Devonagent and EZproxy

Hi there,

Like many users, I suppose, I have access to scholarly databases only via my institution’s proxy server. And notably, the proxy server is based on the EZproxy system, whereby each URL is prepended by a string of the type:


ezproxy.[institution_name].edu/

or something like that.

Without the ability to handle such URLs, DevonThink is pretty much useless to all of us whose institutions utilize this prevalent system.

I presume (rather, hope) that it would not be difficult for DevonTechnologies to develop a plugin whereby all URLs would be “translated” to their EZproxy equivalents. The user would of course provide the string to be prepended, as well as the login/password for the EZproxy account.

Bookends already offers such a capability and it works wonderfully.

Thank you.

Thank you for the suggestion! Could you please post a complete URL before/after applying the proxy strings? Or could you send me (cgrunenberg - at - devon-technologies.com) a screenshot of Bookends solution? Thanks in advance!

BTW:
See Also of DEVONagent Pro 3.1 suggests the following related threads:

forum.devon-technologies.com/vie … f=9&t=7313
forum.devon-technologies.com/vie … =4&t=10145
forum.devon-technologies.com/vie … f=9&t=7311

I believe that the URL to be prepended is this:

ezproxy.my_institution.edu/login?URL=

I am attaching two Bookends screenshots. The ezproxy URL placeholder is too narrow so I am attaching two screenshots to make its complete contents visible.

One issue involved ezproxy integration in DA is how to deal with the authentication webpage. On Bookends this is not an issue because the software is not intended for “batch” web surfing, so it is unproblematic to request a manual login for each invocation of ezproxy. On DA, where scores of databases can be queried in a single search, this login process may need to be automated. Although I am sure that some sort of cookie is stored locally which may make a single login per session sufficient.

I hope this helps. I would be very happy to beta-test any such feature (provided that I can further extent my trial license to DA, which has long expired :smiley: )