External files

[ThexXTURBOXx]

When writing papers, I like adding my bib-files in a centralised way.
I have uploaded all of my papers in BibTeX format to my server and in Overleaf, I use the "external files" feature to add (and update) them systematically:

This is one of the core features that I am still missing from overleaf-cep. But for the rest, good job and thank you very much for providing this amazing extension project! :)

[yu-i-i]

Yes, I agree, this is a very useful feature. If I have time, I'll try to implement it. Since this is not an issue, I’m converting the thread to a discussion.

[ThexXTURBOXx]

Going through the code, I was able to find at least a few hints on how to implement this in theory: one needs to add url to ENABLED_LINKED_FILE_TYPES and set up a "linked url proxy".
Whether a linked url proxy is set up is checked here:

overleaf-cep/services/web/app/src/infrastructure/Features.js

Line 88 in 3978f1c

_.get(Settings, ['apis', 'linkedUrlProxy', 'url']) &&

As far as I understand, the only purpose of the proxy is to get the URL to fetch as a query parameter and it returns the body.
Probably, one can include some security checks or blacklisted domains or something to the proxy, but I don't know.
Apparently, there (at least was) an environment variable which contains the proxy URL:

overleaf-cep/services/web/test/acceptance/config/settings.test.defaults.js

Line 42 in 3978f1c

url: process.env.LINKED_URL_PROXY,

See also this for example:

overleaf-cep/services/web/docker-compose.common.env

Line 9 in 3978f1c

LINKED_URL_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:6543

But I have no idea how to properly set it up - and I failed trying to do so.
Apparently, there also existed a docker image at one point: overleaf#659
But I cannot seem to find/access it anymore.

Maybe, all of this helps at least to some extent? :)

[yu-i-i]

Sorry for the long silence, and thanks for the tips about proxy. The first thing I tried today was simply removing the proxy and fetching files directly - and it works without the proxy, see here.

Setting up a proxy service to fetch URLs isn’t difficult, but I don’t really see the point. Things like URL sanitization, security checks, blacklisting, etc., can all be handled directly in the web service code if needed.

[ThexXTURBOXx]

Great news! Thank you very much! :)
Can't wait for the next push to Docker Hub to test this out!