Situation:
I work with an Ebook project. I have a project file (.ebook file) and I
have several «article files» that I am supposed to embed into the .ebook
file.
All the files to be included are available in XXE’s built in file
browser pane.
Wish:
How nice would it not have been if I could have, somehow, copied the
file-to-be-included in the file browser pane, and pasted it (or a
reference [such as the file name] to it) into the .ebook (or into dialog
window of e.g. the 'Insert chapter' command)!
(A similar situation could be the process of inserting images into a
document.)
Actually, for XInclude includes, this has partly already been
implemented: Just use the 'Reference' menu ('Inclusiosn reference' would
probably have been a better name) at the bottom of the 'Edit' menu. This
menu allows you to copy a inclusion reference – after which you may used
the regular Cmd+V (Paste) command to place the inclusion wherever you
wish. That is: you do not have to go through the (sometimes) tedious
process of locating the file to be included via the the file browser
pane and so on.
So this means that, in some ways, it is ergonomically easier to include
'generic' XInclude files, than it is to include Ebook specific chapters
and sections in a .ebook file. (And I think the same comparison can be
made between XInclude inclusion insertion versus 'native' DITA or
DOCBOOK inclusion insertion.)
The drawback of the Reference menu is that it only allows you to copy a
reference in the currently open document. My request, by contrast, is
that it should be possible to copy the file (reference) from inside
XXE’s file browser pane. (Both options are good, of course: Both the
being able to copy reference from the XXE file browser pane, as well as
from inside a currently open document.)
Basically, I wish for something similar when it comes to
adding/embedding chapters and sections etc in a .ebook file. (And ditto
for embedding chapters/sections/ec in a DITA or DOCBOOK file.) For
Ebook, currently the only way seems to be to use the «Insert
chapter/section/etc» command, which includes having to use the (usually
system native) file browser to locate the file to be included.
The contextual menu of the XXE file browser pane already have the
ability to let you Copy a file. When you, inside the file browser pane,
paste such a file, you basically duplicate the file. So this is not what
I am after.
But: Having in such a way copied the file, why does nothing happen if I
try to paste the file inside a document? Why doesn't, in the very least,
the file name or the file url get pasted?
The MacOS Finder have this double function: If you copy a file in one
location, you may paste a copy of it inside another folder – but if you
switch to – for instance – Vim or even to XXE, you instead get to paste
the file name. (And the contectual manu command 'Open Containing Folder'
of course allows me to select the file in the MacOS Finder, so that I
can make use of it when I try to embed the file in the .ebook file –
this is in fact a kind of workaround. But why isn't this doable from
withing the XXE file browser pane itslef?)
Why not at the very least allow me to paste the file name or the file
URL inside a document? That way, I could have pasted the file name or
the file URL as file reference whe I use the ordinary Ebook specific
'Insert chapter' command. (Thus I would not have to use the file browser
to locate the file to be embedded).
An obvious alterantive proposal, that would get us halfway there (and
perhaps would actually be good enough), would be to, instead, add a
'Copy file name' menu to the contextual menu of the XXE file browser
pane. And eventually yet another 'Copy file URL' menu.
From inside XXE’s file browser pane, there is currently actually only
one workaround that kind of works: Select a file and then select the
'Rename' command. Then you are given a dialog window from which you can
copy the file name. Quite an unintuitive solution.
I hope my explanation was clear. Obviously there could be 'many ways to
Rome' here. Something similar to the XInclude copy (and paste) as
reference, would be elegant, but might be somewhat complicated to
achieve? But easier access to copying (and/or pasting!) the file name
and/or file URL ought to be pretty straight forward.
Leif
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