Can biblatex-mla support @online entries?

Question

So I have a paper that I'm writing. I want MLA citations, footnoted. So I use biblatex-mla, and do the

\DeclareAutoCiteCommand{footnote}[f]{\footcite}{\footcites}

hack so that I can use the autocite=footnote option. I'm pretty sure this is the right way to footnote MLA citations. But moving on.

I use the following code in test.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[style=mla,autocite=footnote]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{test.bib}
\DeclareAutoCiteCommand{footnote}[f]{\footcite}{\footcites}

\begin{document}

    testum\autocite{bate1971fundamentals}
    \printbibliography

\end{document}

And into test.bib I put

@book{bate1971fundamentals,
    title={Fundamentals of astrodynamics},
    author={Bate, R.},
    year={1971},
    publisher={Dover publications}
}

This outputs

testum^1

Works Cited

Bate, R. ...

---

^1 R. Bate. ...

As it should. However, this doesn't work with the @online entry. It compiles fine, but Works Cited is empty and the footnote is just ^1 .

TL;DR

Anyone know of any addition, hack, third-party package, etc. that will let biblatex-mla recognize @online sources?

Or even, does anyone know of any other package that allows MLA footnote citations?

EDIT: For now I changed the entry from @online to @article, which is recognized by biblatex-mla. Good enough for now.

Answer 1

I've added support for @online entry types to the version of biblatex-mla currently in development. You can find it here:

https://github.com/jmclawson/biblatex-mla/tree/dev

The handbooksamples.bib file includes a sample @online entry to show you where things go. I base the data and the formatting commands off of Diana Hacker's online guide to MLA, specifically this entry here:

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0011.html#RES5e_ch08_p0383

@online{Grammar-Girl2008,
    Author = {{Grammar Girl}},
    Date = {2008-09-16},
    Mainsubtitle = {Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing},
    Maintitle = {Grammar Girl},
    Nameaddon = {Mignon Fogarty},
    Publisher = {Macmillan},
    Title = {What Is the Plural of `Mouse'?},
    Url = {http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/the-plural-of-mouse.aspx},
    Urldate = {2013-03-24}}

Answer 2

This is intentional; biblatex-mla doesn't support all of the default entry types. Its bibliography style file contains the lines

\DeclareBibliographyAlias{inbook}{customa}
\DeclareBibliographyAlias{manual}{customa}
\DeclareBibliographyAlias{misc}{customa}
\DeclareBibliographyAlias{online}{customa}
\DeclareBibliographyAlias{patent}{customa}
\DeclareBibliographyAlias{report}{customa}

and does not define a driver for the @customa entry type. One quick way around this is to alias @customa with a supported type in your preamble:

\DeclareBibliographyAlias{customa}{book}

or

\DeclareBibliographyAlias{customa}{article}

Another option would be to define your own bibliography style file, say my-mla.bbx, based on mla.bbx but without the above aliases. You could then load biblatex with

\usepackage[bibstyle=my-mla,citestyle=mla,autocite=footnote]{biblatex}