Sorry, these are definitely errors on my part. The first one ("invalid parent sbl:list:title:unpublished for sbl:list:title:thesis, sbl:list:title:unpublished defined too") was thankfully an easy fix; I just had to move \definebtx[sbl:\s!list:title:unpublished] before \definebtx[sbl:\s!list:title:thesis]. I've now pushed this change to the repo at https://github.com/jjmccollum/context-sbl.

The second error ("Undefined control sequence \currentbtxloctext") is unfortunately more puzzling. In an effort to preserve backward compatibility with biblatex usage, I focused on implementing citations in the SBL style using \autocite, \inlinecite, \parencite, and \footcite commands, and I neglected to see if the ConTeXt \cite command would work as expected. 

The \currentbtxloctext macro is used for handling more complicated situations regarding volume, part, page number, etc. citations; for the purposes of your MWE (and for most citations) a righttext with the page number citation should also work just fine, so the lack of a loctext parameter in the \cite command shouldn't be a problem. The \currentbtxloctext macro is defined in most of the btx:sbl:cite setups in publ-imp-sbl.mkvi, always via the command 

```
\def\currentbtxloctext{\btxparameter{loctext}}
```

The default value of this parameter and similar ones should be \empty, per the \definebtx[sbl] command in publ-imp-sbl.mkvi:

```
\definebtx
  [sbl]
  [
  ...
  lefttext=\empty, % empty by default
  altloctext=\empty, %empty by default
  loctext=\empty, %empty by default
  righttext=\empty, % empty by default
  punct=\empty, % trailing punctuation (empty by default)
  ...
  ]
```

If I've coded this correctly, then the loctext parameter should default to \empty when you do not specify it for your \cite command. This seems to be the case when you first invoke the \cite command (i.e., in the btx:sbl:cite:footnote setup).

Here is the problem: if you invoke the btx:sbl:cite:inline setup from inside the btx:sbl:cite:footnote setup, it seems that the loctext parameter is no longer accessible, and thus, it does not get defined. If I patch the btx:sbl:cite:footnote setup as follows, then I no longer get the "Undefined control sequence \currentbtxloctext" error:

```
% Inline footnote citation setup (with intelligent trailing punctuation replacement)
\startsetups btx:sbl:cite:footnote
  \removeunwantedspaces
  \doifinstring{\btxparameter{punct}}{\btxparameter{autopunctuation}}{\btxparameter{punct}}
  \begingroup
  \letbtxparameter{punct}\empty % don't pass the trailing punctuation down to the inline setup
  \let\doifendswithpunctelse\btx_sbl_doifendswithpunctelse % why is this necessary? For some reason, \btx_sbl_doifendswithpunctelse is not recognized within the footnote environment...
  \def\currentbtxcitealternative{footnote}
  \def\currentbtxcategory{\btxfield{category}}
  \def\currentbtxloctext{\btxparameter{loctext}}
  \def\currentbtxaltloctext{\btxparameter{altloctext}}
  \startfootnote
    \Word{\fastsetup{btx:sbl:cite:inline}}% capitalize the first word in the footnote (needed to render "Ibid." and "Idem" correctly)
    % Add a closing period if there is no righttext
    \doif{\btxparameter{righttext}}{\empty} {
      \btxperiod
    }
  \stopfootnote
  \endgroup
  \doifnotinstring{\btxparameter{punct}}{\btxparameter{autopunctuation}}{\btxparameter{punct}}
\stopsetups
```

But I still get errors involving other macros that now appear to be undefined—specifically, the \btxsblshorthandbeforeloctext macro (and, likely, the \btxsblvolumebeforeloctext macro, as well). These are initially defined as "no" in the SBL style module outside of the various citation alternative setups, but they are conditionally redefined as "yes" in these setups based on specific information in the bibliographic entry.

This pattern suggests a bigger problem. Do these variables and the \cite parameters fall out of scope when we enter a footnote environment inside a setup? In my code, I noticed that a macro defined outside of the btx:sbl:cite:footnote setup was unrecognized within the footnote environment unless I freshly redefined it:

```
\let\doifendswithpunctelse\btx_sbl_doifendswithpunctelse % why is this necessary? For some reason, \btx_sbl_doifendswithpunctelse is not recognized within the footnote environment...
```

Meanwhile, if I change the default citation alternative to "inline" or "paren", then everything works:

```

\usebtxdataset[default][references.bib]

\setupbtx[dataset=default]

\usebtxdefinitions[sbl]

\setupbtx[sbl:cite][alternative=paren] % or alternative=inline

\setupinteraction[state=start]


\starttext


superior typographic output \cite[lefttext={e.g.}][taraborelli:beauty].


Therefore, the {\TEX}book mentions that the word

\quotation{shel\noligature{ff}ul} should indeed be rendered without the

ff-ligature \cite[righttext={p.~19}][knuth:texbook].


\placelistofpublications%[numbering=yes]


\stoptext

```

I realize that the above "fix" does not truly solve the problem, but to make the default footnote style citation of SBL style work, I need to understand what is going on between the footnote environment and the setup containing it. I asked a similar question last year in the "Why are endnotes not working with ConTeXt-SBL?" thread (https://www.mail-archive.com/ntg-context@ntg.nl/msg100920.html), but no one ever got back to me on it. The issues may be related.

