[Tex/LaTex] A biblatex style that’s like plainnat

biblatexnatbib

I want to switch to biblatex but despite the rather minimal changes suggested in some answers to switching from natbib, there's really a lot that seems to need changing. For example, the "In:" needs to go. The order of entries needs to change. The book edition field needs to change as well as move. Basically, there's a lot more to do than suggested in the answers to the first question.

Is there a simple way that I can start with a biblatex style that behaves exactly like plainnat (modulo the incompatible changes to the various fields like edition) and then tweak it from there?

It's not worth my time right now (deadlines, you understand) to start from numeric-comp and then try to figure out what needs to change in order to match plainnat. This is exacerbated by needing to have two slightly different versions of the .bib (again, for things like edition) to test for differences.

Best Answer

I'm afraid the short answer is: Simple, biblatex, exactly like plainnat -- choose two out of three.

Longer answer: As soon as you provide exact specifications in what way, say, the numeric-comp style needs to be modified in order to pass as an exact plainnat replica, it should be possible to provide these modifications. (There's also the possibility that a custom style is a better starting point.) However, if you have to meet a deadline right now, I would advise to postpone the switch to biblatex.

Related Solutions

Biblatex – Changing the Order of Entries

Add the following to your preamble (or the configuration file biblatex.cfg):

% Commas as separators
\renewcommand*{\newunitpunct}{\addcomma\space}

% Comma before and after journal volume
\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}% NEW
  \printfield{volume}%
%  \setunit*{\adddot}% DELETED
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}% NEW
  \printfield{number}%
  \setunit{\addcomma\space}%
  \printfield{eid}}

% Prefixes for journal volume and number
\DeclareFieldFormat[article]{volume}{\bibstring{volume}~#1}% volume of a journal
\DeclareFieldFormat[article]{number}{\bibstring{number}~#1}% number of a journal

% Comma before date; date not in parentheses
\renewbibmacro*{issue+date}{%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}% NEW
%  \printtext[parens]{% DELETED
    \iffieldundef{issue}
      {\usebibmacro{date}}
      {\printfield{issue}%
       \setunit*{\addspace}%
%       \usebibmacro{date}}}% DELETED
       \usebibmacro{date}}% NEW
  \newunit}

% Issue/date macros removed after journal number
\renewbibmacro*{journal+issuetitle}{%
  \usebibmacro{journal}%
  \setunit*{\addspace}%
  \iffieldundef{series}
    {}
    {\newunit
     \printfield{series}%
     \setunit{\addspace}}%
  \usebibmacro{volume+number+eid}%
%  \setunit{\addspace}% DELETED
%  \usebibmacro{issue+date}% DELETED
%  \setunit{\addcolon\space}% DELETED
%  \usebibmacro{issue}% DELETED
  \newunit}

% "In:" removed for articles; issue/date macros added after note+pages macro
\DeclareBibliographyDriver{article}{%
  \usebibmacro{bibindex}%
  \usebibmacro{begentry}%
  \usebibmacro{author/translator+others}%
  \setunit{\labelnamepunct}\newblock
  \usebibmacro{title}%
  \newunit
  \printlist{language}%
  \newunit\newblock
  \usebibmacro{byauthor}%
  \newunit\newblock
  \usebibmacro{bytranslator+others}%
  \newunit\newblock
  \printfield{version}%
  \newunit\newblock
%  \usebibmacro{in:}% DELETED
  \usebibmacro{journal+issuetitle}%
  \newunit
  \usebibmacro{byeditor+others}%
  \newunit
  \usebibmacro{note+pages}%
  \setunit{\addspace}% NEW
  \usebibmacro{issue+date}% NEW
  \setunit{\addcolon\space}% NEW
  \usebibmacro{issue}% NEW
  \newunit\newblock
  \iftoggle{bbx:isbn}
    {\printfield{issn}}
    {}%
  \newunit\newblock
  \usebibmacro{doi+eprint+url}%
  \newunit\newblock
  \usebibmacro{addendum+pubstate}%
  \setunit{\bibpagerefpunct}\newblock
  \usebibmacro{pageref}%
  \usebibmacro{finentry}}

Note that I removed "In:" only for articles - it should still show up e.g. in an @incollection entry. Also note that moving the date immediately after the page numbers may be misleading (the year in your example may be mistaken for page 2004).

As for step-by-step tutorials, the best way is to a) thoroughly study the biblatex documentation and b) delve into biblatex.def and standard.bbx. For those fluent in German, there are also the excellent tutorials by Dominik Waßenhoven.

EDIT: Herbert has provided a more elegant way to remove "In" only for articles.

[Tex/LaTex] Biblatex : custom articles and books

This answer will be a work in progress, and it will quite possibly not cover all requests. That said, do the following:

Delete the code line \DeclareRangeCommands{\pno\ppno};
Add the code line \DeclareFieldFormat[book]{title}{\mkbibquote{\mkbibemph{#1}}};
Add the package option dateabbrev=false.

One way to switch from "t." to "vol." for articles would be to choose language=english. Is that what you want? Please explain.

EDIT: For @book entries, use the pagetotal field instead of the pages field.

EDIT 2: For @book & friends, add the following to your preamble:

\renewbibmacro*{publisher+location+date}{%
  \printlist{publisher}%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}%
  \printlist{location}%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}%
  \usebibmacro{date}%
  \newunit}

To be consistent, you should also change the bibmacros institution+location+date and organization+location+date along these lines. (The originals are located in standard.bbx.)

EDIT 3: For @article, the following seems to work at first glance (and I didn't bother to check it thouroughly):

\renewbibmacro*{journal+issuetitle}{%
  \usebibmacro{journal}%
  \setunit*{\addspace}%
  \iffieldundef{series}
    {}
    {\newunit
     \printfield{series}%
     \setunit{\addspace}}%
  \usebibmacro{issue+date}%
  \setunit{\addcolon\space}%
  \usebibmacro{issue}%
  \setunit{\addcomma\space}%
  \usebibmacro{volume+number+eid}%
  \newunit}

@Doompa: That's it for now. If your style still needs finetuning, please add any requests to your original question (your edits became quite confusing for me). Also think about why you want a particular change.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Biblatex – Changing the Order of Entries

[Tex/LaTex] Biblatex : custom articles and books

Related Question