data distinction may obscure the issues here?

Bruce