BibTeX, biblatex and biber ⇒ Missing information in a BBL file

[profpaul]

The answer to this issue is probably straightforward, but after several days of searching, I can't find it. The issue is that a single reference in BBL file is missing most of its fields, having been compiled from a BIB file using BiBTeX. For example, here is the BiBTeX entry:

@ARTICLE{Richards2008,
author = {S.J. Richards},
title = {Applying Survivor Models to Pensioner Mortality Data},
journal = {British Actuarial Journal},
year = {2008},
volume = {14},
pages = {257-326},
number = {2}
}

and here is the entry in the BBL file:

\bibitem[Richards()]{Richards2008}
S.J. Richards.
\newblock \emph{British Actuarial Journal}

Deleting or moving this entry just means that another entry is affected instead - a search for "()" highlights the problem entry for any iteration. This suggests that something s missing earlier in the BIB file, but I've checked and double checked that all the braces match. I've also loaded the file into JabRef, which suggests that all the correct fields are populated. There are some accents for e.g. German authors, but I think these are dealt with correctly (e.g. \"{u}). Any ideas what's happening? The BIB file is uploaded if anyone wants to have a play (I can't upload the BBL file)...

Thanks!

Paul

[frabjous]

Could you provide a minimal working example of a TeX document, with the appropiate BibTeX style and related packages, that generate the error? If I simply do:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\nocite{*}
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{mmrisk6}
\end{document}

...then everything seems to be fine with the output, including the Richards entry. I'll attach the output. (I loaded the hyperref package since you use the command \url{...} in some of the entries.) So I'm guessing the problem is specific to the BibTeX style you're using, or perhaps some bibliography or citation-related package you're loading.

[profpaul]

Richards is fine, Vanderhei is blank!

The problem can be found by running bibtex and doing a search for () in the BBL file. Attached is the same (renamed) bibtex file and a skeleton tex file.

Thanks!

Paul

[profpaul]

...actually, VanDerhei is only blank in mine - yours looks fine. Very odd...any suggestions on alternative bibliographic packages if (say) natbib is causing the problem also welcome!

Paul

[frabjous]

Well, the mystery deepens. No problems for me even if I use your minimal file skeleton. I'm attaching the output PDF, along with the .bbl (renamed so the forum would take it), and log file. The only thing I changed was to add "\listfiles" to the beginning of the document so it would generate a file list at the end of the log. Here it is, by the way:

