this seems to be a real problem: I haven't had any issues myself (using zotero 4.0.29.7 in Iceweasel on a debian machine with the LibreOffice plugin), but my colleagues have received the same error message about a style being invalid that has worked fine until the day before yesterday or so. They both work with the Firefox plugin and the Word integration. The whole thing seems to work fine when using the standalone version.
The citation style used is our home brew - zotero test pane is happy with the code (chrome://zotero/content/tools/csledit.xul), http://validator.citationstyles.org/ won't test it ("taking longer than expected" - that is a separate issue, I guess), but https://simonster.github.io/csl-validator.js/ is happy, too.
I continue to use the style and I can 'reinstall' it in the style preferences - my colleages still get the error message that the very same style was invalid though it worked a few days ago. Here's the code: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/153be44d18e640b6feb63179c4e580e6.
It also don't work with LibreOffice plugin integration and in Zotero (Firefox).
Error in LibreOffice (in French) (in a new document as you say) : "Le style que vous avez sélectionné ne semble pas valide. Si vous l'avez créé vous-même, assurez-vous qu'il satisfait les conditions de validation décrites sur https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/wiki/Validation. Autrement, essayez de sélectionner un autre style."
Error in Zotero - Firefox (4.0.29.7): "Une erreur s'est produite lors de la création de votre bibliographie. Veuillez réessayer."
No error in Zotero - standalone (4.0.29.5)
@Sammour -- works for me in Word and LibreOffice on Windows and Linux.
I'd maybe try saving all your custom styles somewhere outside Zotero, then reset styles from the advanced tab and then re-install that one style -- to be 100% sure we're looking at the same thing, download it directly from where you shared it (right-click on "Raw" at the top right and save link as, then just change the file extension to .csl)
@adamsmith, Dan, @fbennett, any idea what change could have caused this? Is it citeproc-js or something in Zotero? I couldn't find anything looking through the changelogs and recent commits.
If it turns out that the error comes from a missing "self" link, this should be fixed, since that link is optional per the CSL 1.0.1 spec.
I don't know. I agree that missing or wrong self links shouldn't be breaking this (and they definitely do, even if they may not be the only cause). I just figured I want to get people back to work with their styles asap.
As for where this comes from, I only looked quickly, but I think it's triggered by a citeproc error -- but given that it only affects the FF add-on, not standalone, it must be a bit of code that is interpreted differently by FF45.
@Sammour -- there are various things going on
1) Some valid styles are marked as invalid by Zotero if certain elements are missing or "wrong". This only affects custom styles because we have a stricter test suite for "official" styles. This only affects Firefox 45. Just to be clear, this is a bug in Zotero that should get fixed. But as I say to Rintze above, I didn't want all of you to have to wait until we've figured out how, which is why I'm suggesting how you can adjust your custom styles to make them work.
2) In your specific case, either the old styles weren't overwritten properly on re-install, or something had gone wrong in your style directory, so you kept getting the error even with a fixed style. That part I'm less worried about.
@adamsmith
Sorry, I didn't get that part. I added that line and asked my colleagues to test it - it works! So problem solved (in my case) and shame on me, but it's still mysterious why it had worked without the self link for the last couple of years and stopped to do so this week.
@adamsmith -- Tried the procedure twice, still does not work. Seems I'll have to wait untill the bug is resolved.
Just in case: I have reinitialised the styles (twice) in zotero, downloaded the style from https://gist.github.com/adam3smith/481245b731d50cc35cbae7d484524b68 and saved it in the "styles" folder of zotero. Then opened a new word document, then firefox, then tried to add a citation which lets zotero ask for a style definition: whenever I chose the NEMO style, I have the same problem as before.
I have also tried to choose this style in the Document preferences, still the same problem.
@adamsmith -- One more thing: I tried with Zotero standalone, with a new word document, then document preferences; zotero accepts the style but, whenever I want to add a citation, I get the following error message: "(intermediate value)[command] is not a function".
