Error Zotero "this.registry[id].disambig.given.[i] is undefined"

Shara

Hi,

I am a French student. I met a few days ago this error. I looked at the forums and I downloaded the patch "Zotero processor gadget 1.0.119" Franck Bennett. But it does not work. I do not know if I've installed properly, I only see in my firefox complementary modules. I do not know how to install it in Zotero Firefox. Can you help me? Thank you.

adamsmith

You shouldn't need the processor gadget. All such errors that we're actually aware of are fixed in the most recent version of Zotero.
So start at the beginning: Which version of Zotero are you using?
Does the error appear in a new document or only in one that already has a number of citations?
Does changing citation styles make a difference?

Shara

Thank you to answer me. I use the following versions: Extension Zotero for Firefox 4.0.12 and Zotero Standalone 4.0.11. I have no problem when it comes to a new file. He actually has a lot of citations in the documents that I use.
I changed the citation style for all my document and it works. I have no error message. I could not use the citation style I used (Manuel canadien de la référence juridique 7e éd (Guide McGill, French)) ?

adamsmith

you should be able to use any style on the repository. You're using the version from the repository (zotero.org/styes), right?

fbennett will likely have to look at this problem.

fbennett

Shara:

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble. We'll get this fixed up for you.

In order to investigate, we'll need to be able to reproduce the bug. It is probably triggered by a combination of two or more references in each document that breaks. We need to ask you to identify the specific items that cause the failure.

Start by doing steps 6 and 8 listed here:

https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents

In step 8, you will be able to find a smaller portion of the document that still produces the error. If it has a small number of citations in it, export them as Zotero RDF, paste the exported data to http://gist.github.com, save as a "Public Gist", and post the URL from the address bar back here.

If the smallest failing document chunk has many citations, try deleting citations one by one, saving the document immediately before each delete, and then refreshing citations. When the error goes away, close the document without saving: the last (failing) version contains the citations that we need for testing.

It's a big bundle of instructions, but if you can produce a small set of citations that produce the error, we should be able to track down the problem quickly.

fbennett

Shara: Actually, it will be better if you start from Step 1 in the list, just to be sure.

Shara

adamsmith: yes, I use the style on the repositery.I've updated the style in its latest version, but I still encounter the error.

fbennett: Thank you for your help. I will perform the steps beginning with step 1 and I would come back to you then.

Shara

fbennett, i found the citation that caused the error in my document. I'll post the link :

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6756991

fbennett

Thanks for this information.

I've tried importing and citing the item, and it seems to work fine with the "Manuel canadien de la référence juridique 7e éd (Guide McGill, French)" style from the Zotero repository.

That suggests the error may be specific to your document. Have you tried deleting that reference and reinserting it?

singley

I have had a similar issues today. For me the problem was the constant
Error Zotero "this.registry[id].disambig.given.[i] is undefined" message. After following the processeses you recomended I narrowed it down to downloaded newspaper citations that did not contain a title or an author. Once I added a "fake title" the issue was resolved. This is a new issue and one that has not been a problem until today.

fbennett

Oh, that's very useful! What style are you using?

singley

Chicago full note

fbennett

@singley: Hmz. I've tried a bunch of styles with a reference configured that way (Newspaper Article type, no title, no author), and I can't seem to make it fail.

I'll need to reproduce the error in order to trace the cause. If you have a reference or references that will fail when inserted into a fresh document, it will be most helpful.

singley

I'm not relly sure what you mean. The citations had been downladed well over a year ago. I have been working with the document for some time and it already contained the citation, The problem only arose for the first time this morning. They were donloaded from the Trove site operated by the National Libray of Australia.

fbennett

I've tried Chicago full note in MLZ and in Zotero 4.0.12 with the LibreOffice plugin, and the reference works there too. Since I was unable to make Shara's example fail either, I wonder whether the cause doesn't lie elsewhere. Let's confirm a few small items, just to be sure:

1. Does the error occur with the same citations inserted into a fresh document? (If not, let's assume that something in the document is making the processor fail.)


2. Do you have any other plugins installed besides Zotero and Zotero Integration? If so, disable them temporarily for testing.


3. What word processor are you using?


4. Do you have Track Changes turned on in the word processor?

fbennett

Aha. I've just triggered the error here.

Now that I can reproduce it, I should have a fix out for you within a day. Thanks for your patience, all.

singley

In answer to your questions:
1 yes and I had the same problem with a different document that had a different though similarly formatted citation. Having said that I just tried a new document and it seems to be happy to accept nespaper citations without title or author, so go figure
2 no
3 microsoft word
4 no

singley

great!

fbennett

Okay, looks like I've been able to narrow it down a little further here. The error only seems to occur when one of the citations (one with no title or author, only, I think -- that still needs testing) no longer exists in the database.

It's only a guess at this point, but Zotero may be sending data to the processor in a slightly different form or sequence when it is supplied from the document, rather than from the database.

It will take some more testing to trace down the exact change to input that triggers the error, but we're on track for a fix.

fbennett

Okay, more progress. There is no difference in the input form for references delivered from the document vs. those delivered from the database: so a humble mea culpa to the Zotero crew on that suspicion.

The error does trigger reliably on three no-author no-title references, though: two alone are not sufficient for some reason.

With a simple pattern on which to build a test, fixing this should now be straightforward enough.

More soon.

fbennett

@Shara, @singley:

Please (re)install the processor patch plugin. It should make this problem go away. The plugin only swaps the latest CSL processor version into your running (Firefox) Zotero. It can (and should) be disabled or removed when the next Zotero release comes out.

Note that the plugin works only with Zotero for Firefox.

Shara

I installed the patch but it did not work.

I deleted the Zotero reference problem and I have to insert again. This has solved my problem. I again insert citations without causing error.

Thank you very much fbennett.