Need help finding a error

[carrie]

I have my dissertation organized and compiling just fine with a dept
template. now the school has developed a template and my cut and
pasted text is not transferring. As I compile BibTex, I get "cannot
find 'C:/.../dissertation.aux" so I know there is some error
somewhere. "Somewhere" is the problem.

This is the bib part of the master tex file - If this isn't enough I
can provide more:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% BIBLIOGRAPHY
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\makeBibliographyPage % make the bibliography title page - can be
edited in ut-thesis-template.tex
\bibliographystyle{apalike} % bibliography style - recommend using
apalike-doi as it hyperlinks DOIs
\bibliography{references/references-dissertation.bib} %
references.bib included in the references directory
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

if you think the error may be elsewhere I can check. I have been
checking my file paths to make sure those are still okay with the
transfer, and they seem to be alright. Where else should I look?

[Werner Grundlingh]

Carrie,

Before doing anything else, try removing all auxilliary files created
by LaTeX. That is, delete all .aux and .log files. LaTeX sometimes has
a tendency to cause problems if older .aux files are still around that
may contain some old references/definitions in them. Of course, the
problem might be elsewhere as well, so this is just a first step.

Werner

[carrie]

I just checked and there are no *.aux files. none have been generated
because it has yet to compile.

Any other suggestions where to look?
Thank you,

Carrie

[Peter Flynn]

On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 5:54 PM, carrie <diaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have my dissertation organized and compiling just fine with a dept
template.  now the school has developed a template

Is the dept template available to download?
Is the school template meant to be compatible or different? Is that also accessible?
 

and my cut and pasted text is not transferring.  As I compile BibTex, I get "cannot
find 'C:/.../dissertation.aux" so I know there is some error
somewhere.  "Somewhere" is the problem.

Over the rainbow...

BIBTeX looks in the .aux file to find the line which says what your .bib file is, and which citation style you have specified. If you haven't managed to run LaTeX on the document yet, you won't have a .aux file, so BIBTeX won't be able to work.

If you want to test BIBTeX on your .bib file independently, create a dummy thesis.aux:

\relax
\bibdata{references/references-dissertation}
\bibstyle{apalike}

 and run BIBTeX to see what happens.

This is the bib part of the master tex file  - If this isn't enough I
can provide more:

You don't need to quote comments (% signs).
 

   \makeBibliographyPage % make the bibliography title page - can be
edited in ut-thesis-template.tex

This is a non-standard command, presumably implemented by your school's template. Unless we can download it, we can't see what it is supposed to do.
 

   \bibliographystyle{apalike} % bibliography style - recommend using
apalike-doi as it hyperlinks DOIs

I wanted to use this for my thesis, but my dept rules are strict APA.
 

   \bibliography{references/references-dissertation.bib} %
references.bib included in the references directory

That's wrong. You never give the .bib filetype in a \bibliography command, just the filename without the .bib on the end (but with the directory name, if needed). Unless this too has been modified by the school document class (but that would mean deep surgery on LaTeX, and a special version of BIBTeX).

if you think the error may be elsewhere I can check.  I have been
checking my file paths to make sure those are still okay with the
transfer, and they seem to be alright.  Where else should I look?

You haven't said yet what the error is. Just saying "my cut and pasted text is not transferring" doesn't tell us what is wrong. If LaTeX is failing to process your document, we need to know what error message is being produced that brings it to a premature halt.

Best of all, make a minimal example that fails, so we can process it and see what's up.

///Peter

[carrie]

I just downloaded the template folders and tried to compile using
their files, but it is still not working in my directory. This makes
me think you can find the error in the template and that is has
nothing to do with the files that I included. As you read in the
template, the school does not provide LaTeX support for the template.

It is available for public download:
http://web.utk.edu/~thesis/thesisresources.shtml
scroll down to LateX template hyperlink.

I just tried using

\relax
\bibdata{references/references-dissertation}
\bibstyle{apalike}

alone & I get the same error???

TYSM for looking
Carrie

On Jul 2, 5:49 pm, Peter Flynn <anglebrac...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Peter Flynn]

On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 12:19 AM, carrie <diaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just downloaded the template folders and tried to compile using
their files, but it is still not working in my directory.  

I just downloaded the zip file ut-thesis-template.zip that is linked on the page you referred to.
I unzipped it, copied their file my-dissertation.tex to test.tex and then typeset it successfully, eg

latex test
bibtex test
latex test
latex test

This produced test.pdf without any errors, which appears to be correct.

What did you do that is different? Just saying "it is still not working" doesn't tell us anything. Unless you can explain what isn't working, we cannot help you.
 

This makes me think you can find the error in the template and that is has
nothing to do with the files that I included.  

There does not appear to be any error in the files provided.
 

As you read in the template, the school does not provide LaTeX support for the template.

That is not surprising. Most of them are too ignorant or lazy to do so.

I just tried using

\relax
\bibdata{references/references-dissertation}
\bibstyle{apalike}

alone & I get the same error???

But you haven't told us what error this is, or what you mean by "using". You must give us more information: we cannot simply guess at what is happening: we can't see your screen from here.

