I started using LyX at about LyX 1.3--LyX 1.4. In following the lists
since then I don't recall seeing any mention about the possibility of
exploiting the fact that a(n uncompressed) LyX file is a *text* file and
hence can be read and manipulated in a straightforward way by other
programs. With its converter mechanism, LyX itself provides a means of
launching scripts which can do such manipulating. All one needs to do is
define a file format, call it LyX2 which is LyX in all but name, and
specify a converter to get from LyX format to LyX2 format. The converter
manipulates the file in the desired way; the file can then be imported
back into LyX.
Earlier in the year I discovered that LyX2 does *not* need a different
extension as I had first thought, that if it uses lyx as extension (and
obviously maintains LyX formatting of the document) then the export
proceeds as before and no importing is necessary: a buffer-reload
overwrites the document displaying in LyX. Alternatively, if LyX is
specified as the viewer for LyX2 one can play safe by using the
View/Update buttons to see the effects of the manipulations. Living
dangerously, with various tweaks and toolbar buttons the export-reload
procedure can avoid "nag" screens and is sufficiently fast with modern
computers that it feels like any other editing process -- copy & paste
for instance. One isn't aware of the document being exported and
manipulated then reloaded. It simply updates on screen before one's
eyes: a table is sorted, a list is sorted, abbreviations are expanded.
(I have python scripts for each of these functions, and some others.)
With its support of ERT, access to the LaTeX preamble and the vast array
of LaTeX packages, external templates, the LyX pipe, the module system,
LyX has embraced ways of filling gaps in its "native" functionality. In
this vein, I propose (easy for me because I'm not a developer) that LyX
support the process outlined with a GUI. It enables certain tasks to be
done in LyX which currently are not possible: sorting (tables, lists,
bibliographies, indexes), find-&-replace across paragraph boundaries,
expansion of abbreviations/text macros, heuristic structuring of
"formless text", styling of indexes (line-by-line to run-on). These are
possibilities that occur to me and for some of which I have functioning
scripts. The process is *already* available in LyX via the converter
GUI, File > Export, & the buffer-reload LFUN, but this is too convoluted
to be convenient (although it can be tweaked to greater convenience).
I envisage the GUI being readily available on clicking an easily
accessible icon (like the insert-cross-reference or insert-citation
GUIs). The GUI would contain a drop-down box of available scripts, and
slots for entering command-line options (plus launch and cancel buttons
& perhaps View/Update buttons). Perhaps some scripts would "come with
LyX"; others could be downloaded by users as needed from the Wiki, to be
placed in their personal scripts folder. One can imagine a library of
such scripts developing.
In the subject line, I said "A 'new' area of extensibility". Obviously
it's an old one and has been there since the converter mechanism was
developed, but it seems to have passed entirely "under the radar".
Andrew
- A "new" area of extensibility for LyX Andrew Parsloe
-
