JabRef browser extension: cannot connect to JabRef

Help
1

I am using JabRef (extracted from JabRef-5.8-portable_linux.tar.gz) on a Linux OS. JabRef Browser Extension (for Firefox) is unable to send a reference to JabRef: it displays the message

Error connecting to JabRef. Attempt to post Message on disconnected port
(even if JabRef is opened).

The browser error console displays:

Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. webrequest.js:126
onBeforeRequest moz-extension://b342d794-3acb-42de-a1d6-f2a26fc58a3d/js/webrequest.js:126

How to make JabRef Browser Extension aware of my JabRef window?

2

Hm as far as I know nothing has changed recently regarding this. I tested on mac with firefox and latest dev build and it works fine.

Maybe some other extension interfering with it?

3

@Christoph : did you test with the portable version?

Investigating a bit: after installing the non portable version of JabRef 5.7 (the one recently released), the JabRef browser extension is able to open JabRef and transfer the data (= a new entry is created). So, it looks like the JabRef browser extension is happy in my browser. :wink:

However, with the portable version of JabRef 5.7, I get the message Error connecting to JabRef even if JabRef is already opened (if JabRef is closed, obviously, the extension has no way to know where the JabRef software is located). So the issue seems linked to my use of the portable version, and can be summarized as “how to make the JabRef browser extension aware that I am using the portable version?”

Rationale: I would like to use the portable version so that testing the development versions do not interfere with my OS.

4

I think I found the solution in the help files for how to configure the path for the extension:

5

Thank you Christoph! This put me on the right path. I had to alter the .json file so that the proper path to jabrefHost.py is set. I am going to alter the help file accordingly.

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