On 2009-09-17, Afief Halumi wrote:
> One thing I do miss in Lyx though is the ability to take up my stylus
> and draw whatever physical experiment is being explained and having
> the drawing automatically appear in lyx.
> What I currently do whenever a drawing comes up is the following: start
> inkscape, draw, save file(make sure to remember the name), add float,
> add image, browse for file, ...
> I would appreciate some pointers on how to implement this feature. I
> think a simple Qt4 drawing area in a separate window should do for the
> interface, and as for saving $filename_files/image$num.png sounds
> reasonable.
* You can create a keybinding for "add float, add image" with
"command-sequence; ..." (the tricky bit is not to insert the image into
the caption).
* In my view, instead of coding one more crippled drawing editor (which I
would have to learn to use), a better integration with external editors
is the way to go. This also allows users the choice between several
editors and file formats.
* A vector image should be saved in a vector format (e.g. an inkscape
drawing as *.svg. LyX can work with inkscape's native format.)
* There is the [edit in external editor] menu item available with
right-click on the image (already pointed out).
However, currently this will fail with a non-existing file.
Idea:
enable image generation via the "external edit" feature:
1. The user inserts a graphic with a new file name.
2. LyX shows the box with file name and "file not found!"
3. With right-click and "external edit", LyX should call the associated
editor with the new file name instead of reporting a missing
file.¹
¹ Unfortunately, inkscape is "ill behaved" in this respect:
Most editors (e.g. LyX) open a new buffer and associate it with the
given file name if called with a non-existing file.
`inkscape nonexisting.svg` will report an error. This can be worked
around with a wrapper script:
if "filename" does not exit:
copy a template file to "filename"
call inkscape "filename"
Günter