Code: Select all

 *File List*
    book.cls    2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
    bk10.clo    2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
 amsmath.sty    2000/07/18 v2.13 AMS math features
 amstext.sty    2000/06/29 v2.01
  amsgen.sty    1999/11/30 v2.0
  amsbsy.sty    1999/11/29 v1.2d
  amsopn.sty    1999/12/14 v2.01 operator names
amsfonts.sty    2009/06/22 v3.00 Basic AMSFonts support
 amssymb.sty    2009/06/22 v3.00
  epsfig.sty    1999/02/16 v1.7a (e)psfig emulation (SPQR)
graphicx.sty    1999/02/16 v1.0f Enhanced LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
  keyval.sty    1999/03/16 v1.13 key=value parser (DPC)
graphics.sty    2009/02/05 v1.0o Standard LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
    trig.sty    1999/03/16 v1.09 sin cos tan (DPC)
graphics.cfg    2010/04/23 v1.9 graphics configuration of TeX Live
  pdftex.def    2011/01/28 v0.05d Graphics/color for pdfTeX
   float.sty    2001/11/08 v1.3d Float enhancements (AL)
  framed.sty    2007/10/04 v 0.95: framed or shaded text with page breaks
  lscape.sty    2000/10/22 v3.01 Landscape Pages (DPC)
  natbib.sty    2010/09/13 8.31b (PWD, AO)
pst-grad.sty    2004/07/15 package wrapper for pst-grad.tex (hv)
pstricks.sty    2010/09/18 v0.47 LaTeX wrapper for `PSTricks' (RN,HV)
pstricks.tex    2010/11/25 v2.15 `PSTricks' (tvz,hv)
pst-xkey.tex    2005/11/25 v1.6 PSTricks specialization of xkeyval (HA)
 xkeyval.sty    2008/08/13 v2.6a package option processing (HA)
 xkeyval.tex    2008/08/13 v2.6a key=value parser (HA)
  pst-fp.tex    2010/11/25 v2.15 `PST-fp' (hv)
  xcolor.sty    2007/01/21 v2.11 LaTeX color extensions (UK)
   color.cfg    2007/01/18 v1.5 color configuration of teTeX/TeXLive
pst-grad.tex    2006/11/27 1.06 `pst-grad' (tvz)
pst-plot.sty    2010/01/22 package wrapper for pst-plot.tex
pst-plot.tex    2011/01/24 1.26 `pst-plot' (tvz,hv)
pst-3dplot.sty    2010/01/01 package wrapper for pst-3dplot.tex (hv)
  pst-3d.sty    2009/07/28 package wrapper for pst-3d.tex (hv)
  pst-3d.tex    2010/02/14 v1.11 `PST-3d' (hv)
pst-node.sty    2010/04/22 package wrapper for pst-node.tex
pst-node.tex    2010/12/28 1.14 `pst-node' (tvz)
 multido.sty    2004/05/17 package wrapper for PSTricks `multido.tex', (HV/RN)
pst-3dplot.tex    2010/02/17 v1.90 `PST-3dplot' (hv)
pst-vue3d.sty    2007/03/26 package wrapper for pst-vue3d.tex (hv)
pst-vue3d.tex    2008/02/21 v1.24 `pst-vue3d' (ML,hv)
pst-text.sty    2006/01/01 package wrapper for pst-text.tex (hv)
pst-text.tex    2006/11/05 1.00 `pst-text' (tvz)
pstricks-add.sty    2010/02/11 v. 0.14 package wrapper for pstricks-add.tex (hv
)
pstricks-add.tex    2011/01/18 v3.49 `PSTricks-add' (hv)
     url.sty    2006/04/12  ver 3.3  Verb mode for urls, etc.
supp-pdf.mkii
pdftexcmds.sty    2010/04/01 v0.9 Utility functions of pdfTeX for LuaTeX (HO)
infwarerr.sty    2010/04/08 v1.3 Providing info/warning/message (HO)
ifluatex.sty    2010/03/01 v1.3 Provides the ifluatex switch (HO)
 ltxcmds.sty    2010/04/26 v1.7 LaTeX kernel commands for general use (HO)
epstopdf-base.sty    2010/02/09 v2.5 Base part for package epstopdf
  grfext.sty    2007/09/30 v1.0 Managing graphics extensions (HO)
kvoptions.sty    2010/02/22 v3.7 Keyval support for LaTeX options (HO)
kvsetkeys.sty    2010/03/01 v1.9 Key value parser (HO)
etexcmds.sty    2010/01/28 v1.3 Prefix for e-TeX command names (HO)
epstopdf-sys.cfg    2010/07/13 v1.3 Configuration of (r)epstopdf for TeX Live
mmrisk_min.bbl
    umsa.fd    2009/06/22 v3.00 AMS symbols A
    umsb.fd    2009/06/22 v3.00 AMS symbols B

I generated that because I wondered whether we were using different versions of some relevant package that might explain it.

(Oh, and FWIW, I'm using BibTeX 0.99d. I was also going to upload the BibTeX log (.blg file), but I'm limited to three attachments.)

[profpaul]

I'm using bibtex 0.99b.

Odd...although I'm less concerned knowing that you can compile this bibliography ok - it suggests that when this goes to the publishers, they should also be ok!

I'll try upgrading to miktex 2.9 and see if that does any good...

Thanks for your help!