Improvements? New Features? post sigil 2.7.6

[KevinH]

If you select all xhtml before launching the automate list does that work? I think I remember something about keeping selections.

If not, an automate list can pass in a string value to the plugin, which I can use to internally run on every xhtml.

I will tweak the latest PrettyPrinter plugin to do that and post it.

[KevinH]

Actually I just looked and there is a way to memorize the initially selected resources in Automate and return it whenever you want as well as a way to make the BookBrowser select all xhtml files:

true;
            } else if (cmd == "SetBookBrowserToAllHTML")   {
                SelectResources(GetAllHTMLResources());
                success = true;
            } else if (cmd == "SetBookBrowserToAllImages") {

So we will not need to set a parameter to or modify the PrettyPrinter plugin at all. Instead simply edit your automate list and insert a command to SetBookBrowserToAllHTML
just before invoking the PrettyPrinter plugin.

That should work. Please let me know if it doesn't.

[DNSB]

I tried the select all XHTML before running the automate list and no joy. It's not a big deal with the reversion of the built-in prettify code which comes very close to what I want.

Edit: The SetBookBrowserToAllHTML works!

[KevinH]

We cross posted. So see my last post above, that should work.

[DNSB]

Another cross-post. I edited my message to say that SetBookBrowserToAllHTML works.

[KevinH]

Glad to hear it!

[KevinH]

I now have code to apply image filters using convolution kernels, things like blur, sharpen, edge detect, emboss, etc. It should be reasonably easy to extend our new AdjustImage code to add a few common filters. I have personally only tried the sharpen filter to help improve a new copy of an old photo. I have never tried edge detection (useful for an auto-crop tool maybe.

Should I do that or leave it to Open With (your image editor of choice) to do along with with flattening color tables in pngs, conversion to greyscale, etc, etc.

[DNSB]

Since I have several image editors around, I don't see any real need for adding more than the most basic options for image editing inside Sigil.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Since I have several image editors around, I don't see any real need for adding more than the most basic options for image editing inside Sigil.

That's fine by me, if others disagree please speak up.

[KevinH]

And to summarize this long thread, the following requests for Sigil have now been processed:

1. add some way (especially for tables) for users to control what Prettify does
   (accepted and in master)
   
2. add some way for simple image adjustments (crop, rotate, resize)
   (accepted and in master)
   
3. add some way to add files to an epub using drag and drop.
   (accepted and in master)
   
4. add some way to block optimize all images in an epub
   (not accepted, as this capability already exists in the form of Doitsu's
   optimize plugins for both jpegs and pngs.)
   
5. When reordering the spine add some keyboard way to easily
   move a file to the top or bottom of the reading order
   (accepted, new Reading Order tool with complete keyboard control is now in master)
   
6. way to return to the xhtml tab open in Preview after editing the the css
   (not accepted, as this capability already exists in the Return from BookMark menu/tool)
   
7. fix issues related to dark mode and Sigil's native dark mode theme on windows
   when trying to identify the active tab (without needing qss styling)
   (this is still open and waiting to see how it resolves with Windows users)
   
8. Pull in some features from a gitee code Sigil code fork that were never offered to us but are available under GPL licence
   • a) a new prettyprinter but code was broken, no support for inline tags, no whitespace condensing, better done with our new Prettify code but a plugin version with bugs fixed will be available.
     
   • b) support for emmet xhtml coding shortcuts but again code had bugs in properly handling nested $, so created our own working implementation using python in a test build but it was rejected by testers since it add nothing versus our clips tool. Most epub developers write in Word/LibreOffice, etc, convert to html then import and fixup. Actually hand writing lots of xhtml is really not an approach that is used/needed often.
     
   • c) better way to add bulk files via AddExisting (done and adapted to our code)
     
   • d) autocompletion for CodeView, but tested and was next to worthless given the short length of most xhtml tag names (actually took more key presses than straight typing would) plus Clips are must better and more flexible way of doing the same thing.
     
   • e) convert to epub3 and convert to epub2 integrated into Sigil, this was rejected as unneeded since plugins have long existed to do those things already.
     
   • f) improve well-formed check, our check is enough to make sure Sigil's more advanced tool will function. As for overall checking you are better off running the epubcheck plugin.
     
   • e) a new 2 stage "find then find again and replace". Tried it, you can already do much of what it can using real regular expressions with look behind and look forward, plus our Python Function Replace is much more powerful in general
     
   • f) other small miscellaneous shortcuts for CodeView editing that again are better handled with Clips.
     
   • So not a lot of value for us all in all, especially as these changes did not seem to understand what Clips are for and how they could be used, and as the code was not Qt6 ready (still needed Qt5Compat), some code duplicated some of the code changes we had already made over the years, seemed to ignore what plugins can do, and some bugs existed in some of the new features.
     
9. Add some way to collect file based footnotes to make them endnotes without breaking things links.
   (not accepted, as using Sigil's Split and Merging the split off footnotes results works just fine for this. And there are already plugins to help with that.)

If there were some suggestions I missed out, please someone point them out to me and I will update this list.


If there are any other suggestions you think might help benefit a majority of users, please post them here before I close this thread as complete or save them until after the next release of Sigil. Bug reports are always welcome.

Special thanks to BeckyEbook and DNSB for all their bug notifications, testing , feedback and fixes. Your help was greatly appreciated!

[DNSB]

Link to older build removed.

[KevinH]

Please be aware that although the base for translations was updated, we have to wait a week or two for updated translations to appear on transifex before they can be pulled into a Sigil test builds, so many of the new features in the current test builds are still missing translations.

[KarlG]

*** New Feature Request ***

When adding existing files the default folder opened seems to be the last one used. Would it be possible to have an option to have the default folder as the same folder in which the epub is stored?

Thanks

[KevinH]

The last one used is adaptive. It is used everyplace in Sigil, Very few people will have organized all desired files to sit beside their epub. But even if they did, after the first input, it will adapt. How does forcing it to one location to start help most users?

Maybe I am missing something here. Please justify it would be better for most people?

[KevinH]

And any new Sigil Preferences are not a good idea. We have too many Preferences as it is now.

So at best this would be an environment variable setting only.