BibLaTeX name format

Question

I customized a bbx file for biblatex. I would like to have my references this way:

[namepartprefix] [namepartfamily], [namepartgiveni] ...

Unfortinately, there are some spurious spaces before the name prefix (see attachments below), which I can't get rid of. I know that you have to take care of spaces at the end of a line in your source code. I have put some % signs right at the end of all related lines in my bbx file. Though, it does not work properly. Where is my mistake?

Plus, the name prefix is missing from the label names, that appear as citations. How can I insert the von/de etc part to the label?

---

bbx-text.tex

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage[backend=biber,style=epicstructure,sorting=nyt]{biblatex}
    \addbibresource{test-companion.bib}

\begin{document}


\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

test-companion.bib:

@Book{Alpha:2002,
  author    = {Beta von Alpha},
  year      = {2002},
  title     = {Book title},
  edition   = {2},
  note      = {(= optional note)},
  keywords  = {Walter,KAetGen},
  publisher = {Chicago},
}

@book{Gamma:2015,
    editor = {Delta Gamma and Zeta Epsilon and Sigma Rho},
    Publisher = {Berlin},
    Title = {Another book},
    Year = {2015},
    edition = {3}}

@article{Iota:1998,
    Author = {Kappa Iota},
    Journal = {journal name},
    Volume = {24},
    Pages = {11--18},
    Title = {article title},
    Year = {1998},
    keywords={KAetGen}}

@incollection{Ny:2018,
    Author = {Lambda Ny},
    Booktitle = {book title},
    Editor = {E. Ditor},
    Pages = {93--129},
    Publisher = {London},
    Title = {article title},
    Year = {2018}}

epicstructure.bbx:

\ProvidesFile{epicstructure.bbx}[2018/06/29 v1.0 biblatex bibliography style]

% Load the standard style to avoid copy-pasting unnecessary material
\RequireBibliographyStyle{authoryear}

\ExecuteBibliographyOptions{dashed=true}
\setlength{\bibparsep}{0em}


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%% Eigene Änderungen                           %%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%% Titel kursiv
\DeclareFieldFormat{title}{\mkbibemph{#1}\isdot}
\DeclareFieldFormat[article]{title}{#1}
\DeclareFieldFormat[inbook,incollection]{title}{#1}


%%% Seitenzahlen in Zitaten ohne "S. " davor
\DeclareFieldFormat{postnote}{#1}
\DeclareFieldFormat{multipostnote}{#1}

%%% Seiten bei article ohne "pp. "
\DeclareFieldFormat{pages}{#1}
\newcommand*{\bibpagespunctarticle}{\addcolon\addspace}
\newcommand*{\bibpagespunctincollinbook}{\adddot\addspace}


%%% "/" zwischen mehreren Autoren
\renewcommand*{\multinamedelim}{\addslash}%
\renewcommand*{\finalnamedelim}{\addslash}%
\renewcommand*{\multilistdelim}{\addslash}%
\renewcommand*{\finallistdelim}{\addslash}%


\DeclareNameFormat{author}{%
  \ifblank{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
    \ifblank{\namepartgiven}{}{\addcomma\addspace\namepartgiveni}%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

\DeclareNameFormat{editor}{%
%  \ifblank{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
    \ifblank{\namepartgiven}{}{\addcomma\addspace\namepartgiveni}%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

\DeclareNameFormat{reversed}{%
  \ifblank{\namepartgiven}{}{\namepartgiveni\addspace}%
  \ifblank{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

\renewbibmacro*{author}{%
  \ifboolexpr{%
    test \ifuseauthor%
    and%
    not test {\ifnameundef{author}}%
  }%
    {\printnames[author]{author}}%
    {}%
}

\renewbibmacro*{editor}{%
  \ifboolexpr{%
    test \ifuseeditor%
    and%
    not test {\ifnameundef{editor}}%
  }%
    {\printnames[author]{editor}}%
    {}%
}

