Set the variable bibtex-completion-bibliography used by helm-bibtex to the dynamical generated bib files list corresponding to the current master tex file.

[hongyi-zhao]

Hi here,

I have the following use scenario:

1. Use helm-bibtex to manage and insert bib entries.
2. Use auctex to do the document creation.
3. I save the bib files used for each master TeX file in a subfolder
   located under the same directory as it.

I want to set the bibtex-completion-bibliography variable of helm-bibtex to the dynamical generated bib files list corresponding to the current master TeX file.

The example setting of this variable is as follows:

(setq bibtex-completion-bibliography (directory-files-recursively
                        (concat (getenv "HOME")
"/texmf/bibtex/bib/local") "^[A-Za-z].+.bib$"))

But the above setup uses a fixed directory, so it doesn't meet the requirements here. Any suggestions for achieving the goal will be appreciated.

Regards,
Zhao

[tmalsburg]

Please try the command helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography.

[tmalsburg]

If no local bibliography can be found, this will fall back to the global one (default).

[hongyi-zhao]

I have a bib file located in the same director as the master TeX file:

werner@X10DAi:~/Desktop/iucr/latex$ ls orbnpg.bib 
orbnpg.bib

And I have set the following in my master TeX file:

\bibliographystyle{iucr}
% To submit a manuscript, simply provide the corresponding bbl file.
\bibliography{orbnpg}

The helm-bibtex configuration in Emacs init.el is as follows:

(use-package helm-bibtex
  :init
  (setq

   ;; bibtex-completion-bibliography (directory-files-recursively
   ;;  				   (concat (getenv "HOME") "/texmf/bibtex/bib/local") "^[A-Za-z].+.bib$")


   ;;bibtex-completion-library-path (concat (getenv "HOME") "/pdf")
   ;;bibtex-completion-notes-path (concat (getenv "HOME") "/notes")
   bibtex-completion-pdf-field "File"
   ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#insert-latex-cite-commands
   bibtex-completion-cite-prompt-for-optional-arguments nil)

  :bind
  (("<menu>" . helm-command-prefix)
   :map helm-command-map
   ("b" . helm-bibtex)
   ("B" . helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography)
   ("n" . helm-bibtex-with-notes)
   ("<menu>" . helm-resume))

  :config
  (require 'helm-config)
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#application-used-for-opening-pdfs
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex/issues/386
  (defun bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external (keys &optional fallback-action)
    (let ((bibtex-completion-pdf-open-function
	   (lambda (fpath) (start-process "evince" "*helm-bibtex-evince*" "/usr/bin/evince" fpath))))
      (bibtex-completion-open-pdf keys fallback-action)))

  (helm-bibtex-helmify-action bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external)

  (helm-add-action-to-source
   'helm-bibtex
   '(("P" helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external "Open PDF file in external viewer (if present)")))

  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#browser-used-for-opening-urls-and-dois
  (setq bibtex-completion-browser-function
	(lambda (url _) (start-process "firefox" "*firefox*" "firefox" url)))

  )

But when I hit "<menu>-B", the local bibliography still cannot be found:

[tmalsburg]

Can you please execute the function bibtex-completion-find-local-bibliography in the tex buffer and report the result?

[hongyi-zhao]

Now, it works. But I still encounter the following strange problem.

When I first time press <menu>, the following error will be triggered:

When I hit "<menu>-B" the second time, it will work:

[tmalsburg]

Hm, no idea why it doesn't work the first time.

Sidenote: I see that the display of entries is messed up. Apparently due to the entry numbering. I wasn't aware that helm could be configured to number the entries. Could you please let know which option that is? Perhaps I can find a work-around. Thank you.

[hongyi-zhao]

I see that the display of entries is messed up.

What do you mean by saying messed up?

Apparently due to the entry numbering.

I have a lot of configurations in init.el, can you give me some clues to locate the corresponding configuration?

[hongyi-zhao]

Hm, no idea why it doesn't work the first time.

