Re: doc-view.el --- View PDF/PostStript/DVI files in Emacs

[Tassilo Horn]

Bill Clementson <address@hidden> writes:

Hi Bill,

> Only the Macports install worked on my Powerbook G4 (and that took
> ages to build all the dependencies because Macports builds versions of
> the dependencies that work with the package you're installing even if
> you have non-Macports versions of the same progs installed and in your
> path). Tassilo, please forgive me for all the names I called you this
> afternoon for using git! ;-)

Haha, forgiven.

> But, back to doc-view.el. Did I mention that it is way cool? :-)

Thanks!

> There are a few ways that it could probably be made better though:
>
> 1. It is slow: It would probably be better to provide an async mode
> option. In other words, instead of waiting for the convert process to
> complete, let the user view the pages that have been generated and
> periodically, have doc-view automatically update the
> doc-view-current-files variable with the updated list of pages.

I don't think that would help much.  The generation of the pictures is
about the last 5-10% of the transformation.

> 2. Cancel key: There should be a key binding to cancel the convert
> process and (optionally) view what has been generated so far.

I've done that yesterday.  Get the current version.

> 3. Page count: It would be useful to have a running update of how many
> pages have been converted so far in the minibuffer (or maybe the mode
> line so that the minibuffer isn't being continually updated and can be
> used for other commands).

See my answer to point 1.

> 4. Batch mode: It would be nice to have an option to kick off a batch
> background process to do the conversion. For big documents, it isn't
> really practical to wait till it's been converted.

Well, why do you think you have to wait?  Go on with your work and
eventually the *DocView* buffer pops up.  (That's much better in the
current version now.)

> 5. Dired key: It would be nice to have a defcustom value that would
> specify a dired map key that would call doc-view on a file (with a new
> doc-view function that doesn't prompt for the file name). This would
> make it easier to "browse" pdf files in dired.

Good idea.  I'll add that.  Do you have a good suggestion what key could
be used and is free?

> Did I mention that doc-view is way cool? :-)

And think of how cool it will be in 5 or ten years when we all have
64-core 50 GHz computers with 512 GB RAM!!!

Bye,
Tassilo
-- 
Scotty in Star  Trek often says "Ye cannae change  the laws of physics."
This is  untrue. Chuck Norris can  change the laws of  physics. With his
fists.