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Hi I basically want to use biblatex instead of apacite. When I try run the following code, it just doesn't run:

\begin{filecontents}{myref.bib}
@ARTICLE{ref1,
   author    = "A. E. Gill",
   title     = "Some Simple Solutions for Heat-Induced Tropical Circulation",
   journal   = "Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.",
   volume    = 106,
   year      = 1980,
   pages     = "447-462",
}
@BOOK{TeX,
   author    = "D. E. Knuth",
   title     = "The \tex/book",
   publisher = "Addison-Wesley",
   year      = 1984,
   note      = "Describes \tex/ in detail",
}
\end{filecontents}

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[style=apa, backend=bibtex]{biblatex}
%\usepackage[american]{babel}
%\DeclareLanguageMapping{american}{american-apa}
\bibliography{myref}

\title{Example Title}
\author{Author Name}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
First line. 

Reference is \textcite{ref1} and \cite{TeX}.

\printbibliography
\end{document}

When I delete backend=bibtex, it gives an output but instead of "Reference is Gill (1980) ..." it writes: "Reference is ref1 ...". What can be possibly wrong here?

UPDATE: After fiddling around, I discovered that (with the help of comments of course) the problem is with my system and I guess biber is still buggy. Here is what I did to solve my problem:

  1. Previously I had Miktex 2.9 64 bit version. It turns out that biber is not included in that version (Source). I reinstall Miktex 32 bit version and it worked.
  2. I had to change default bibliography engine in TexStudio from bibtex to biber.
  3. Also, running TexStudio in administrator mode helped. Check here.
  4. biber has problems with special characters, i.e. % sign (Check here). It is buggy even though they claim to solve it (Check here). Check the URL's and abstracts whether there is a special character. Delete them (what a bummer)..
HBat
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    Because you have to use biber instead of bibtex to compile the references. – Guido Apr 29 '14 at 18:33
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    As Guide has pointed out, you will have to use Biber. Although in general it is not necessarily required to use Biber, biblatex-apa requires Biber. So you cannot use backend=bibtex, you have to specify backend=biber (or delete the backend option altogether, then backend=biber will be assumed) and run Biber. Maybe Biblatex with Biber: Configuring my editor to avoid undefined citations and How to use biber can help you. – moewe Apr 29 '14 at 18:39
  • @Guido @moewe, Thanks for explanations. I believe there is something wrong with the compiler I use TexStudio. Because, even though I used the same code as the first comment here, I failed. Also, I tried to add backend=biber to the same code I wrote above with a biber library I downloaded from here. Failed again. Anyway thanks for help.. – HBat Apr 29 '14 at 21:20
  • I almost confirm that there is something wrong with my system. I run the following code in my computer. No luck. I run this in both TexStudio and in Rstudio. Both did not produce anything like the one on ShareLatex. No References section and instead of regular citations there were the nicknames. – HBat Apr 29 '14 at 22:31
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    If the editor seems to have problems, it is a good idea to see if you make things work from the command line. – jon Apr 29 '14 at 23:11
  • @jon, thanks for suggestion. I run from the command line (from command prompt in Windows: pdflatex trial.tex). Same thing. There might be a problem with my Miktex 2.9. But apacite worked fine. – HBat Apr 30 '14 at 00:57
  • Run pdflatex trial.tex, biber trial.bcf, pdflatex trial.tex (this is the normal LaTeX+biber sequence). If you still have problems, make sure your versions of biber and biblatex match by adding a \listfiles in your preamble, running pdflatex again, and then checking the version of biblatex you get at the end of your .log file against the version of biber (not sure how on windows, but maybe biber -v..?). The biblatex manual will tell you which version of biber it needs in order to run properly. And before you do any of that, maybe try to update your installation. – jon Apr 30 '14 at 02:25
  • @jon, previously I had Miktex 2.9 64 bit version. It turns out that biber is not included in that version(source). I reinstall Miktex 32 bit version and it worked. Also I need to mention that I had to change default bibliography engine in TexStudio from bibtex to biber.. Thanks for advice.. – HBat Apr 30 '14 at 14:46
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    This question appears to be off-topic because the problem was solve by reinstalling a TeX distribution – Guido Apr 30 '14 at 19:27
  • The URL field is treated as a verbatim field, as such no problems should arise even if you use special characters such as the % sign. In other fields - such as the abstract field - special characters do have to be escaped - just like normal text in LaTeX. Note that the bug report above says you can ignore the abstract field (and other fields), so that a faulty entry does not cause problems - this is not done automatically and not an option if you need the information stored in the abstract field. – moewe May 04 '14 at 20:12
  • \DeclareSourcemap{\maps[datatype=bibtex]{\map[overwrite]{\step[fieldset=abstract, null]}}} clears the abstract field and thus ignores any faulty entries therein with Biber. – moewe May 04 '14 at 20:16

0 Answers0