52

I've been trying to use this post to create a bibliography (natbib: use the harvard referencing system) but am receiving the error .bbl' not created by bib latex.

My .tex file

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[style=authoryear,backend=biber]{biblatex}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{filecontents,hyperref}

\title{Assignment \#1}
\author{}
\date{March 29, 2014}


\begin{filecontents}{bibtest.bib}
@online{zappone2009supermarketduopoly,
author = {Zappone, C.},
title = {Supermarket duopoly blamed for soaring food prices},
year = {2009}, 
url = {http://www.smh.com.au/business/supermarket-duopoly-blamed-for-soaring-food-    prices-20091109-i3tn.html},
urldate = {2014-29-03}
}

\end{filecontents}

\bibliography{bibtest}


\begin{document}


\maketitle    

\section*{Question 1}

\subsection*{Woolworths}

\textit{Core Business:}

\parencite{zappone2009supermarketduopoly}.




\printbibliography

\end{document}

Would anyone know what the problem is?

Thank you for your help.

Community
  • 1

4 Answers4

45

The .bbl files created by a normal BibTeX run and a Biber run (or BibTeX with biblatex) are completely different and they are not compatible with each other.

Surely you've used a file where a "normal" bibliography was used and afterwards you've switched to biblatex.

That's why biblatex is complaining that the .bbl file has not been created by it.

The solution is to delete the .bbl file and run pdflatex and Biber again.

This is the contents of the .bbl file generated by biblatex with Biber from your bibliography:

% $ biblatex auxiliary file $
% $ biblatex bbl format version 2.3 $
% Do not modify the above lines!
%
% This is an auxiliary file used by the 'biblatex' package.
% This file may safely be deleted. It will be recreated by
% biber as required.
%
\begingroup
\makeatletter
\@ifundefined{ver@biblatex.sty}
  {\@latex@error
     {Missing 'biblatex' package}
     {The bibliography requires the 'biblatex' package.}
      \aftergroup\endinput}
  {}
\endgroup


\refsection{0}
  \sortlist{entry}{nyt}
    \entry{zappone2009supermarketduopoly}{online}{}
      \name{labelname}{1}{}{%
        {{uniquename=0,hash=af62e8eb39454b026c19a85900defef2}{Zappone}{Z\bibinitperiod}{C.}{C\bibinitperiod}{}{}{}{}}%
      }
      \name{author}{1}{}{%
        {{uniquename=0,hash=af62e8eb39454b026c19a85900defef2}{Zappone}{Z\bibinitperiod}{C.}{C\bibinitperiod}{}{}{}{}}%
      }
      \strng{namehash}{af62e8eb39454b026c19a85900defef2}
      \strng{fullhash}{af62e8eb39454b026c19a85900defef2}
      \field{sortinit}{Z}
      \field{labelyear}{2009}
      \field{datelabelsource}{}
      \field{labeltitle}{Supermarket duopoly blamed for soaring food prices}
      \field{title}{Supermarket duopoly blamed for soaring food prices}
      \field{urlday}{03}
      \field{urlmonth}{29}
      \field{urlyear}{2014}
      \field{year}{2009}
      \verb{url}
      \verb http://www.smh.com.au/business/supermarket-duopoly-blamed-for-soaring-food-%20prices-20091109-i3tn.html
      \endverb
    \endentry
  \endsortlist
\endrefsection
\endinput

As you can see, it doesn't even contain the thebibliography environment...

As a side note, when using biblatex, it is recommended to use

\addbibresource{bibtest.bib}

instead of

\bibliography{bibtest}

The latter works for compatibility only.

karlkoeller
  • 124,410
  • Thank you Karl. When I run the my .tex file in TexWorks, I am running it with the options - pdflatex + MakeIndex + BibTex. However, no .bbl file is being created. The program runs without error, but the output after \parentcite{zappone2009supermarketduopoly} is just zappone2009supermarketduopoly. If I initially run BibTex first, it creates an empty .bbl file. –  Mar 29 '14 at 13:03
  • @Giri See this thread for configuring TeXWorks to run Biber: http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/69705/27635 – karlkoeller Mar 29 '14 at 16:38
5

You have to write \addbibresource{bibtest.bib} (with the .bib extension) instead of \bibliography{bibtest}(without the extension).

Bernard
  • 271,350
  • 1
    While \bibliography{filename} is generally deprecated in favour of \addbibresource{filename.bib}, the former does still work as advertised (if used correctly, but then, one also has to use \addbibresource properly). – moewe Mar 29 '14 at 12:40
1

Anecdotally, I just had the same problem: no bbl file being created. The default log messages weren't any help. I used a program called "rubber", which showed me I had used an undefined command in one place. After fixing that, the problem was gone.

Bernard
  • 271,350
user207046
  • 155
0

You can get the bbl file if you click on the "log and other files" icon next to compile, recompile icon just above the pdf viewer. Then you can scroll down, and at the bottom you have a "log and other file" icon/button, you can select it to download the bbl file. Or just delete the cached files using the icon next and the re-run the latex file.

Chirantha Peramunage
  • 1
  • 5
    Welcome to TeX.SE! Please see that not all people here use overleaf. You are describing an function of overleaf and it was not mentioned in the question of the OP that overleaf is used ... I guess what you describe is not a solution for the OP ... – Mensch Aug 20 '19 at 04:41