"sep is undefined"

2
  • fbennett
    Your best bet is to wait for the next release, which may resolve this.
  • dgolds
    I am submitting this book to publishers in a week or two. When do you plan on releasing the next version?
  • adamsmith
    you can savely switch to the Branch XPI
    http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/svn_and_trac_access#zotero_client_dev_xpis
    and back
    (make sure _not_ to switch to the trunk, which is experimental, possibly won't allow you to downgrade and possibly unstable. The Branch XPI is quite stable and will allow you to downgrade to 2.1.6 if needed.)
    To be sure you should make a database back-up, but in this particular case the risk is quasi non-existent.
  • dgolds
    I switched to Branch XPI, but no dice--still getting the "sep is undefined" error.
  • fbennett
    Hmm. That's not good.

    If you can narrow down the error to a particular reference that causes it, it would be helpful to have an exported copy of that reference in Zotero RDF format. This error is most likely triggered by mismatched or oddly placed quotation marks, if that helps in tracking down the problem item. Obviously this shouldn't be happening, and we'll keep after it until it's fixed.
  • dgolds
    There are over a hundred citations, so it's going to take a while. I've deleted everything with mixed smart and straight quotes, but the error is still coming up. Is there any way to identify the culrpit from the debug ID, or any other tips as to what might be causing it?
  • fbennett
    I don't have access to the Debug ID queue; if Dan comes by he may be able to take a look at your ID and fetch out the relevant snippet. There should be some debugging trace info in the log that will provide a clue, at least.
  • dstillman
    dgolds: You can see the item in question yourself. Generate debug output for the error again, and then, instead of submitting it, click View Output and scroll down to the bottom. You'll see "sep [1] is: (’) for badTagPos" and an excerpt from the citation.
  • fbennett
    edited May 17, 2011
    Of course; sorry for the confusion, and sorry for the extra trouble, Dan.

    dgolds: If you can export the citation that causes the error, paste to gist.github.com, save it as a public gist, and post the URL from the address bar back here, I'll take a look and see if I can figure out what's causing this.

    (Edit: if you prefer, you can send me a message via zotero.org, and I'll send along my email address so you can mail it to me direct)
  • dgolds
    I think it's fixed, thanks. There were numerous problem citations, so I just went through and corrected each one in the database. If you'd like I can email you a copy of the original file, before corrections were made.
  • katsalmi
    Thanks! I was still having no luck but isolated the problematic citation in the error log and deleted it. It now works, thankfully, as my thesis is near submission.
  • fbennett
    @dgolds, @katsalmi,

    Good to know that you've been able to get past the error and back to work.

    In order to prevent this error in the future, I'll need to be able to reproduce it locally. The document itself actually won't help; what I need is the content of a citation that causes the problem. If you have identified the features of a citation that cause the error, a description will be enough. Otherwise, there may be a copy of the citation content close to the badTagsPos report line in the debug output.
  • katsalmi
    It was the following title:
    Une république française "post-coloniale," La fin de la guerre d’Algérie et la place des enfants des colonies dans la cinquième république
  • fbennett
    That title renders fine in the Chicago styles in the English and the French locales ... is the problem limited to a particular style? Or perhaps other elements of the citation or other cites within the citation contribute to the error? If you can consistently reproduce the error in a simple document, I can look into the cause.
  • dstillman
    edited May 18, 2011
    In dgolds's case it involved a long string of body text containing \u2019, \u201, \u2026, and a literal " that for some reason was included in the "suffix" field in citationItems. (I suppose it got in there due to a parsing error?)
  • fbennett
    The string is from the main text of the document itself? If so, that's very odd indeed ... would it be correct to assume that a parse error in the processor itself would not be the cause of that?
  • dstillman
    Assuming dgolds didn't somehow put that string in the prefix field, I suppose it would be either a plugin bug or a Word bug, but Simon would have to comment. I could also just be reading the debug output wrong...
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    Hello, I am using Zotero Standalone 4.0 and I am facing the same problem. Zotero refuses to add or edit my references by the same "sep is undefined" message. I read the forum and tried to do some of the recommendations. It did not help. What else I can do? Can you help me?
  • fbennett
    @hayarpi.papikyan: Please produce a Debug ID that includes the error, and post the ID back here. That will provide some information that may help to identify the cause.
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    Here it is: D1223443866. Thank you.
  • fbennett
    Thanks. Dan Stillman has access to the debug ID report; let's wait to see what hints he is able to find.
  • dstillman
    edited July 27, 2015
    That Debug ID doesn't appear to cover this or any other error. It appears to just be for Zotero startup.
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    Thank you for looking at the error. Is there another way to treat this problem? It still continues to refuse adding or editing citations with the same message window both on my mac and pc. (I reinstalled zotero. Did not do anything.)
  • dstillman
    We still need a Debug ID. We just need it to cover the action you're reporting, as explained in the instructions. You provided a Debug ID for Zotero startup.
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    I'm sorry for misunderstanding. Hope this is the right one: D1634821672
  • dstillman
    fbennett: I'm still not seeing the error in the report, but this is with 4.0.27.7 and 4.0.26.4, respectively. Any ideas?
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    What about the word plug-in? Can it be the reason of the issue?
  • fbennett
    edited July 27, 2015
    @hayarpi.papikyan: The error apparently isn't showing in the debug ID report. Let's try from another angle.

    For the next test, install this beta version of the propachi-vanilla plugin.

    To install the plugin in Standalone, download the *.xpi file, and then in standalone go to tools > add-ons > gear menu (top right), select "Add from file" (I think) and select the file.

    After installing the plugin, restart Standalone and start a debug ID; then open the word processor and trigger the error; then return to Standalone and send the debug ID report to Zotero. (edit: and then post the ID back here, of course :)

    This error is now very rare, but the cause must be a field or prefix value (a string) that the processor is unable to digest. The plugin should include the string value in the report. That will help you to quickly fix your document—and it will help us to fix the processor (since this error should not happen in the first place).
  • hayarpi.papikyan
    Thank you for the instructions. Here it is D1454190828. Is there a javascript error?
  • dstillman
    edited July 28, 2015
    [JavaScript Error: "sep is undefined" {file: "chrome://propachi/content/citeproc.js" line: 13199}]
    (3)(+0000003): XXX CiteProc error while parsing string: [Hay Dprots‘e Ev Ts‘arizmi K‘aghak‘akanut‘yune (1890-Akan T't', Pastat'ght'eri Hraparakum) (Armenian School and the Policy of Tsarism, 1980's, Publication of Documents)]

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