That's extremely odd. The thing is, the only bugs that are going to get fixed are the ones we can replicate, and the style that I posted definitely works.
So let's go step by step: After resetting the styles, you don't see any traces of any NEMO style left in Zotero, correct?
When you then download the style using the "Raw" link on github, it installs without issues in Zotero?
The style then works fine in the style editor in Zotero https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/citation_styles/reference_test_pane ?
When you add a new citation in Word using a different style, it works?
When you add a new citation in Word using the NEMO style or switch to it, you get the "not valid" error message?
@adamsmith --
1- "So let's go step by step: After resetting the styles, you don't see any traces of any NEMO style left in Zotero, correct?"
Yes, no NEMO style, but I have to reinitialize the styles twice: the first time, the styles folder disappears from the zotero folder, even when I refresh the contents; it appears after a second reinitialization.
So: it seems that I did not respect the procedure, as I copied the text from github (Ctrl-A Ctrl-C) then pasted it in notebook and saved it in csl format.
I have tried again by downloading it directly through the raw button (right click then save as): it works!
For the other steps: it may be of use to know that ALL previous versions of the (NEMO) style pass the chrome://zotero/content/tools/csledit.xul test (which I use extensively when programming a style), and not only this latest version.
Anyhow: thanks, I can work with what I have (NEMO style) now; I still have to check if my two other styles will work with these modifications...
yeah, the style editor is the most forgiving test, so that's not saying much.
The fact that copying to notepad didn't work is a bit odd, but notepad (if that's what you used) is a really bad text editor, so who knows what it did to your text... (I use notepad++ on Windows, though there are many other choices)
no, not really. For some reason, the version of citeproc-js currently in Zotero 4.0.29.7 throws an error for styles without a self link. Since the self link isn't required by CSL 1.0.1, that's not right.
@Dan -- but you can with other styles, e.g. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/773010662584a52a7d792caefdd00323 ? (I can't replicate this with the SEI style w/o self link either, oddly)
@fbennett -- not sure to what degree this is relevant, but the error only seems to occur in the word processor add-on. The same styles work fine the style editor, which also uses citeproc-js, of course.
@Dan -- I saw the error, hadn't followed up, but should do, and will now. The error is in code that parses serialized XML. From the code it should be safe on valid XML, but I can think of one possibility: there might be an issue with Windows/DOS line endings. I'll check that out, more in a bit.
Yep, that's it. DOS line endings trigger failure in the word processor plugins. It seems unrelated to the self link -- the line endings were probably just converting transparently in the editor when the style file was edited to add the link.
Upgrade Storage
this seems to be a real problem: I haven't had any issues myself (using zotero 4.0.29.7 in Iceweasel on a debian machine with the LibreOffice plugin), but my colleagues have received the same error message about a style being invalid that has worked fine until the day before yesterday or so. They both work with the Firefox plugin and the Word integration. The whole thing seems to work fine when using the standalone version.
The citation style used is our home brew - zotero test pane is happy with the code (chrome://zotero/content/tools/csledit.xul), http://validator.citationstyles.org/ won't test it ("taking longer than expected" - that is a separate issue, I guess), but https://simonster.github.io/csl-validator.js/ is happy, too.
I continue to use the style and I can 'reinstall' it in the style preferences - my colleages still get the error message that the very same style was invalid though it worked a few days ago. Here's the code: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/153be44d18e640b6feb63179c4e580e6.
Thanks for any help!
Error in LibreOffice (in French) (in a new document as you say) : "Le style que vous avez sélectionné ne semble pas valide. Si vous l'avez créé vous-même, assurez-vous qu'il satisfait les conditions de validation décrites sur https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/wiki/Validation. Autrement, essayez de sélectionner un autre style."
Error in Zotero - Firefox (4.0.29.7): "Une erreur s'est produite lors de la création de votre bibliographie. Veuillez réessayer."