The reason is explained here, and the following modifications should be made

(use-package helm-bibtex
  :init
  (setq
   bibtex-completion-pdf-field "File"
   ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#insert-latex-cite-commands
   bibtex-completion-cite-prompt-for-optional-arguments nil)

  :bind-keymap
  ("<menu>" . helm-command-prefix)
  :bind
  (
   :map helm-command-map
   ("b" . helm-bibtex)
   ("B" . helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography)
   ("n" . helm-bibtex-with-notes)
   ("<menu>" . helm-resume)
   )

  :config
  (require 'helm-config)
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#application-used-for-opening-pdfs
  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex/issues/386
  (defun bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external (keys &optional fallback-action)
    (let ((bibtex-completion-pdf-open-function
       (lambda (fpath) (start-process "evince" "*helm-bibtex-evince*"
"/usr/bin/evince" fpath))))
      (bibtex-completion-open-pdf keys fallback-action)))

  (helm-bibtex-helmify-action bibtex-completion-open-pdf-external
helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external)

  (helm-add-action-to-source
   'helm-bibtex
   '(("P" helm-bibtex-open-pdf-external "Open PDF file in external
viewer (if present)")))

  ;;https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex#browser-used-for-opening-urls-and-dois
  (setq bibtex-completion-browser-function
    (lambda (url _) (start-process "firefox" "*firefox*" "firefox" url)))

  )

[tmalsburg]

What do you mean by saying messed up?

In your screenshot, each entry occupies two lines, instead of just one. This is because some extra space is used by the numbering. This numbering is not added by helm-bibtex (I never saw it). I assumed that the entry numbering is a helm feature that you activated.

[hongyi-zhao]

I have noticed that the helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography command only try to find the bib file on the top level directory of the master TeX file and doesn't do a recursive search into subdirectories.

Say, if the bib file is set to \bibliography{./refs/orbnpg}, in this case, helm-bibtex-with-local-bibliography can not find this bib file at all.

[tmalsburg]

Detection of the .bib files associated with a .tex file is handled by the reftex package. In my setup, it does succeed at finding .bib files in subdirectories. Example below:

\documentclass[]{article}

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{dir1/test.bib}

\title{The title}
\oneauthor{Myself}
\oneaffiliation{My Affiliation}
\abstract{The abstract}

\begin{document}

The document:

\printbibliography[]

\end{document}

%%% Local Variables:
%%% mode: latex
%%% TeX-master: t
%%% End:

[hongyi-zhao]

1. This method works.
2. In order to print out the bibliography list for testing, the \nocite{*} command should be used as commented here and use the biber command to generate the bibliographies:

\documentclass[]{article}

% for working with biblatex
 \usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
 \addbibresource{references/orbnpg.bib}
 \nocite{*}

\begin{document}

The document.

% for testing biblatex
 \printbibliography[]

% for testing bibtex
%\cite{gahlerCaratInterfaceInterfaceCARAT2022}

% for working with bibtex
%\bibliographystyle{plain}
%\bibliography{references/orbnpg}


\end{document}

%%% Local Variables:
%%% mode: latex
%%% TeX-master: t
%%% End:

3. I'm not familiar with biblatex, so I adapt the example code to use BibTeX instead of biblatex, and it also works:

\documentclass[]{article}

% for working with biblatex
% \usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
% \addbibresource{references/orbnpg.bib}


\begin{document}

The document.

% for testing biblatex
% \printbibliography[]

% for testing bibtex
\cite{gahlerCaratInterfaceInterfaceCARAT2022}

% for working with bibtex
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references/orbnpg}

\end{document}

%%% Local Variables:
%%% mode: latex
%%% TeX-master: t
%%% End:

Sidenote: Maybe my problem is caused by not enabling the reftex package, as you have pointed out. I now have enabled it according to the guide here:

(require 'reftex) ; Loading RefTeX
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'turn-on-reftex)   ; with AUCTeX LaTeX mode

[tmalsburg]

Sidenote: Maybe my problem is caused by not enabling the reftex package,

Hm, helm-bibtex should actually take care of loading reftext. But anyway, good that you got it to work.

[hongyi-zhao]

You have a typo here: reftext should be reftex.