Good suggestion! I removed my changes to publ-aut.lua for now and tried adding each of the two setups you described to publ-imp-author.mkvi (where it seemed to fit best). But simply specifying 

```
\definebtx
  [sbl:\s!list:author]
  [sbl:\s!list]
  [\c!authorconversion=invertedfirst]
```

in my custom rendering file does not access the invertedfirst setup, regardless of which of the two setups I use. Do I have to do something different to access it?

Thanks!

On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 4:18 AM Hans Hagen <j.hagen@xs4all.nl> wrote:
On 9/15/2021 5:06 AM, Joey McCollum via ntg-context wrote:
> All right, I figured out where I needed to make this change for it to
> take effect. The relevant script is publ-aut.lua. The code I needed to
> change was for the "oneauthor" function definition, which itself is
> located in the "btxauthor" function definition. My changes are detailed
> below:

did you try to stay at the tex end? like:

% \startsetups \s!btx:\s!cite:\s!author:invertedfirst
%     \ifnum\currentbtxauthorindex>\plusone
%        \btxsetauthorvariant{inverted}
%     \else
%        \btxsetauthorvariant{normal}
%     \fi
%     \fastsetup{\s!btx:\s!cite:\s!author:\btxauthorvariant}
% \stopsetups

\startsetups \s!btx:\s!cite:\s!author:invertedfirst
     \ifnum\currentbtxauthorindex>\plusone
        \fastsetup{\s!btx:\s!cite:\s!author:inverted}
     \else
        \fastsetup{\s!btx:\s!cite:\s!author:normal}
     \fi
\stopsetups



> ```
>          local function oneauthor(i,last,justone)
>              local author = split[i]
>              if index then
>                  ctx_btxstartauthor(i,1,0)
>              elseif last then
>                  ctx_btxstartauthor(i,1,0)
>                  ctx_btxsetconcat(0)
>                  if combiner == "invertedfirst" then
>                      if i == 1 then
>                          ctx_btxsetauthorvariant("inverted")
>                      else
>                          ctx_btxsetauthorvariant("normal")
>                      end
>                  else
>                      ctx_btxsetauthorvariant(combiner)
>                  end
>              else
>                  local state = author.state or 0
>                  ctx_btxstartauthor(i,max,state)
>                  ctx_btxsetconcat(concatstate(i,max))
>                  if combiner == "invertedfirst" then
>                      if i == 1 then
>                          ctx_btxsetauthorvariant("inverted")
>                      else
>                          ctx_btxsetauthorvariant("normal")
>                      end
>                  else
>                      ctx_btxsetauthorvariant(combiner)
>                  end
>              end
>              local initials = author.initials
>              if initials and #initials > 0 then
>                  ctx_btxsetinitials() --
> (concat(the_initials(initials,symbol)," "))
>              end
>              local firstnames = author.firstnames
>              if firstnames and #firstnames > 0 then
>                  ctx_btxsetfirstnames() -- (concat(firstnames," "))
>              end
>              local vons = author.vons
>              if vons and #vons > 0 then
>                  ctx_btxsetvons() -- (concat(vons," "))
>              end
>              local surnames = author.surnames
>              if surnames and #surnames > 0 then
>                  ctx_btxsetsurnames() -- (concat(surnames," "))
>              end
>              local juniors = author.juniors
>              if juniors and #juniors > 0 then
>                  ctx_btxsetjuniors() -- (concat(juniors," "))
>              end
>              if not index and i == max then
>                  if split.others then
>                      ctx_btxsetoverflow(1)
>                  else
>                      local overflow = #split - max
>                      if overflow > 0 then
>                          ctx_btxsetoverflow(overflow)
>                      end
>                  end
>              end
>              if combiner == "invertedfirst" then
>                  if i == 1 then
>                      ctx_btxsetup("inverted")
>                  else
>                      ctx_btxsetup("normal")
>                  end
>              else
>                  ctx_btxsetup(combiner)
>              end
>              ctx_btxstopauthor()
>          end
> ```
>
> I'll admit that the addition of entire if-else blocks around whether or
> not the combiner is a specific value may not be the best practice in
> terms of future maintenance (especially if similar index-dependent
> authorconversions are needed in the future). Alternatively, the
> "btxauthor" function could populate a "combiners" array of length "max"
> with a specific authorconversion for each author in the split; for most
> authorconversions, all entries in this array would be the same, but for
> authorconversions like "invertedfirst", the first entry would be
> different from the rest. Then, the "oneauthor" function could just
> reference combiners[i] instead of combiner.
>
> Joey
>
> On Fri, Sep 3, 2021 at 10:48 PM Joey McCollum
> <jmccollum20140511@gmail.com <mailto:jmccollum20140511@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi,
>
>     I mentioned this in an earlier e-mail but thought that now might be
>     a good time to describe this issue in detail. I'd like to define a
>     new authorconversion that renders the first author in a list
>     differently than the remaining authors in the list. Specifically,
>     I'd like to use the "inverted" authorconversion for the first author
>     and the "normal" authorconversion for the rest.
>
>     In the newer bibl-bib.lua file, I can see what I might have to
>     modify to accomplish this (I added the if combiner ==
>     "invertedfirst"  block):
>
>     ```
>     function authors.concat(author,combiner,what,settings)
>          if type(combiner) == "string" then
>              combiner = authors[combiner or "normal"] or authors.normal
>          end
>          local split = splitauthors(author)
>          local setting = settings[what]
>          local etallimit, etaldisplay, etaltext = 1000, 1000, ""
>          if setting then
>              etallimit   = settings.etallimit   or 1000
>              etaldisplay = settings.etaldisplay or etallimit
>              etalltext   = settings.etaltext    or ""
>          end
>          local max = #split
>          if max > etallimit and etaldisplay < max then
>              max = etaldisplay
>          end
>          if combiner == "invertedfirst" then
>              for i=1,max do
>                  if i == 1 then
>                      split[i] = authors.inverted(split[i],settings)
>                  else
>                      split[i] = authors.normal(split[i],settings)
>                  end
>
>              end
>          else
>              for i=1,max do
>                  split[i] = combiner(split[i],settings)
>              end
>          end
>          local result = bibtexconcat(split,settings)
>          if max < #split then
>              return result
>          else
>              return result .. etaltext
>          end
>     end
>     ```
>
>     Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to do anything. It's not clear to
>     me how bibl-bib.lua and bibl-bib.mkiv are being used by the other
>     publication support modules, if they're being used at all
>     (publ-ini.mkiv doesn't appear to register it, anyway). Is there
>     another file I'd have to change to make "invertedfirst" a working
>     authorconversion? Is there a similar block of code in publ-ini.lua
>     where I should be implementing this change instead?
>
>     Thanks!
>
>     Joey
>
>
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
>
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>


--

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
        tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------