Improper alphabetic constant

[Tomás Monteiro]

Good morning,

after I added two (distinct) entries, one to the glossary.tex file and another to the acronyms.tex file, I started getting the following error:

"template.tex    error     line 290    Improper alphabetic constant. \printotherlists"

(this is the first \printotherlists after the %=====DANGER====== part)

I tried to clean the auxilliary files generated and compile again, but the error persists.

Any ideas on how to address it??

Thanks for your help

[Bruno Candeias]

Hi! 

Thanks for reaching out. Can you tell us the version that you are using. Although it might not seem relevant to the problem (or the solution) it can surely become.

The way I get it, you added an entry to the glossary that uses an acronym, and you defined the acronym in the acronyms file, correct? Can you show me the entries in both files?

Thanks,

Bruno Candeias

[Tomás Monteiro]

I am using the template version 2015/09/08 [3.0.12] with TeXstudio 2.10.2 and TeXlive 2015, all packages up to date,

the entries I just added are:

glossary.tex

 \newglossaryentry{CSV} {

name={\emph{comma separated values}}, 

description={Formato eletrónico de armazenamento de dados, sendo cada campo separado por um carater (tabulação ou vírgula)

}

}

acronyms.tex

\newacronym{PNC}{PNC}{produto não-conforme}

[Bruno Candeias]

Thanks.

I don't see how on earth that would cause any error. Perhaps it has to do with the way you are using them in the text. Can you show me how you are using them?

The way I see it, the fact that the error refers to the the command "\printotherlists" can be seen as an indication that it results from composing one of the lists. You pinned the cause to the entries in the glossary and acronyms files, so I assume that the error occurred after you adding them. There is nothing wrong with your definitions, so it must be with its usage. Just to confirm that the error is indeed caused by the glossary/acronyms, could you please omit that list? You can do so by commenting the command \addlisttofrontmatter{\printnoidxglossaries} (around line 200).

Thanks,

Bruno Candeias

[Tomás Monteiro]

I'm calling the entries in the following way: ''...  formato \gls{CSV} e...'', ''...  de \gls{PNC}, sendo ...''

after disabling the  \addlisttofrontmatter{\printnoidxglossaries} the process exits normally, but as soon as i reactivate it the error appears again

[Bruno Candeias]

That certainly confirms that the error is indeed with the glossaries package. I assume that you are using them in the middle of a sentence, right? Can you check if you have duplicates between the glossary and the acronyms? Can you try to not call those particular entries, to check if the error is indeed related with those?

Thanks

[Tomás Monteiro]

It came to my mind to alter the 

 \newglossaryentry{CSV} {

 name={\emph{comma separated values}}, 

 description={Formato eletrónico de armazenamento de dados, sendo cada campo separado por um carater (tabulação ou vírgula)

}

}

and put something before the \emph comand, e.g.

 \newglossaryentry{CSV} {

 name={foo \emph{comma separated values}}, 

 description={Formato eletrónico de armazenamento de dados, sendo cada campo separado por um carater (tabulação ou vírgula)

}

}

and the process exits normally

[Bruno Candeias]

I'm glad you managed to identify the source, although it is definitely odd. I actually looked at it, but I thought it could do no harm.

I was checking the documentation and it raises some concern to whether the first letter is utf8 or not. I know it is not the problem here, but they enclose the name definition within {} if that is the case. You can try that. name={{\emph{comma separated values}}}. It don't know if it works or not. Furthermore, I tried to reproduce your error unsuccessfully. Using either \emph or \textit in the definition of a glossary entry did not raise any error. I'm using Sublime Text with MacTex (OSX).

Try it out and then let me know if it worked or not. Try also with \textit.

Thanks,

Bruno

[Tomás Monteiro]

I have used the \emph{} in other entries (in the middle of the name) and it works fine, but in this particular case it seems that the package doesn't 'like' that the name begins with a backslash. For now I'll surpress that error and try later with another compiler on windows and check if the problem persists.

Thanks for your help :)

[Bruno Candeias]

Well, often the simpler option is the best! I'm glad I could help, and I'm glad you sorted it out. Try to enclose it between { } as I suggested, like a final effort. It may be sufficient to solve the problem.

Good luck with your thesis!

[Tomás Monteiro]

I tried to enclose it in the {} but it kept producing the error

Thanks very much!!