Biblatex 3.3 name formatting

Question

I would like to create a custom format for citing authors' names in the text, let's call it "newformat". One option I can think of is creating a new bibmacro for names where the parameters are changed to my liking, such as

\documentclass{article}

  \usepackage{filecontents}
  \usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}[2016/01/01] %the latest version of biblatex?
  % biber is version 2.4; the latest?

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@misc{Doe12,
  author = {Doe, John},
  year = {2012},
  title = {A macro for formatting names},
}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\nocite{*}

\newbibmacro{name:newformat}{\printnames{authors}}
\DeclareNameFormat{newformat}{%
  \usebibmacro{name:newformat}{\textbf{#1}}{\textbf{#3}}{#5}{#7}%
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}%
}

\begin{document}

  \section*{Testing the format here}

  I am citing
  \citename{Doe12}[newformat]{author}

  \printbibliography % to make sure that the .bib file is properly formated.

\end{document}

Here, I just used \textbf for the sake of the example, but I ultimately want to use other functions, say upper case or palindrome!

However, I get this weird error message:

! Illegal parameter number in definition of \blx@defformat@d.
<to be read again> 
                   3
l.20   \usebibmacro{name:last}{#1}{#3
                                     }{#5}{#7}%

which seems to indicate that the second option {#3} is not expected. I am a bit at a lost here; I checked the biblatex package and \usebibmacro{name:last} must be given 4 parameters, isn't it? Please advise.

Answer 1

In biblatex 3.3. the format of \DeclareNameFormat has changed. In its code part it no longer accepts 8 arguments, but only one. For the various parts of a name there are now macros which you get by splitting the main name data with \namepart.

The change in the name formatting also affects commands like \mkbibnamelast (now \mkbibnamefamily) and bib-macros like \name:first-last (now name:given-family) and options like firstinits (now giveninits). This means that quite a number of older documents and styles must be adapted. One should to check the documentation when using older examples involving the formatting of names.

Your example could look like this in the new format

\documentclass{article}

  \usepackage{filecontents}
  \usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}[2016/01/01] %the latest version of biblatex?
  % biber is version 2.4; the latest?

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@misc{Doe12,
  author = {Doe, John},
  year = {2012},
  title = {A macro for formatting names},
}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\nocite{*}

\newbibmacro{name:newformat}{%
   \textbf{\namepartfamily}  % #1->\namepartfamily, #2->\namepartfamilyi
   \textbf{\namepartgiven}   % #3->\namepartgiven,  #4->\namepartgiveni
   [prefix: \namepartprefix] % #5->\namepartprefix, #6->\namepartprefixi
   [suffix: \namepartsuffix] % #7->\namepartsuffix, #8->\namepartsuffixi
   }

\DeclareNameFormat{newformat}{%
  \nameparts{#1}% split the name data, will not be necessary in future versions
  \usebibmacro{name:newformat}%
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}%
}

\begin{document}

  \section*{Testing the format here}

  I am citing
  \citename{Doe12}[newformat]{author}

\end{document}

Be aware: I did not try to make a good looking format. E.g I didn't add suitable tests for empty name parts.

The example also don't use the same style as the standard definitions. biblatex itself would define the bib macro as a macro with 4 arguments:

   \newbibmacro*{name:newformat}[4]{ \textbf{#1} \textbf{#2} ...}

and then call the macro with arguments in \DeclareNameFormat

    \usebibmacro{name:newformat}{\namepartfamily}{\namepartgiven}{...}{...}

Imho my version is easier to understand and easier to extend, but this is a matter of taste.

The bonus is that the name system is now extensible and new name parts can be added in the future.

Links for further reading:

https://github.com/plk/biblatex/issues/372

http://www.texdev.net/2016/03/13/biblatex-a-new-syntax-for-declarenameformat/

Check also the documentation, the release notes (in the doc folder of biblatex) and the examples (for an example how to extend the name system).

Answer 2

Bolding name, family name and date in biblatex. I tried, it works

\AtBeginBibliography{%
    \renewcommand*\mkbibnamegiven[1]{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    \renewcommand*\mkbibnamefamily[1]{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    \renewcommand*\mkbibnameprefix[1]{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    \renewcommand*\mkbibnameaffix[1]{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    \DeclareFieldFormat{parens}{\mkbibbold{\mkbibparens{#1}}}
    \DeclareFieldFormat{date}{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    \DeclareFieldFormat{author}{\mkbibbold{#1}}
    }
    \DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
    \DeclareNameAlias{default}{family-given}