No error in Zotero - standalone (4.0.29.5)
<link rel="self" href="http://www.zotero.org/styles/ema-berlin"/>
added below the id
I'd maybe try saving all your custom styles somewhere outside Zotero, then reset styles from the advanced tab and then re-install that one style -- to be 100% sure we're looking at the same thing, download it directly from where you shared it (right-click on "Raw" at the top right and save link as, then just change the file extension to .csl)
If it turns out that the error comes from a missing "self" link, this should be fixed, since that link is optional per the CSL 1.0.1 spec.
I also have my solution, i just have to "re-save" all my csl style. Thank you very much ! :)
But we still didn't know why many cases appear like mine since yesterday ? Validation problem with some custom style (before resaving them...) ?
As for where this comes from, I only looked quickly, but I think it's triggered by a citeproc error -- but given that it only affects the FF add-on, not standalone, it must be a bit of code that is interpreted differently by FF45.
1) Some valid styles are marked as invalid by Zotero if certain elements are missing or "wrong". This only affects custom styles because we have a stricter test suite for "official" styles. This only affects Firefox 45. Just to be clear, this is a bug in Zotero that should get fixed. But as I say to Rintze above, I didn't want all of you to have to wait until we've figured out how, which is why I'm suggesting how you can adjust your custom styles to make them work.
2) In your specific case, either the old styles weren't overwritten properly on re-install, or something had gone wrong in your style directory, so you kept getting the error even with a fixed style. That part I'm less worried about.
Sorry, I didn't get that part. I added that line and asked my colleagues to test it - it works! So problem solved (in my case) and shame on me, but it's still mysterious why it had worked without the self link for the last couple of years and stopped to do so this week.
Thanks so much!
Best
Paul
https://gist.github.com/rmzelle/a47ceb6dfcf8151296cb615254631a3a
(it's the "TypeError: m is null")
This is with Zotero for Firefox 4.0.29.7 and the style https://gist.github.com/rmzelle/123c680d3fa9ffbfa80bd45132451e24 from this thread: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/58471/firefox-error-says-my-style-isnt-valid/
Just in case: I have reinitialised the styles (twice) in zotero, downloaded the style from https://gist.github.com/adam3smith/481245b731d50cc35cbae7d484524b68 and saved it in the "styles" folder of zotero. Then opened a new word document, then firefox, then tried to add a citation which lets zotero ask for a style definition: whenever I chose the NEMO style, I have the same problem as before.
I have also tried to choose this style in the Document preferences, still the same problem.
So let's go step by step: After resetting the styles, you don't see any traces of any NEMO style left in Zotero, correct?
When you then download the style using the "Raw" link on github, it installs without issues in Zotero?
The style then works fine in the style editor in Zotero https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/citation_styles/reference_test_pane ?
When you add a new citation in Word using a different style, it works?
When you add a new citation in Word using the NEMO style or switch to it, you get the "not valid" error message?
Please run through these and confirm one by one.
1- "So let's go step by step: After resetting the styles, you don't see any traces of any NEMO style left in Zotero, correct?"
Yes, no NEMO style, but I have to reinitialize the styles twice: the first time, the styles folder disappears from the zotero folder, even when I refresh the contents; it appears after a second reinitialization.
I have tried again by downloading it directly through the raw button (right click then save as): it works!
For the other steps: it may be of use to know that ALL previous versions of the (NEMO) style pass the chrome://zotero/content/tools/csledit.xul test (which I use extensively when programming a style), and not only this latest version.
Anyhow: thanks, I can work with what I have (NEMO style) now; I still have to check if my two other styles will work with these modifications...
The fact that copying to notepad didn't work is a bit odd, but notepad (if that's what you used) is a really bad text editor, so who knows what it did to your text... (I use notepad++ on Windows, though there are many other choices)
@fbennett -- not sure to what degree this is relevant, but the error only seems to occur in the word processor add-on. The same styles work fine the style editor, which also uses citeproc-js, of course.
Will get a fix up soon.
(the gist I put up was copy/pasted from my "styles" folder in Zotero; maybe something changed after I downloaded the style from https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/58471/firefox-error-says-my-style-isnt-valid/)