Find citation keys using Mendeley

query_cite.rb

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require 'sqlite3'

cite_part = ARGV[0]
db_name = "/Users/nernst/Library/Application\ Support/Mendeley\ Desktop/neil\@neilernst.net\@www.mendeley.com.sqlite"
db = SQLite3::Database.new( db_name )
db.results_as_hash = true
query = "select citationkey, title, year from Documents where citationkey like '%#{cite_part}%'"#MATCH '#{cite_part}'"#{}like '%#{cite_part}%'"
db.execute( query ) do |row|
  print row['citationKey'] + '|'
  #print '@row:' + row['citationKey'] + "|" + row['title'] + "|" + row['year'].to_s
end

show_results.scpt

on run {input, parameters}
	
	set cite to input --"" --"jureta"
	set delimitedList to {}
	-- set test to "Carvalho2005a|Hayes2008|Sampaio2005|Sawyer2002|Searle1976|Baker|Denecker2002|Liu2009|Anbulagan2009"
	set ssresult to do shell script "/Users/nernst/Desktop/query_cite.rb " & cite as string
	set tid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "|"
	set delimitedList to every text item of ssresult
	set y to choose from list delimitedList
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tid
	return y
end run

A ruby and apple script to run sqlite against Mendeley databases. Warning: I wouldn't recommend changing the DB unless you want to mess up the client.

Currently this script does not allow one to see the paper title, which would be good for disambiguation. It was enough work getting lists to display in Applescript.

Getting it to work:

• change the pathnames to your database.
• might need to install Sqlite gem for ruby (could probably just use a bash script to do this and command line sqlite)
• create an automator service (attached)
• higlight a cite key in your document (e.g. scrivener) and find the service menu. Select from list and content is in the clipboard.
• might be good to add a hotkey via the Keyboard preference pane.

Really useful snippet of code Neil. I've used it to automate some bibliographies, and inserted it into my university's thesis template.

I'm now trying to do some queries of the full text part of the database that Mendeley keeps. Have you been successful with that, or heard of anyone doing it? I don't see the fields that link to the file indexes that the full text is stored in, but I've only started trying to reverse engineer that part.

Thanks,

Ben

No, I haven't. I would recommend posting on the Mendeley website and forums about it.