Biber backend not working in Texpad

Question

This post is similar to this one insofar the biber backend not working (and BibTex backend working). I would like to resolve this problem within the Texpad application, whose settings are determined automatically as in this image:

The test is very simple, I just use the fullcite macro to display a reference within a Beamer presentation. This is the MWE:

\documentclass{beamer}

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\addbibresource{bibliography.bib}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}

\begin{itemize}
  \item \fullcite{Simone2006}
\end{itemize}


\end{frame}

\begin{frame}[fragile]

\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{frame}


\end{document}

and the contents of the bibliography.bib file are:

%% This BibTeX bibliography file was created using BibDesk.
%% https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/
%% Saved with string encoding Unicode (UTF-8) 

@article{Simone2006,
    Abstract = {Abstract We present a Generalized Finite Element Method for the analysis of polycrystals with explicit treatment of grain boundaries. Grain boundaries and junctions, understood as loci of possible displacement discontinuity, are inserted into finite elements by exploiting the partition of unity property of finite element shape functions. Consequently, the finite element mesh does not need to conform to the polycrystal topology. The formulation is outlined and a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the potential and accuracy of the approach. The proposed methodology can also be used for branched and intersecting cohesive cracks, and comparisons are made to a related approach (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 2000; 48:1741). Copyright {\copyright} 2006 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.},
    Author = {Simone, A. and Duarte, C. A. and Van der Giessen, E.},
    Date-Added = {2018-06-04 14:13:23 +0000},
    Date-Modified = {2020-03-12 09:13:45 +0100},
    Doi = {10.1002/nme.1658},
    Journal = {Int J Numer Meth Eng},
    Keywords = {Generalized Finite Element Method, eXtended Finite Element Method, partition of unity, grain boundary sliding, polycrystals},
    Number = {8},
    Pages = {1122-1145},
    Title = {A Generalized Finite Element Method for polycrystals with discontinuous grain boundaries},
    Volume = {67},
    Year = {2006},
    Bdsk-Url-1 = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/nme.1658},
    Bdsk-Url-2 = {https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.1658}}

This code doesn't work, as references are not crated:

The error I get is

LaTeX Warning: Citation 'Simone2006' on page 1 undefined on input line 17.

[1{/usr/local/texlive/2019/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] (/Users/aaragon/Desktop/biblio/.texpadtmp/test.vrb)

LaTeX Warning: Empty bibliography on input line 3.

[2] (/Users/aaragon/Desktop/biblio/.texpadtmp/test.aux)

LaTeX Warning: There were undefined references.


Package biblatex Warning: Please (re)run Biber on the file:
(biblatex)                test
(biblatex)                and rerun LaTeX afterwards.

Is there anything special I need to do in the configuration to make this work (perhaps a script)? Is there any advantage on using the biber backend as opposed to BibTex?

Answer 1

Just further to this, I had a similar problem with Texpad; I found the bibliography wouldn't compile using Biber. What I do with Texpad is rather than autosense, manually select the configuration settings - the one to store intermediate files in .texpadtmp comes from the selection to 'hide intermediate files'...

After reading the above post about disabling .texpadtmp - I unselected that option, and the bibliography compiled perfectly. So it does seem to be something about these temporary files needed to make Biber work - at least for me. Thanks for the info!