[Tex/LaTex] LyX and Jabref problem

bibliographiesbibtexjabreflyxwindows

I am using LyX 2.0.6 and Jabref 2.9. I am trying to incorporate my bibliography in Jabref into Lyx, however I get the following error message in JabRef:

Verify that LyX is running and that the the lyxpipe is valid
[\.\pipe\lyxpipe].

The Lyx manual specifies that I should insert \\.\pipe\lyxserver.in, however, I read somewhere else that it should be changed to the same path as the one in Lyx (Also the manual referred to LyX 1.6, rather than 2). I also tried the \\.\pipe\lyxserver.in path but I got the same error message.

Before getting that error message, I had gone to Insert > List TOC > Bibliography in Lyx.

Best Answer

I've been having this problem for years, so I sat down to finally figure it out. Some people suggested it just didn't work on windows. It does.

Tested with Windows 7 Enterprise SP1. and Windows 10 tech preview, Lyx 2.1.3, and JabRef 2.10

On Windows, the LyX pipe is not a file. It is a special windows "Named Pipe".

A named pipe must have the name \\.\pipe\FOO where FOO can be anything, but the first part: \\.\pipe\ must always be there.

  1. Set on LyX under Tools, Preference, External Tools" LyX Pipe: \\.\pipe\FOO
  2. You must now close and reopen LyX
  3. Set on JabRef Options, Preferences, Settings for LyX/Kyle, LyX Pipe: \\.\pipe\FOO (no .in is required)
  4. Away you go. You do not have to restart JabRef, just Just select some rows and click send to LyX and they will appear at the Cursor

It has been suggested that you may need to run both LyX and JabRef as administrator to get them to work, I didn't find this but its not impossible. If you are having this issue, some futher investigation may be needed (eg the config file may not have suitable permissions set).

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