Winedt 7.0 + MiKTeX 2.9 compile Problem

Question

I keep getting the following error and have no idea what to do! Does anybody know how to fix this?

Command Line:   `bibtex.exe "PA1_A2"`

This is BibTeX, Version 0.99d (MiKTeX 2.9 64-bit);

The top-level auxiliary file: PA1_A2.aux I found no \citation
commands---while reading file PA1_A2.aux

I found no \bibdata command---while reading file PA1_A2.aux

I found no \bibstyle command---while reading file PA1_A2.aux (There
were 3 error messages)

Answer 1

I suspect you have a bibliography that has to be compiled with biber and you are trying to compile it with bibtex.

Also you are probably using PDFTeXify command in WinEdt and this compiles with bibtex if you don't specify that you want to use biber. To do that in WinEdt, go to Options -> Execution modes -> Console Applications -> Accessories -> BibTeX and change Executable definition from bibtex.exe to biber.exe.

Otherwise you can download a contribution of mine: LaTeXify which adds several commands to the TeX menu suitable for automated compilations

Answer 2

Consider this code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
%\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
%@article{gander2001,
% author={Gladstone Gander},
% title={How to be lucky},
% journal={Nature},
% pages={1-33},
% volume={42},
% year={2001},
%}
%@article{ducks2002,
% author={Donald Duck and Fethry Duck},
% title={How to be unlucky},
% journal={Nature},
% pages={34-44},
% volume={43},
% year={2002},
%}
%@book{scrooge1901,
% author={Scrooge McDuck},
% title={My first golden nugget in {Klondike}},
% publisher={Yukon Press},
% address={Whitehorse},
% year={1901},
%}
%@book{scrooge1990,
% author={Scrooge McDuck},
% title={How to manage zillion of dollars},
% publisher={McDuck Press},
% address={Duckburg},
% year={1990},
%}
%\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
You should use a \verb|\cite{bib key}| in your document%~\cite{scrooge1901}.
To print all the references in the bib file without citing them in the text, use
\verb|\nocite{*}|. %\nocite{*}

You should also specify a bibliography style and provide a .bib file as below.
%\bibliographystyle{unsrt}
\bibliography{\jobname}

\end{document}

If you run pdflatex and then bibtex on this file, one will get this error message by bibtex:

This is BibTeX, Version 0.99dThe top-level auxiliary file: doi.aux
I found no \citation commands---while reading file doi.aux
I found no \bibstyle command---while reading file doi.aux
(There were 2 error messages)

Now uncomment all commented things:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@article{gander2001,
 author={Gladstone Gander},
 title={How to be lucky},
 journal={Nature},
 pages={1-33},
 volume={42},
 year={2001},
}
@article{ducks2002,
 author={Donald Duck and Fethry Duck},
 title={How to be unlucky},
 journal={Nature},
 pages={34-44},
 volume={43},
 year={2002},
}
@book{scrooge1901,
 author={Scrooge McDuck},
 title={My first golden nugget in {Klondike}},
 publisher={Yukon Press},
 address={Whitehorse},
 year={1901},
}
@book{scrooge1990,
 author={Scrooge McDuck},
 title={How to manage zillion of dollars},
 publisher={McDuck Press},
 address={Duckburg},
 year={1990},
}
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
You should use a \verb|\cite{bib key}| in your document~\cite{scrooge1901}.
To print all the references in the bib file without citing them in the text, use
\verb|\nocite{*}|. \nocite{*}

You should also specify a bibliography style and provide a .bib file as below.
\bibliographystyle{unsrt}
\bibliography{\jobname}

\end{document}

Now run pdflatex, bibtex, pdflatex and pdflatex in this sequence on this, no errors are generated.

Moral

1. You should have a .bib file in the same directory (here \jobname.bib generated by filecontents).

2. You should use a \cite{bib key} in the document.

3. You should specify a bibliography style.

4. You should include the bib file in the document via \bibliography{\jobname}.
5. For a more specific answer, you should provide a MWE!