How to automate using biber in MiKTeX-TeXworks

Question

I have MikTeX 2.9, 32-bit, Windows 7, all the latest updates are there. I'm using TeXworks ( pdflatex + makeindex + bibtex).

When I use biblatex package with option [backend=biber] I have no bibliography printed at all. If I run biber.exe over my file manually, then everything works fine.

My question is: How can I set up TeXworks, so it uses biber.exe when needed (i.e. I would like to havepdflatex + makeindex + biber typesetting)? I did not find any manual regarding the case. If there is such manual, could anybody point me out to it?

@percusse I guess the point is the MiKTeX adds 'pdfLaTeX + MakeIndex + BibTeX' to the 'Typeset' menu of TeXworks. — Joseph Wright, Sep 01 '12 at 17:54
@percusse MiKTeX isn't an editor, it's a TeX distribution on Windows. It includes the command texify which runs (pdf)LaTeX, BibTeX and MakeIndex in a single command. — Joseph Wright, Sep 01 '12 at 18:01
MikTeX is a project. It includes TeXWorks, and adds pdfLaTeX + MakeIndex + BibTeX typesetting. When I use this typesetting in connection to backend=biber option of biblatex, then the bibliography is not printed until manual run of biber.exe over my file. How shall I "tell" TeXWorks to run biber automatically when needed? — Oleksandr, Sep 01 '12 at 18:04
@JosephWright I don't know what I'm saying nevermind. I was thinking about TeXnicCenter for some reason, — percusse, Sep 01 '12 at 18:06
texify needs to have a update to be able to process biber instead of bibtex. But you can build a batch file calling pdflatex, biber etc. Then you can add the call of this batch in TeXworks, for example pdfLaTeX+Makeindex+biber. — Mensch, Sep 01 '12 at 19:12

score 13 · Answer 1 · edited May 31 '17 at 10:13

Let me suggest an other tool.

Every document has its own requirements regarding the compilation. As you wrote you need pdflatex, makeindex and biber. My recommended tool allows the setting of the compilation out of the tex file. The tool is named arara

Next to the short online introduction the author Paulo Cereda provides a complete manual which can be downloaded here: arara at github (download part)

arara provided and installer with some predefined rules. Based on your requirement you can setup you main tex file header as follows:

% arara: pdflatex: { draft: true }
% arara: makeindex: {  style: stylefile.ist }
% arara: biber
% arara: pdflatex: { synctex: true }
% arara: pdflatex: { synctex: true }

If you need only one compilation e.g. pdflatex you can comment the other assignments with a previous !:

% !arara: pdflatex: { draft: true }
% !arara: makeindex: {  style: stylefile.ist }
% !arara: biber
% !arara: pdflatex: { synctex: true }
% arara: pdflatex: { synctex: true }

The different compilation rules have more options and can be modified for your specification easily.

The integration and usage of the tool arara in TeXworks is described in the manual in section 4.1.

The suggested order of execution could lead to incorrect results. makeindex should be called after the result of biber has been compiled by (pdf)LaTeX, and in general one should not run makeindex after the first run of LaTeX (e.g., the table of contents should be longer than 1 page. — Guido, Nov 15 '12 at 21:12
@Guido: In general I agree with you. In your case we need two draft runs before and after makeindex. — Marco Daniel, Nov 16 '12 at 15:53

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 16 '12 at 03:13

12

A little bit late, and the solution has been mentioned before in this thread, but I had just the same problem. A quick solution to use pdfLaTeX with biber in TeXworks is to use a batch file.

Create the file pdflatex+biber.bat in your MiKTeX directory, in the subfolder /miktex/bin/, with the following content:

miktex-pdftex.exe -synctex=1 -undump=pdflatex "%1"
biber.exe "%2"
miktex-pdftex.exe -synctex=1 -undump=pdflatex "%1"

Now open the typesetting editor of TeXworks and add a new setting. Name it appropriate (e.g. "pdfLatex+Biber") and give the path to your batchfile (.../miktex/bin/pdflatex+biber.bat). Add two arguments: $fullname and $basename.

