BibTeX key generator: keys with fixed length

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1

For our literature database I’d love to get BibTeX keys of fixed length, e.g. based on 4 letters xxxx. I don’t need/want any relation to the entry that the key refers to. Instead, I want the keys to be generated with letters taken from the alphabet in increasing order (e.g. aaaa for the first entry, aaab for the second and so on). Furthermore, I’d like the order of keys to be related to the timestamp. This way, I could always regenerate all keys and get the exactly same result. In case several entries share the same timestamp, the title or another field could be used to further distinguish the entries.

There are quite a few possible settings in “Preferences->BibTeX key generator”. I’m not sure if my desired functionality is already given based on some key patterns unknown to me so far. Therefor my question: Is this possible?
And if not, would it be possible to implement it?

Thanks in advance for every hint!

2

I am afraid this is not possible at the moment (at least, nothing like this is documented in https://help.jabref.org/en/BibtexKeyPatterns). I guess it is technically possible to implement. In practice, do you program in Java?

Potential issues with this kind of key:

  • If I include a \cite{dfbg} in my LaTeX file, I have no idea if it is the proper reference from the source code
  • the timestamp includes only the date (no hour/minute/second). So a reference could see its key modified. This is although true if you copy/paste an entry in your database (except if you can ensure that the copy/paste updates the timestamp). And even if you had the info about hour/minute/second, when pasting similar references at the same time, how to be sure they will keep the same keys when regenerating them?
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@mlep: thanks for the fast reply. Mh, I hoped that it would be possible. Unfortunately I have no skills in Java Programming :disappointed:
Regarding the mentioned potential issues: I don’t have a problem with the mentioned cites in LaTeX.
You are right when it comes to the timestamps subject, except that hours and minutes are available when chosen by “yyyy.MM.dd HH:mm” in “Preferences->General”. But the problem remains for entries added to the database in the same second…

So I guess my question is a feature request?!