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vi-xournalpp

This is a tiny plugin for Xournal++, version 1.1.x.

Installation

To set the plugin up on Linux, run

cd /usr/share/xournalpp/plugins
sudo git clone https://github.com/raw-bacon/vi-xournalpp

In Xournal++, activate the plugin using the Plugin Manager in the menu bar under Plugin.

vi-xournalpp is inspired by the modal editing popularized by the text editor vi. The two basic principles of the default keybindings of vi-xournalpp are

  • They should be easy to remember mnemonically,
  • They should be accessible by the left hand on a QWERTY/QWERTZ/AZERTY keyboard.

The second principle is broken for certain colors (e.g. orange).

Usage

vi-xournalpp is centered around so-called modes. They give access to different sets of keybindings. This makes it possible for way more commands to be easily accessible from a limited region on the keyboard.

Tool Mode

The default mode is tool mode. Tool mode is used for switching between the different tools, tool thicknesses, modes, and history operations. Available tools are pen, eraser, selection, highlighter, tex, delete, file. Available thicknesses are very fine, fine, medium, thick, very thick. Available modes are color, shape, linestyle, page, navigation, visual. Pressing any key in any mode other than tool automatically returns the user to tool mode, unless the mode was made "sticky" by pressing <Shift>. E.g., to enter sticky color mode, press <Shift>c. Available history operations are undo, redo.

Color Mode

The color mode is used to switch between the different colors, black, white, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple.

Shape mode

The shape mode is used to select the different shapes, ruler, arrow, rectangle, and ellipse.

Linestyle mode

The linestyle mode switches between the different kinds of linestyles, namely plain, dashed, dotted, dashDotted.

Page mode

The page mode can manipulate pages and the canvas position. Available actions are copy, delete, moveUp, moveDown. The somewhat ambiguously named moveUp and moveDown actually move the page around in the document and are not to be confused with the scrolling commands.

Navigation mode

The navigation mode is responsible for scrolling. Available actions are goToFirstPage, goToLastPage, goToTop, goToBottom, scrollPageDown, scrollPageUp.

File mode

The file mode can open and write files. Available actions are annotatePDF, exportAsPDF.

Visual mode

The visual mode is responsible for the selection of objects. Available actions are lasso, selectRectangle, selectObject.

Configuration

Keybindings

Keybindings are defined in the file keybindings.lua. One keybinding looks something like this:

selection = {
  description = "Selection",
  buttons     = {"s"},
  modes       = {"tool"},
  call        = clickSelectRegion
}

The description field is the menu entry, and also what is logged into the terminal if Xournal++ is started using the command xournalpp. The characters in the buttons list are the accelerators of the keybinding. Modes present in the modes list listen for the accelerators. The function assigned call gets executed when a valid accelerator is pressed in a valid mode. In this case, clickSelectRegion is a function defined in api.lua.

Colors

The colors can be changed in colors.lua. They require RGB like so:

yellowColor = 0xe9f23a

Extension

New Modes

A mode newMode needs the following

  1. An entry "newMode" in the ALL_MODES list in keybindings.lua,
  2. A newMode keybinding in the keybindings list.

New Keybindings

vi-xournalpp currently does not cover the full API. To add another entry, follow the following steps.

  1. Make a function in api.lua wrapping the API call.
  2. Create a new keybinding for it in keybindings.lua.

If the entry is a color, also update colors.lua accordingly.