\renewbibmacro*{author/editor}{%
  \ifboolexpr{%
    test \ifuseauthor%
    and%
    not test {\ifnameundef{author}}%
  }%
    {\usebibmacro{author}}%
    {\usebibmacro{editor}}%
}


\newbibmacro*{pages+article}{%
  \setunit{\bibpagespunctarticle}%
  \printfield{pages}%
  \newunit%
}


\renewcommand*{\bibnamedash}{%
    \rule[.5ex]{2em}{.15ex}.%
}


%%% ed./eds.
\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{%
  editor={ed\adddot},%
  editors={eds\adddot},%
  in={in}%
}

\newbibmacro*{editorstrng}{%
  \ifthenelse{\value{editor}>1}%\OR\ifandothers{editor}}%
    {\bibstring{editors}}%
    {\bibstring{editor}}%
}

\DeclareFieldFormat{edition}{%
  #1%
}

\newbibmacro*{editionsupscr}{%
  \iffieldundef{edition}%
    {}%
    {\textsuperscript{\printfield{edition}}}%
}

%%% (year)//(ed., year) -- article/book
\newbibmacro*{editor+edition+year}{%
  \ifnameundef{editor}%
    {\mkbibparens{\usebibmacro{editionsupscr}\printfield{year}}}%
    {\mkbibparens{\usebibmacro{editorstrng}\addcomma\addspace\usebibmacro{editionsupscr}\printfield{year}}}%
}

%%% (year) -- inbook/incoll
\newbibmacro*{yearinbkcoll}{%
  \mkbibparens{\printfield{year}}%
}



\newbibmacro*{reversed:author}{%
    \printnames[reversed]{author}%
}

\newbibmacro*{reversed:editor}{%
    \printnames[reversed]{editor}\addspace\mkbibparens{\usebibmacro{editorstrng}}%
}


\renewbibmacro*{in:}{%
  \biblcstring{in}\intitlepunct%
}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


\renewbibmacro*{publisher+location+date}{%
  \printlist{publisher}%
  \iflistundef{publisher}%
    {\setunit*{\addcomma\addspace}}%
    {\setunit*{\addcolon\addspace}}%
  \printlist{location}%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\addspace}%
  \usebibmacro{date}%
  \newunit%
}

\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{%
  \printfield{volume}%
%  \setunit*{\adddot}%
  \iffieldundef{number}{}{(\printfield{number})}%
  \setunit{\addcomma\addspace}%
  \printfield{eid}%
}



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%% Änderungen an Bibliography-Drivern          %%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%% article: FERTIG
\DeclareBibliographyDriver{article}{%
  \usebibmacro{bibindex}%
  \usebibmacro{begentry}%
  \usebibmacro{author/editor}\addspace%
  \usebibmacro{editor+edition+year}\newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{title}\addcomma%
  \newunit%
  \usebibmacro{journal+issuetitle}%
  \newunit%
  \usebibmacro{pages+article}%
  \usebibmacro{finentry}%
}



%%% book: FERTIG
\DeclareBibliographyDriver{book}{%
  \usebibmacro{bibindex}%
  \usebibmacro{begentry}%
  \usebibmacro{author/editor}\addspace%
  \usebibmacro{editor+edition+year}\newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{maintitle+title}%
  \newunit%
  \iffieldundef{maintitle}%
    {\printfield{volume}%
     \printfield{part}}%
    {}%
  \newunit%
  \printfield{volumes}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{series+number}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{publisher+location+date}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \printfield{note}%
  \usebibmacro{finentry}%
}



%%% inbook: work
\DeclareBibliographyDriver{inbook}{%
  \usebibmacro{bibindex}%
  \usebibmacro{begentry}%
  \usebibmacro{author}\addspace%
  \usebibmacro{yearinbkcoll}\newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{title}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{in:}%
  \usebibmacro{reversed:editor}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{maintitle+booktitle}%
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{publisher+location+date}\adddot%
  \printfield{pages}%
  \printfield{note}%
  \usebibmacro{finentry}%
}


\DeclareBibliographyAlias{incollection}{inbook}

\endinput

epicstructure.cbx:

