[MacOS] Error when trying to insert new citations or set doc preferences

rkehrberger

Hey,
maybe you guys can help me. Since today I experience some trouble when using Zotero (both the current 4.x and 5.0 beta Version) with Word 2016 on MacOS Sierra. When trying to insert new citations or even to set the document preferences on "large" documents (around 25 pages and more) the following error pops up (in German):


"Ein Fehler ist beim Update Ihres Dokuments aufgetreten.

params.splice_delimiter is undefined"


The first line should translate to "An error occurred while updating your document."
I already tried the following:
- Restart all applications and my MacBook
- Reinstall the Word-Plugin
- Reinstall Word
- Reinstall and update Zotero

Working with larger documents (100 pp+) has not been a Problem before today. For now my workaround is to start a new document whenever I have produced 10 pages of text. This however can't be a permanent solution, as it forces me to have around 40-50 separate documents for my dissertation.

Does anyone have an idea what I could do to resolve the problem? Thank you so much!

adomasven

@fbennett this seems to be coming form citeproc. Any ideas?

fbennett

Document size is unlikely to be a factor. I'll look at code tomorrow, but meanwhile I did touch that variable in a recent update, available for testing. https://juris-m.github.io/downloads/#csl-stuff Same result with that?

rkehrberger

Thank you for trying to help me!
How do install this update for my stand alone Zotero on MacOs? It seems that my macbook can't open the .xpi file. I was able to unpack the file, but do not know where to insert the extracted files. If it helps you, I could also provide a debug log file, the error seems to appear in debug logs.

fbennett

Use Tools -> Add-Ins -> gear menu -> install from file.

fbennett

Also, the error is almost certainly style-dependent. Which style are you using in the document?

rkehrberger

I use a style that is based on the "Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (German)" style and was adjusted for me by a colleague, as I am not talented in programming at all. It worked fine for me until some days ago. Any ideas how I could fix the style to work properly? Thank you so much for your help!

Same error with the update btw.

adamsmith

We'd have to see the style. Could you go to gist.github.com paste the style into the window, click on "Create secret gist" at the bottom, and paste the URL here. (You won't need to create an account).

rkehrberger

Here you go:

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/12a85963b581b94b14aa82afb5313447

fbennett

The style is invalid, where it sets a sort key "author and editor" in the bibliography section. That could be the cause of the problem. I've added a macro, "author-and-editor," (to render the author, or the editor is there is no author), and set that macro as the sort key. Here is a copy of the style after the fix (with indenting adjusted):

https://gist.github.com/fbennett/693b0f94b177fbc36a12b9e20bdc2a62

After installing the style, switch Zotero to another in your document, then back to refresh the processor. See if that fixes things---if you still get the error, post back and we'll dig a little deeper.

rkehrberger

Thank you for the new style that I just installed. Problem is that I can't switch the style in the larger documents as the same error pops up as when I try to insert new citations.
I switched to another style and back in another document but still get the same error in other documents. I also tried copy pasting the contents of a document where the error pops up into a document where it does not after refreshing the processor. Still the same error.

adamsmith

We'd want a minimal use case then -- narrow down an argument to the smallest set possible that doesn't work (making sure you use the new, valid citation style).
See https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents for instructions on how to do that effectively.

rkehrberger

I will do that later this evening as I have to leave in a minute but maybe this already may help:
After restarting my Macbook I can now successfully switch styles in larger documents. When trying to add new citations I now get a new error (yay):

"Ein Fehler ist beim Update Ihres Dokuments aufgetreten.

myparams[pos] is undefined"

The first line should again translate to: "An error occurred while updating your document."

fbennett

@rkehrberger: I found the cause of the error. It's triggered when there is a user-added suffix (entered via the word processor plugin) on one cite ending in a period, followed by another cite in the same citation. I've fixed the processor, and you can try out the new version by installing (or updating) one of the Propachi plugins. I'm pretty sure this will fix the errors you have been experiencing, but do let us know how it goes.

rkehrberger

Yes, installing the new Propachi plugin fixed it as far as I can tell right now! Thank you so much for helping so kindly!

fbennett

Excellent news. Thanks for your patience over this. We've squashed a bug, and that's a lift for everyone.

rkehrberger

Just to let you know: Still working fine after three weeks of intense use. Thanks again!

JustSomeChemist

I ran into the same problem today (running Word 2016 on Win 10 with Zotero standalone and also a self-modified citation style), after heavily using multiple citations yesterday. What I also did yesterday was deactivate the "widow/orphane control" in word to fit all my footnotes on one page. Maybe that is related to the cause of the issue?

However, installing the propachi plugin (there is no .xpi file for the vanilla version by the way) did not solve the problem for me. So I did some testing and was able to narrow it down to a couple of entries in my library that seemed to somehow cause the problem. I exported them, deleted from my library and restarted Zotero. After re-importing the entries in question the issue seems to be fixed.
What I also noticed during testing: When I went back to a previous version (luckily I create a new File for my thesis every day) which did not have the citations in yet, everything seemed to work until I put a period as a suffix (although I am pretty sure I never had another cite following the period suffix). Then everything didn't work anymore.

I hope it stays functioning now. If not, I will let you know.

@fbennett Maybe this gives you some more insight into the bug. It may be a more general issue.

@rkehrberger Just out of curiosity: Did you also deactivate the widow/orphane control (Absatzkontrolle) when the Problem appeared?

rkehrberger

@JustSomeChemist:

No I didn't. It is still activated and installing the propachi plugin solved the problem for me completely.