That's it, works fine for me and I think, the solution can be adopted to other situations, where more/other programs have to be involved in the typesetting process.

edited Nov 16 '12 at 03:13

Mensch

65,388

answered Nov 13 '12 at 16:38

benne08

121

1

Putting your own batch file into the main MiKTeX tree is dangerous, see Purpose of local texmf trees. For MikTeX then: Create a local texmf tree in MiKTeX. – Speravir Nov 13 '12 at 21:16
BTW Why did you set all commands into one line? Put them into 3 lines and the code is far better readable. – Speravir Nov 13 '12 at 21:21
Thanks for mention the fact about the main MiKTeX tree :-) I didn't had that in mind...
Formatting: I didn't found an explanation for setting up Biber with MiKTeX anywhere on the web, and when I was happy with my solution I didn't care about the formatting. But you're right, and I changed the code above :-)
– benne08 Nov 15 '12 at 16:47
@Speravir So is it fine to put the batch files in a local texmf tree? Which folder would be a good choice? texmf/bin? – Bart Michels May 28 '18 at 06:15
@Schneider Yes, exactly. – Speravir Jan 05 '20 at 01:58

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 12 '13 at 00:11

In the pdflatex + makeindex + bibtex-typesetting-configuration that you describe, TeXworks relies on texify. You can tell texify to run biber instead of bibtex via the environment variable BIBTEX (texify documentation).

Normally you can set the Variable here: Control Panel --> System --> Advanced system settings --> Advanced --> Environment Variables --> New. However, I would not recommend doing that, as it will break any legacy project you might be using with bibtex.

Instead, I'd recommand setting up a Batch-File:

@set BIBTEX=biber
@texify %*

Then you set up a new typesetting in TeXworks. It should get the same Arguments as the pdflatex + makeindex + bibtex-Typesetting and the Batch-File as a command.

But there is another caveat: With texify might not reliably detect that it needs to re-run after biber changed things. You can re-run the whole thing manually, when in doubt. There is also this workaround that relies on inserting some code into your main TeX-File.

As you can see, this seems to be quite experimental the other solutions with different tools or editors might be more easy.

I tried set BIBTEX=biber and set BIBTEX=full/path/to/biber.exe, as suggested here, but none seem to work. — Foad, Jan 20 '24 at 19:33

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 01 '12 at 18:19

Compiling a *TeX document can be involved - for example, if you wish to produce an index you have to run something more but the simple pdflatex, bibtex, pdflatex (or biber in your case). Therefore, I chose eventually to use latexmk which takes care of all this automatically - so far it didn't let down!

I'm not familiar with the windows setting, but I guess you could set the editor to use latexmk for the compilation of a document.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 24 '16 at 04:13

0

@benne08 solution worked perfectly from the texmf-local as instructed by @speravir and is the easiest option to use I found from all sources. The following is more obvious and simpler to set up for one off testing.

Add Biber using |TeXworks|Edit>Preferences…>|[Typesetting]| finding .../miktex/bin/biber.exe

Add $basename as an argument. You can add –U and –u if you want it to input and the output in utf8 encoding (These utf8 arguments I haven’t checked personally).

Then run the individual steps e.g.: PdfLaTex -> Biber -> PdfLaTex from the typesetting bar.

answered Feb 24 '16 at 04:13

Jethro Belle

138
6

See also Biblatex with Biber: Configuring my editor to avoid undefined citations, if you think the answers for TeXworks there needs improvement, please go ahead and edit it. – moewe Feb 24 '16 at 05:21
The entry was excellent and esentially identical with provided graphics (I missed it due to the title). I made a slight clarafication about finding the executable that was not self evident. – Jethro Belle Feb 28 '16 at 14:24
Mhhh, did you really find it necessary to provide the full path to Biber, normally I would expect that to not be necessary. Biber would probably be installed in a directory that is in the path. – moewe Feb 28 '16 at 16:15
Duhhhh! I did a quick edit based late last night on your suggestion and realised later :-( I should have tested rather than interpreted. Thanks fo the nudge, I will re-edit. – Jethro Belle Feb 28 '16 at 21:40

How to automate using biber in MiKTeX-TeXworks

5 Answers5

Linked