\ProvidesFile{epicstructure.cbx}
[\abx@cbxid]

\ExecuteBibliographyOptions{labeldateparts,uniquename,uniquelist,autocite=inline}

\renewcommand*{\iffinalcitedelim}{\iflastcitekey}

\newbool{cbx:parens}

\newbibmacro*{cite}{%
  \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldundef{labelyear}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
        \setunit{\printdelim{nonameyeardelim}}}
       {\printnames[bibhyperref]{labelname}%
        \setunit{\printdelim{nameyeardelim}}}%
     \usebibmacro{cite:labeldate+extradate}}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}

\newbibmacro*{citeyear}{%
  \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\iffieldundef{labelyear}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:label}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:labeldate+extradate}}}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}

\newbibmacro*{textcite}{%
  \ifnameundef{labelname}
    {\iffieldundef{shorthand}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
        \setunit{%
          \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
          \printdelim{nonameyeardelim}\bibopenparen}%
        \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
          {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
          {}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:labeldate+extradate}}
       {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}
    {\printnames[bibhyperref]{labelname}%
     \setunit{%
       \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
       \printdelim{nameyeardelim}\bibopenparen}%
     \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
       {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
       {}%
     \usebibmacro{citeyear}}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:shorthand}{%
  \printtext[bibhyperref]{\printfield{shorthand}}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:label}{%
  \iffieldundef{label}
    {\printtext[bibhyperref]{\printfield[citetitle]{labeltitle}}}
    {\printtext[bibhyperref]{\printfield{label}}}}

\newbibmacro*{cite:labeldate+extradate}{%
  \iffieldundef{labelyear}
    {}
    {\printtext[bibhyperref]{\usebibmacro{editionsupscr}\printlabeldateextra}}}

\newbibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}{%
  \blx@warning{bibmacro 'cite:labelyear+extrayear' is deprecated.\MessageBreak
    Please use 'cite:labeldate+extradate'.\MessageBreak
    Using 'cite:labeldate+extradate' instead}%
  \usebibmacro{cite:labeldate+extradate}}

\newbibmacro*{textcite:postnote}{%
  \iffieldundef{postnote}
    {\ifbool{cbx:parens}
       {\bibcloseparen}
       {}}
    {\ifbool{cbx:parens}
       {\setunit{\postnotedelim}}
       {\setunit{\extpostnotedelim\bibopenparen}}%
     \printfield{postnote}\bibcloseparen}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\cite}
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}%
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{cite}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand*{\cite}
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}%
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{citeyear}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\parencite}[\mkbibparens]
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}%
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{cite}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand*{\parencite}[\mkbibparens]
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{citeyear}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\footcite}%[\mkbibfootnote]
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{cite}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\footcitetext}[\mkbibfootnotetext]
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{cite}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\smartcite}[\iffootnote\mkbibparens\mkbibfootnote]
  {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \usebibmacro{cite}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\textcite}
  {\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
  {\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
   \iffirstcitekey
     {\setcounter{textcitetotal}{1}}
     {\stepcounter{textcitetotal}%
      \textcitedelim}%
   \usebibmacro{textcite}}
  {\ifbool{cbx:parens}
     {\bibcloseparen\global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
     {}}
  {\usebibmacro{textcite:postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\citeauthor}
  {\boolfalse{citetracker}%
   \boolfalse{pagetracker}%
   \usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\ifciteindex
     {\indexnames{labelname}}
     {}%
   \printnames[bibhyperref]{labelname}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand*{\citeauthor}
  {\boolfalse{citetracker}%
   \boolfalse{pagetracker}%
   \usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\ifciteindex
     {\indexnames{labelname}}
     {}%
   \printnames[bibhyperref][1-1]{labelname}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\citeyear}
  {\boolfalse{citetracker}%
   \boolfalse{pagetracker}%
   \usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\printfield[bibhyperref]{year}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand*{\citeyear}
  {\boolfalse{citetracker}%
   \boolfalse{pagetracker}%
   \usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\printfield[bibhyperref]{\usebibmacro{editionsupscr}year}\printfield{extradate}}
  {\multicitedelim}
  {\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareMultiCiteCommand{\textcites}{\textcite}{}

\endinput

Answer 1

The main problem is the use of \ifblank to check for empty name parts. Since the name parts are macros, you must use \ifdefvoid. \ifblank checks if a supplied string is blank, but \ifdefvoid checks if the supplied command sequence expands to a blank string (more or less).

