qpdfview

Basic features (apart from interface, but basic features) for next release? (I am using 0.3beta1)

Asked by Pascual Lucero

Hello,

In my previous question, I asked about interface features that are missing. Now, I would like to ask about basic features (compared to most PDF Viewers) that are not present in qpdfview and perhaps are expected for next release.

(1) Currently, there is no way to select text, let alone other basic features like copy images (selection), etc, that are present in PDF Viewers. I think a basic, yet excellent viewer to compare would be SumatraPDF (it exists in Windows, but runs fine using wine in Linux), because Sumatra aims to be a viewer with basic features (taking aside the other goal of Sumatra to support several formats, which I don't think should be an inmediate goal for qpdfview).

Note: Currently (0.3 beta1), once I open a document, the mouse is by default in "hand" mode to seemingly add bookmarks (I say "seemingly", because I create a new entry, but there is not a way to see the entries I have created!!!, so it is useless right now), and there is no way to switch to "text selection" mode.

(2) Integration with LaTeX editors (forward and inverse search).

Is one of them (at least (1), which is definitely basic) planned for next release?

Thanks for your attention!

PS: I forgot something about the interface. I think it does not make sense to dock "meta information" to the file view (why I would like to see constantly file properties all the time while viewing a document to see it docked? ). Like evince and practically every pdf viewer (with the sole exception of epdfview), in the "File" menu there is a choice to see "Document Properties" and when you select it, it pops a small window with the meta information that you can close.

Question information

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qpdfview Edit question
Assignee:
Adam Reichold Edit question
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Revision history for this message
Adam Reichold (adamreichold) said : 		#1

Hello,

Concerning the points you raised:

ad 1: I think this is not true. As documented in the online help (go to "Help" then "Contents" or press F1), you can select text or images by holding down SHIFT and dragging a rectangle around the area that you want to select. Then you can decided whether to try extracting text or an image. Both are then copied to the clipboard. The highlight can be removed by middle-clicking.

The hand indicates that the default action is 'drag-to-pan', nothing more. The bookmarks are not intended to have a graphical representation other than there respective entry in the bookmarks menu. They are usable nevertheless and can be created using said menu or the keyboard shortcuts.

ad 2: synctex support is not currently planned.

Best regards, Adam.

Revision history for this message
Pascual Lucero (sacolevas) said : 		#2

Hello,

Perhaps, the options in the hand tool (Add entry, Go to previous entry, etc) sound confusing to me; at least with my use of multiple PDF viewers in the past, becasue when I "add an entry", I don't see in the menu where this entry was added, some bookmark list; in other words, I don't see in the menu where the bookmarks are.

With respect to the text selection, thanks a lot!! Usually in some applications, in the menu you see a button to change the default action; as I didn't saw them here, I thought there was no way to change the action.

Thanks again!

Revision history for this message
Adam Reichold (adamreichold) said : 		#3

Maybe this clarifies the situation a bit: the 'hand tool' and the bookmarks have essentially nothing to do with each other. The hand just indicated that you can drag to pan. The bookmarks on the other hand are controlled completely by the context menu of the document view (respectively the keyboard shortcuts). Basically, there are no 'tools' in the traditional sense in qpdfview.

So if you want to create a bookmark for the current page and vertical position, just right-click and select "Add entry". Scroll somewhere. If you now want to see your bookmarks or reach one of them, just right-click again and select the corresponding entry in the menu.

Be aware though (this is also documented in the online help) that bookmarks are transient: They are _not_ stored when you quit the program. They are also lost when you change the page layout, rotation or scaling as the vertical position of the viewport can not be easily mapped across these changes.

Revision history for this message
Pascual Lucero (sacolevas) said : 		#4

Thanks for your answer, now this is clear; a bit different that I got used to, but it is fine.

On the other hand, I would like to ask (with respect to new features). In the main menu, currently we have options: "File, Edit, View, Tab, Help". Now, it is program supports tab viewing, it is perhaps because you like how you can move between tabs in a web browser. Have you considered an option in the main menu called "Bookmarks" or something like that (in SumatraPDF, a great and popular viewer in Windows, the option is is called "Favorites"), where you could "bookmark" files you access frequently (i.e, saving the file location)? So, you open a file and you think it is a file you will access frequently, you will have it in your favorites lists and of course, you can manage favorites (add, remove, etc), like in a web browser.

I think (of course, with the ignorance of not being a programmer myself, but knowing one thing or two) this should be relatively easy to add as a feature (educated guess).

Thanks a lot!!

Revision history for this message
Pascual Lucero (sacolevas) said : 		#5

On the potential "favorites" option in the main menu, I guess there are basic features you would expect:

- Of course, it would be unnecessary to manage folders in the favorites list, like in web browser; you don't manage so much favorites.

- Basic expected features:

(a) If a file is opened, to be able to add it to the "Favorites" list.
(b) In the "Favorites" option in the menu, you could "Manage Favorites" like in a web browser. That would include "edit the path of the file", "add" and "remove". Also, if you like it (it would be beautiful, not a basic option), besides editing the path of the file, you could also edit the name of the favorite (like in a web browser).
(c) If you access a "Favorite" and the file has been removed (or changed to a different location), it is not necessary to show some "error message". Simply, the action should be to remove the file from the favorites list.

That's it. Thanks for your attention and of course, it is very nice to see a nice project in such good progress.

Revision history for this message
Adam Reichold (adamreichold) said : 		#6

I am not currently planning to implement a persistent manual bookmarking mechanism like you described. But I would not rule it out for a future version. So maybe you could file a 'Wishlist' bug for that.

Since this is also becoming quite a longer discussion, I'd propose moving it to the mailing list. You can use that by joining the 'qpdfview' team at "https://launchpad.net/~qpdfview". This is were the future development decisions are usually discussed. (But you can use the 'Answers' functionality as well. (This will be mirrored on the mailing list anyway.))

Revision history for this message
Adam Reichold (adamreichold) said : 		#7

Initial question has been answered, further discussion of proposed features can take place on the mailing list.