One final note: ideally, I would just define footnote citations to follow the inline style, similar to how publ-imp-chicago.mkvi defines footnote citations to follow the entry style. The definition to do this is already in place in publ-imp-sbl.mkvi:

```
\definebtx
  [sbl:\s!cite:footnote]
  [sbl:\s!cite:inline]
```

Unfortunately, this definition does nothing, since the btx:cite:footnote setup in publ-imp-cite.mkvi is hardcoded to use the "entry" setup:

```
\startsetups \s!btx:\s!cite:footnote
    \startfootnote
        \fastsetup{btx:cite:entry}
    \stopfootnote
\stopsetups
```

This is why I needed to override the footnote citation style in publ-imp-sbl.mkvi. Unfortunately, as we've already seen, work still needs to be done to make this work more robustly, and I need help figuring it out.

Joey

On Sat, Jul 9, 2022 at 1:17 AM Henning Hraban Ramm via ntg-context <ntg-context@ntg.nl> wrote:
Hi Joel (et al.),

I tried the SBL bibliography setup with the latest LMTX; the example and
bib database are from Dennis’ article on ligatures in the upcoming CG
journal:

"""
\usebtxdataset[default][references.bib]
\setupbtx[dataset=default]
\usebtxdefinitions[sbl]
\setupinteraction[state=start]

\starttext

superior typographic output \cite[lefttext={e.g.}][taraborelli:beauty].

Therefore, the {\TEX}book mentions that the word
\quotation{shel\noligature{ff}ul} should indeed be rendered without the
ff-ligature  \cite[righttext={p.~19}][knuth:texbook].

\placelistofpublications%[numbering=yes]

\stoptext
"""

Unfortunately, I get some errors, while it works with APS and APA:

-- invalid parent sbl:list:title:unpublished for sbl:list:title:thesis,
sbl:list:title:unpublished defined too (best check it)
-- Undefined control sequence \currentbtxloctext

I installed your files in TEXMFHOME, and apparently, ConTeXt can find
them. Here’s the shortened log:

system          > ConTeXt  ver: 2022.05.11 11:36 LMTX  fmt: 2022.7.4
int: english/english
...
open source     > level 1, order 2, name './bibtest.tex'
publications    > adding bib data to set 'default' from source
'references.bib'
open source     > level 2, order 3, name
'/Users/hraban/texmf/context/context-sbl/tex/publ-imp-sbl.mkvi'
system          > error: invalid parent sbl:list:title:unpublished for
sbl:list:title:thesis, sbl:list:title:unpublished defined too (best
check it)
close source    > level 2, order 3, name
'/Users/hraban/texmf/context/context-sbl/tex/publ-imp-sbl.mkvi'
...
publications    > analyzing previous publication run for 'default'
tex error       > tex error on line 34 in file ./bibtest.tex: Undefined
control sequence \currentbtxloctext

<macro> \22>:btx:sbl:cite:inline
     #1->\fastsetup {\s!btx :\s!cite :concat}\fastsetup
{btx:sbl:cite:lefttext}\begingroup \letbtxparameter {punct}\empty \def
\currentbtxcitealternative {inline}\def \currentbtxcategory {\btxfield
{category}}\def \currentbtxloctext
     {\btxparameter {loctex
<macro> \normalexpanded
     \Word {\fastsetup {btx:sbl:cite:inline}
     }\doif {\btxparameter {righttext}}{\empty } {\btxperiod }
<macro> \strc_constructions_register_yes
     ...constructionparameter \c!referencetext }\iflocation \ifempty
\currentconstructionbookmark \begingroup \simplifycommands \xdef
\currentconstructionbookmark {\detokenize \expandafter {\normalexpanded
{\constructionparameter \c!title
     }}}\endgroup  ...
<macro> \strc_notations_start_reference_indeed
     [#1]#*#2->\strc_constructions_register [][\c!label
={\descriptionparameter \c!text },\c!reference ={#1},\c!title
={#2},\c!bookmark =,\c!list =,\c!referencetext =]
     \strc_notations_wrapup
<macro> \22>:btx:sbl:cite:footnote
     ...ct}}\begingroup \letbtxparameter {punct}\empty \let
\doifendswithpunctelse \btx_sbl_doifendswithpunctelse \startfootnote
\Word {\fastsetup {btx:sbl:cite:inline}}\doif {\btxparameter
{righttext}}{\empty } {\btxperiod }\stopfootnote
     \endgroup \do ...
<lua output>
  ...

<line 3.9>
     superior typographic output \cite[lefttext={e.g.}][taraborelli:beauty]
     .

The control sequence at the end of the top line of your error message
was never
\def'ed. You can just continue as I'll forget about whatever was undefined.
mtx-context     | fatal error: return code: 1


Did I do something wrong, is the database not suitable for SBL, or is it
a bug?


Hraban
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