So your name formats should read

\DeclareNameFormat{author}{%
  \ifdefvoid{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
    \ifdefvoid{\namepartgiven}{}{\addcomma\addspace\namepartgiveni}%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

\DeclareNameFormat{editor}{%
%  \ifdefvoid{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
    \ifdefvoid{\namepartgiven}{}{\addcomma\addspace\namepartgiveni}%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

\DeclareNameFormat{reversed}{%
  \ifdefvoid{\namepartgiven}{}{\namepartgiveni\addspace}%
  \ifdefvoid{\namepartprefix}{}{\namepartprefix\addspace}%
  \namepartfamily%
  \ifthenelse{\value{listcount}<\value{liststop}}%
    {\multinamedelim}%
    {}%
}

I believe, however, that

\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}

\DeclareNameAlias{reversed}{given-family}

together with the options useprefix=true,giveninits=true would give the same result with less work.

---

Have a look at §4.11.7 Using the Punctuation Tracker of the biblatex manual. You should never have naked \addspaces in your bibliography driver. They should always be wrapped into a \setunit (or \setunit*).

\DeclareBibliographyDriver{article}{%
  \usebibmacro{bibindex}%
  \usebibmacro{begentry}%
  \usebibmacro{author/editor}
  \setunit{\addspace}%
  \usebibmacro{editor+edition+year}
  \newunit\newblock%
  \usebibmacro{title}
  \setunit{\addcomma}%
  \usebibmacro{journal+issuetitle}%
  \newunit%
  \usebibmacro{pages+article}%
  \usebibmacro{finentry}%
}

A few other things.

multinamedelim and friends are context-sensitive now, so I would use

\DeclareDelimFormat{multinamedelim}{\addslash}%
\DeclareDelimAlias{finalnamedelim}{multinamedelim}%
\DeclareDelimFormat{multilistdelim}{\addslash}%
\DeclareDelimAlias{finallistdelim}{multilistdelim}%

I think you can get rid of your redefinitions of author if you just issue the option dashed=false. For editor that might need a bit more work...

Never use \mkbibparens or other direct punctuation or formatting commands in bibmacros. Use \DeclareFieldFormat and \printtext instead (\DeclareFieldFormat is usually the better option, but sometimes one needs \printtext).

\DeclareFieldFormat{superedition}{%
  \ifinteger{#1}
    {}
    {\PackageWarning{epicstructure}{%
       Hang on! #1 does not look like an integer edition.\MessageBreak
       I will print it as superscript,\MessageBreak but it might look weird}}%
  \textsuperscript{#1}%
}

%%% (year)//(ed., year) -- article/book
\newbibmacro*{editor+edition+year}{%
  \printtext[parens]{%
    \ifnameundef{editor}%
      {}
      {\usebibmacro{editorstrng}%
       \setunit{\addcomma\space}}%
    \printfield[superedition]{edition}%
    \iflabeldateisdate
      {\printlabeldate}
      {\printfield{year}}% <- still don't like that...
  }%
}

For yearinbkcoll you could use the global option date=year and then

\newbibmacro*{yearinbkcoll}{%
  \iffieldundef{year}
    {}
    {\printtext[parens]{\printdate}}%
}

\newbibmacro*{reversed:editor}{%
    \printnames[reversed]{editor}%
    \setunit{\addspace}
    \printtext[parens]{\usebibmacro{editorstrng}}%
}

\DeclareFieldFormat[article,periodical]{number}{\mkbibparens{#1}}

\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{%
  \printfield{volume}%
%  \setunit*{\adddot}%
  \printfield{number}%
  \setunit{\addcomma\addspace}%
  \printfield{eid}%
}