Some BibTeX error messages are not displayed

[yarakos95]

Pre-checks*

• The feature request has not been suggested in this repository.

The Missed*

BibTeX has several variations, (but I'm not sure if this is really all there is to it...)

• BibTeX8
• BibTeXu
• pBibTeX
• upBibTeX

In LaTeX Workshop, errors related to BibTeX are displayed in the PROBLEMS panel, but errors related to BibTeX variations are not displayed.

demonstration

Configure tools and recipes as follows:

  "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
    {
      "name": "pdflatex",
      "command": "pdflatex",
      "args": [
        "-interaction=nonstopmode",
        "-file-line-error",
        "%DOC%"
      ],
      "env": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "bibtex",
      //
      "command": "bibtex",
      // "command": "bibtex8",
      // "command": "bibtexu",
      // "command": "pbibtex",
      // "command": "upbibtex",
      "args": [
        "%DOCFILE%"
      ],
      "env": {}
    },
  ],
  "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
    {
      "name": "PDFLaTeX",
      "tools": [
        "pdflatex"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "BibTeX",
      "tools": [
        "bibtex"
      ]
    },
  ],

Prepare the TeX file and bib file. (No errors are issued for these files)

% test.tex
\documentclass{article}
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\begin{document}

\cite{test:bib}

\bibliography{test}

\end{document}

@comment{ test.bib }
@article{test:bib,
  author          = {A author},
  journal         = {Journal},
  number          = {2},
  title           = {This is the great article},
  volume          = {1},
  year            = {2024}
}

Execute it like below:

1. Execute PDFLaTeX
2. Execute BibTeX

BibTeX will issue an error if you specify a style file that does not exist or if a required field is missing.

OUTPUT panel when specifying a style file that does not exist

Change TeX file as follows:

- \bibliographystyle{plain}
+ \bibliographystyle{noexist}

---

BibTeX:

This is BibTeX, Version 0.99d (TeX Live 2023)
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
---line 2 of file test.aux
 : \bibstyle{noexist
 :                  }
I'm skipping whatever remains of this command
I found no style file---while reading file test.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

Two messages are displayed on PROBLEMS panel:

• I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
• I found no style file

---

BibTeX8:

Reason: Input/output error
The 8-bit codepage and sorting file: 88591lat.csf
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
---line 2 of file test.aux
 : \bibstyle{noexist
 :                  }
I'm skipping whatever remains of this command
I found no style file---while reading file test.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

---

BibTeXu:

Reason: Input/output error
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
---line 2 of file test.aux
 : \bibstyle{noexist
 :                  }
I'm skipping whatever remains of this command
I found no style file---while reading file test.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

---

upBibTeX:

This is upBibTeX, Version 0.99d-j0.36-u1.29 (utf8.uptex) (TeX Live 2023)
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
---line 2 of file test.aux
 : \bibstyle{noexist
 :                  }
I'm skipping whatever remains of this command
I found no style file---while reading file test.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

OUTPUT panel when bib file without author field

Change bib file as follows:

-   author          = {A author},
+

---

BibTeX:

This is BibTeX, Version 0.99d (TeX Live 2023)
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
The style file: plain.bst
Database file #1: test.bib
Warning--to sort, need author or key in test:bib
Warning--empty author in test:bib
(There were 2 warnings)

Two messages are displayed on PROBLEMS panel:

• to sort, need author or key
• empty author

---

BibTeX8:

The 8-bit codepage and sorting file: 88591lat.csf
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
The style file: plain.bst
Database file #1: test.bib
Warning--to sort, need author or key in test:bib
Warning--empty author in test:bib
(There were 2 warnings)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

---

BibTeXu:

The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
The style file: plain.bst
Database file #1: test.bib
Warning--to sort, need author or key in test:bib
Warning--empty author in test:bib
(There were 2 warnings)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

---

upBibTeX:

This is upBibTeX, Version 0.99d-j0.36-u1.29 (utf8.uptex) (TeX Live 2023)
The top-level auxiliary file: test.aux
I couldn't open style file noexist.bst
---line 2 of file test.aux
 : \bibstyle{noexist
 :                  }
I'm skipping whatever remains of this command
I found no style file---while reading file test.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

No message will be displayed on PROBLEMS panel.

The Solution*

Even for BibTeX8, BibTeXu, pBibTeX, and upBibTeX other than BibTeX, I would like error messages to be displayed in the PROBLEMS panel in the same way as BibTeX.

Of course, there could be specific error messages that are not in BibTeX, but messages common to BibTeX should be displayed rather than no messages at all.

Version

• LaTeX Workshop: 9.19.0
• VS Code

  Version: 1.86.2 (user setup)
  Commit: 903b1e9d8990623e3d7da1df3d33db3e42d80eda
  Date: 2024-02-13T19:40:56.878Z
  Electron: 27.2.3
  ElectronBuildId: 26908389
  Chromium: 118.0.5993.159
  Node.js: 18.17.1
  V8: 11.8.172.18-electron.0
  OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631
  

• Windows11