Henning and Hans, thanks for the replies. I have two follow-up questions below, as well as some other comments which other synctex users might find useful.
On Sun, Nov 12, 2023 at 10:26 (+0100), Henning Hraban Ramm wrote: > Am 12.11.23 um 00:59 schrieb Jim: >> Hi, >> I've read the wiki, looked at workflows-synctex.tex, searched the web, and >> scratched my head, all to no avail. So here I am, cap in hand... >> When I run context, I get a .synctex file which has some information in it, >> but I can't find any invocation of synctex to return anything useful. Nor >> does the okular example in the wiki (https://wiki.contextgarden.net/SyncTeX) >> work for me. Ocular starts, but always on the first page, regardless of >> what line number I give it. >> On the other hand, pdftex creates a .synctex file which my copy of synctex >> find useful. >> I am using the synctex from the current version of texlive: >> This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.5 >> Can anyone either >> (a) enlighten me on what I am doing wrong; or >> (b) definitively confirm that context is not currently playing nicely with >> synctex (the wiki notwithstanding) and I should give up this quest for >> now. > ConTeXt doesn’t work with the synctex binary, but with > mtxrun --script synctex Thanks for that pointer. Q1: Should that be in the wiki (https://wiki.contextgarden.net/SyncTeX) somewhere? When I try that out, for example with mtxrun --script synctex --edit --name=a.tex --line=222 a.tex I am rewarded with sandbox | variable 'linenumber' has no checker (I tried various variations on that line I won't bore you with, but I keep getting that error message.) I also tried mtxrun --script synctex --goto --page=4 --x=100 --y=100 a.synctex and that silently returns without apparently doing anything. (While I don't have a 'scite' editor, I created a program called 'scite' that pops a message up on the screen if it is called.) Similar to --edit, mtxrun --script synctex --goto --page=19 --x=400 --y=180 --tolerance=99 --editor=scite a.synctex complains sandbox | variable 'tolerance' has no checker Although I don't know lua, the code is easy enough to read, but a short dive in to mtx-synctex.lua did not enlighten me. Q2: any enlightening comments on why I am getting these complaints. In any case, --find and --report (appear to) give meaningful results, so I can work with those. > Unfortunately, it’s not a drop-in replacement, so it doesn’t work with most > editors. (I was thinking about a translating wrapper script, but didn’t do > anything yet.) So much code to write, so little time ... :-) My immediate concern is forward search (i.e., editor tells viewer which page to display) and that one should be easy for me to create a wrapper. (I use emacs + auctex, which calls the synctex program, so writing my own synctex wrapper looks easy. Hopefully I won't regret using the word "easy" later.) > AFAIK TeXshop (MacOS) is the only TeX editor that supports ConTeXt’s > workflow. I've been thinking of patching some of evince's more annoying features, if I do, maybe I should look into making it work with context. > ConTeXt’s synctex format is much simpler than the “standard” LaTeX one and > should be at least as good, but alas it needs support from the editors. Indeed! On Sun, Nov 12, 2023 at 12:00 (+0100), Hans Hagen wrote: > On 11/12/2023 10:26 AM, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote: >> Am 12.11.23 um 00:59 schrieb Jim: >>> Hi, >>> <second copy of my text elided> >> ConTeXt doesn’t work with the synctex binary, but with >> mtxrun --script synctex > afaik there is no binary ... there is a library that has to be compiled into > a pdf viewer that intercept some 'goto the text file' command and then > launches an editor (afik the library has some heuristics build in wrt boxes > and nesting and so); at the tex end there is also a library that kicks in > addiional code for nodes and the backend (which is why enabling synctex will > have an impact on runtime) > wrt the synctex file, that one is generated by context (so we don't use the > synctex code in luatex and as luametatex has no backend there it's even > completely absent ... context generates the file itself which is also a bit > more efficient) >> Unfortunately, it’s not a drop-in replacement, so it doesn’t work with >> most editors. (I was thinking about a translating wrapper script, but >> didn’t do anything yet.) >> AFAIK TeXshop (MacOS) is the only TeX editor that supports ConTeXt’s >> workflow. > indeed texshop uses the approach that avoids the library and just calls > mtxrun to figure out the file/line that relates to the position; this is > more reliable because there is no need to recompile a viewer when synctex > updates I just looked at the code of evince, and there is a fair bit of code there to parse synctex files. The virtue of just calling mtxrun is clear to me. > you can run > mtxrun --script synctex > on the synctex file and check what areas are there >> ConTeXt’s synctex format is much simpler than the “standard” LaTeX one >> and should be at least as good, but alas it needs support from the >> editors. > simpler in the sense that we only output what is needed for the > synchronization to work reliable; fwiw, my collegue already for many years > uses context with synctex enabled with sumatra pdf in pretty complex setups: > a mix of tex and xml files with deeply nested inputs and it works ok (so we > also get to the right spot in an (included) xml file) > for synctex to work one has to call context with --synctex or put a > directive on the topline of the file. Otherwise you won't get the right > jobname. Of course it then still depends on the pdf viewer + lib used if > things work out as expected. > there isn't much we can do about the viewer part unless tit is not locked > into the binary but as flexible like the texshop viewer is Thanks for your comments as well. It seems evince has a compile-time option to either build its own internal synctex or to use an external one. With the latter and a wrapper script (or maybe even an option to evince to use some alternate program to get synctex info) it might not be too hard (*cough*) to get evince to play nicely with context. Cheers. Jim ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror) archive : https://github.com/contextgarden/context wiki : https://wiki.contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________
