3.13. Formatting language

Formatting language (FL) to design output citation styles

A - General features

RefWorks (web based) Procite EndNote Reference Manager
Formatting language  Formatting language  Formatting language  Formatting language 

RW: made up of coded field names, text strings (alone or in front and/or after fields), punctuation, separators, style (italics etc.), tab, carriage return, page break;

many options for names;
"Accucite" feature in edit window warns which fields -among the whole set- will be considered by the current citation style when publishing

(FL recognizes field names specifically belonging to each individual RT)

Pr: mostly made up of:
1 field names
2 two formal instructions: field/string separator, group command «...» (i.e. if more elements -fields- are included in a group, one is enough for the relevant surrounding punctuation to be output)
3 text strings, punctuation (automatic control on double punct.), spacing, style (B I U etc.): as written
4 many options for names, titles, dates, pages, keywords varying by RT and output context
5 back slash \ (ASCII 92) marks any string as mere text, e.g.: " \« "

FL recognizes RT specific, not generic, workform fields names and not numbers (therefore be careful when copying definitions from one workform to another) 

En: mostly made up of:
1 field names
2 field/string separator (|), link adjacent text (nonbreaking space)
3 text strings, punctuation, spacing, tab, style B I U etc.
4 options for anonymous works, pages and journal names apply to any RT, across any output context (In-text, Footonotes and Bibliography): cannot be differentiated by RT or output context; options for name vary with RT and output context;
5 ` (ASCII 96) marks strings as mere text e.g. overlapping field names `Journal` 6 handles singular vs plural, e.g. p^pp. ed.^eds.

recognizes generic field names

RM: mostly made up of:
1 field names;
2 two formal instructions: field/string separator, group command «...» (i.e. if more elements -fields- are included in a group, one is enough for the relevant surrounding punctuation to be output);
3 text strings, punctuation (automatic control on double punct.), spacing, style (B I U etc.): as written;
4 many options for names, titles, dates, pages, keywords varying by RT and output context;
5 back slash \ (ASCII 92) marks any string as mere text, e.g.: " \« "

same as ProCite, but FL recognizes fields generic names and numbers

B - Selection
    1. fields
    2. subfields

RW: 1, subfields just for personal names Pr: 1; 2: only "surname, name, qualification", internal date format En: 1; 2: only "surname, name, qualification" RM: 1; 2: only "surname, name", internal date format

C - Add text : in front of/after fields content

RW: yes Pr: yes En: yes (can handle singular vs plural: p^pp. ed.^eds if start-end pages or more authors are present) RM: yes

D - Distinguishes among occurrences of a repeatable field
   1. by punctuation -separators; 
   2. by position / sequence number; 
   3. can count them

RW: 1-2-3 only as far as names are concerned Pr: 1; 2 only partially names i.e. as far as output and sort are concerned En: 1 names; 2 partially names, as far as output is concerned; 3: can count number of names to sort references with same first author RM: 1; 2 only partially: names, as far as output is concerned

E - Produces tagged format output, apart from built-in export routines

RW: yes

(e.g. \nKW: to output a repeatable field occurrences on different lines)

Pr: yes (e.g. ^pKW: as keywords separator, where ^p are two characters) En: to a limited extent

can handle a repeatable field like authors field, but not keywords labelled on consecutive lines, does not handle <CR> as format specification within the same field

RM: yes (e.g. ¶KW: as keywords separator where ¶ is [ASCII 20])

F - Displays RT (reference type via field token not as static text)

RW: yes Pr: not in the styles; yes in the Record list En: not in the styles; yes in the Record list RM: yes

G - Offers conditional commands (IF ... THEN ...)

RW: no (implied in many built-in options to be selected for: authors' names, anonymous works ...) Pr: not explicitly, but implied by various options (e.g. names) En: not explicitly, but implied by various options (e.g. names) RM: not explicitly, but implied by various options (e.g. names)

H - Upper/lowercase conversion

RW: yes for names and titles Pr: yes (names, titles, sort headings) En: yes : names -small caps also- titles + list of words that should not be altered RM: yes (names, titles)

I - Look-up tables to expand acronyms, abbreviations, replace text

RW: no
(short Journal Title is actually a specific field content in each record, linked to a look-up/index list) 
Pr: yes: a) text between "«...»" ; b) field 10: "Journal title" and relevant list(s) En: Journal field ("Secondary title") and relevant list

puts in relation Journal's field content and the Journal list's table: a table's record is made up by an entry and three correspondent strings, most often abbreviations; this way you can handle periodical titles and their abbreviations

RM: Periodical synonyms list

J - Contextual Record Preview while designing a style

RW: yes Pr: yes En: no RM: yes

K - Text added in styles can be language dependent for each record
     1. text lists can be modified
     2. new lists can be added (new language)
     3. text can be present in various fields

RW: no Pr: no En: no RM: no

L -  Checks format syntax

RW: no Pr: no En: no RM: yes

M - Level of difficulty of the formatting language (FL)

RW: easy Pr: rather easy, does not require programming skills En: rather easy, does not require programming skills RM: rather easy, does not require programming skills (offers a Wizard function, plus the abovementioned syntax control)
RefWorks (web based) Procite EndNote Reference Manager
Formatting language  Formatting language  Formatting language  Formatting language 

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