BibTeX, biblatex and biber ⇒ References with Harvard package: why it doesnt work?

[Thelittlefox]

Hello all,

I am writing up my thesis and I need to write my refernces in the Hatvard fashion.
I have tried the following thing:
I have downloaded the harvard package from a CTAN page, but although I type in the main file ( I neglect the non important bits here):
\documentclass[12pt,oneside,a4paper,onecolumn,draft]{report}
\usepackage{harvard}
.....
\begin{document}
....
\include{Introduction} % A chapter.
\include{Literature_Review}
....
%References

\bibliographystyle{agsm}
\bibliography{References_file}

\end{document}
However, this code gives me a very weird message, something like "Paragraph ended before \ltx@LocalAppendToMacro was complete." Obviously there is a problem in the package. Please note that I am using Texmaker on a Windows operating system (not Linux!)
Alternatively I tried to use the natbib package and plainnat style but in this way , although I get the right citation in the text, I am not happy with the order of author/book/...year at the end of the page and I'd like to modify this.
Please HELP ME!!!
Thank you very much in advanced, the little fox.

[localghost]

Your question cannot be answered without some more useful information. Prepare a proper and minimal example reduced to essential packages. This makes the problem comprehensible for everybody and will increase significantly your chance for getting an answer.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[Thelittlefox]

Dear Thorsten,

many thanks for your remark. Here it is the simple code:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[12pt,oneside,a4paper,onecolumn,draft]{report}
\usepackage{harvard}
\begin{document}
...\cite{Aris} 
 \bibliographystyle{agsm}
   \bibliography{References_file}       
\end{document}

The References_file is a standard .bib file which contains entries like:

Code: Select all

@Book{Aris,
   author = {R. Aris},
   title = {Vectors, Tensors and the Basic Equation of Fluid Mechanics},
   publisher = {Dover Books on Engineering},
   year = {1999},
}

Now, it works perfectly fine on my laptop, but not on my computer. In the case of the laptop I simply tried to compile the code and I let it find the missing package (harvard). In the case of my computer I installed the package harvard from a CTAN webpage. I suspect the code has a bug because the error message that I get is:

! Paragraph ended before \ltx@LocalAppendToMacro was complete.
<to be read again>
\par
l.6523 }{}
I suspect you've forgotten a `}', causing me to apply this
control sequence to too much text. How can we recover?
My plan is to forget the whole thing and hope for the best.
! LaTeX Error: Lonely \item--perhaps a missing list environment.
See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type H <return> for immediate help.
...
l.6523 }{}
Try typing <return> to proceed.
If that doesn't work, type X <return> to quit.
! Undefined control sequence.
<argument> ...##5\par {\item []\hyper@anchorstart
{cite.##4}\relax \hyper@an...
l.6523 }{}
The control sequence at the end of the top line
of your error message was never \def'ed. If you have
misspelled it (e.g., `\hobx'), type `I' and the correct
spelling (e.g., `I\hbox'). Otherwise just continue,
and I'll forget about whatever was undefined.
! You can't use `macro parameter character #' in horizontal mode.
<argument> ...{\item []\hyper@anchorstart {cite.##
4}\relax \hyper@anchorend ...
l.6523 }{}
Sorry, but I'm not programmed to handle this case;
I'll just pretend that you didn't ask for it.
If you're in the wrong mode, you might be able to
return to the right one by typing `I}' or `I$' or `I\par'.
! Undefined control sequence.
<argument> ...t {cite.##4}\relax \hyper@anchorend
\if@filesw \begingroup \de...
l.6523 }{}
The control sequence at the end of the top line
of your error message was never \def'ed. If you have
misspelled it (e.g., `\hobx'), type `I' and the correct
spelling (e.g., `I\hbox'). Otherwise just continue,
and I'll forget about whatever was undefined.
! Parameters must be numbered consecutively.
<to be read again>
##
l.6523 }{}
I've inserted the digit you should have used after the #.
Type `1' to delete what you did use.
! Parameters must be numbered consecutively.
<to be read again>
1

I deleted all the files I have downloades from CTAN but the problem persists. I see the error message is related to the C:/ drive. Any suggestion of how getting rid of this problem? I am working in Windows (with MikTex and Texmaker).
Many thanks in advance.

[Thelittlefox]

I solved it myself! I found something on the web that explained exactly what happened to me, I made the suggested changes and it works!
For your info, the website is : http://theseekersquill.wordpress.com/20 ... citations/
I hope this can be useful for others so they dont waste time as unfortunately happened to me. Thanks anyway!