Create a file called test.aux containing just these three lines only:

\relax
\bibdata{references/references-dissertation}
\bibstyle{apalike}

Save the file in the directory that contains your references subdirectory.
Open a terminal (command) window
In it, go to the directory containing test.aux
Type bibtex test
Tell us exactly what happens.

///Peter

[carrie]

> Create a file called test.aux containing just these three lines only:
\relax
\bibdata{references/references-dissertation}
\bibstyle{apalike}
Save the file in the directory that contains your references
subdirectory.
Open a terminal (command) window
In it, go to the directory containing test.aux
Type bibtex test

Tell us *exactly* what happens.

It says:
"I couldn't open file name 'test.aux'"

[Peter Flynn]

This means you weren't in the directory where you saved test.aux when you typed the command.

What system are you using (Mac, Windows, Linux,...)?
What directory did you save text.aux into?
What command did you type to go to that directory?

///Peter

[carrie]

> What system are you using (Mac, Windows, Linux,...)?

Windows Vista. Using TeXnic Center (though for above, I used the cmd
window).

> What directory did you save text.aux into?

I don't know? I saved test.tex into ut-thesis-template (this is the
master folder that was available for download). my file structure
looks like: tex files > ut-thesis-template > test.tex

> What command did you type to go to that directory?

cd My Documents\My Research\tex files\ut-thesis-template
bibtex test

The same message "I couldn't open file name 'test.aux'" happens if I
bibtex compile through the TeXnic Center gui as well.

[Gildas Cotomale]

:/ i don't use windows vista, but i know many applications are having
similar problems...
either you don't have enough permission to open the file, or (surely)
you (or the apps) don't have the permission to create files in that
directory...
can you try to create an empty test.aux in that directory in order to
see if it can be filled? (if so, it would mean the file could not be
created)
weither you manage to create the test.aux or not, check that the
directory is not read-only (as far i can remember, copies from CDs are
always write protect, and un unziped directories have strange --non
consistant-- permissions).

[Peter Flynn]

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 5:40 AM, Gildas Cotomale <gildas....@gmail.com> wrote:

>> What system are you using (Mac, Windows, Linux,...)?
> Windows Vista.  Using TeXnic Center (though for above, I used the cmd
> window).

I'm sorry this is taking so long.
 

>> What directory did you save text.aux into?
> I don't know?  I saved test.tex into ut-thesis-template (this is the
> master folder that was available for download).  my file structure
> looks like: tex files > ut-thesis-template > test.tex

The file need to be called test.aux, not test.tex. When you use "Save As..." in TeXnicCenter, you need to make sure the "Save as Type" drop-down menu is set to "All Files", otherwise Windows will add an unwanted ".tex" to the end of the filename for you.

See the first attached screenshot for what I did. Note that for the purposes of testing, I am going to use a file called "test.bib" in the same folder, and I have added a single citation (foo) to test it with. I saved text.aux into My Documents, just to keep it away from my other folders.

>> What command did you type to go to that directory?
> cd My Documents\My Research\tex files\ut-thesis-template

In my case I typed
  cd "My Documents"

See the second screenshot for what I did (note I have created and saved the file test.bib into the same folder, so that bibtex has something to work with.

Typing bibtex test then processes the test.aux file as expected, looks up the reference "foo" in test.bib, and creates test.bbl

> The same message "I couldn't open file name 'test.aux'" happens if I
> bibtex compile through the TeXnic Center gui as well.

Can you try it again as I have described?
 

:/ i don't use windows vista, but i know many applications are having
similar problems...
either you don't have enough permission to open the file, or (surely)
you (or the apps) don't have the permission to create files in that
directory...

That shouldn't happen in Windows unless you are on a very weirdly-configured machine. A user should always have write permission to My Documents and all folders within it.

///Peter

[carrie]

wow - i *think* i have figured it out, and I am ashamed at the answer
if so.

i think i just went straight to trying to build bibtex and forgot to
build the original file first.

either that or it just decided to work today. (incidentally i did run
a registry clean today - i wonder if there is any possible relation?)

in any case, the error message is no longer there and instead it
complains of a whole different set of issues (apparently no bibstyle
and bibdata?), but to me this is progress i can work with.

[Peter Flynn]

On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 6:49 PM, carrie <diaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

wow - i *think* i have figured it out, and I am ashamed at the answer
if so.

i think i just went straight to trying to build bibtex and forgot to
build the original file first.

That would explain any missing .aux file.
 

either that or it just decided to work today.  (incidentally i did run
a registry clean today - i wonder if there is any possible relation?)

I doubt it. MiKTeX registers itself and a few filetypes, but I don't think it registers anything that affects behaviour.
 

in any case, the error message is no longer there and instead it
complains of a whole different set of issues (apparently no bibstyle
and bibdata?), but to me this is progress i can work with.

That just means your .tex file isn't generating a \bibdata and a \bibstyle command into the .aux file...I think your original message hinted that the new template uses a different set of commands in your .tex file (\makeBibliographyPage) so maybe there is something to be done there.

Anyway, congratulations!

///Peter