[Tex/LaTex] How to navigate TeXnicCenter documents

texniccenter

I use TeXnicCenter to write my LaTeX documents and usually have big files open; I navigate up and down extensively.

For example, I am writing something, I move to the beginning of the document to take some label or read something I wrote, and then I go down again to continue writing.

This entire process is very tedious, and I am looking for something like the code navigation arrows that you have in eclipse to navigate through the point in the code you are editing.

Does anybody know any useful command?
I know Ctrl+B that brings me to the last point I was editing, but this not enough.

Best Answer

Do you know Ctrl+F2 to set a bookmark and F2 (foreward) or Shift+F2 (backward) to go to the next bookmark? You can set more than one bookmark. Just set your cursor to a second line and press Ctrl+F2. For each bookmark you will see a little blue rectangle in the line numbering. You can also open window showing all bookmarks: point in a free place after the title line of window, click left and choose (I suppose it is) bookmarks (I'm using a german version). You can unset all bookmarks with Ctrl+Shift+F2 or only the choosen with ctrl+F2.

In version 1 of TeXnicCenter one could use Ctrl+number to set numbered bookmarks (number has to be between 0 and 9). In version 2 that is not possible.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Shortcut for “{}” and “()” in TeXnicCenter

For this kind of customization, you can use AutoHotkey. It is a Windows-based TSR application that runs in the background and is activated based on certain keystroke scripts.

_{If you know the AutoHotkey interface, skip over this section...}

AutoHotkey bases a keystroke sequence <ks-seq> on its own scripting language and replaces the keystroke combination with some other set of actions <actions> and sends it to the active window. In short, the syntax used (and stored in a file AutoHotkey.ahk, say) is set of expressions of the form

<ks-seq>::<actions>

Here is a list of some of the available commands/keystrokes (taken from AutoHotkey "Send" command documentation):

!: Sends an Alt keystroke. For example, Send This is text!a would send the keys This is text and then press Alt+a. Note: !A produces a different effect in some programs than !a. This is because !A presses Alt+SHIFT+A and !a presses Alt+a. If in doubt, use lowercase.
+: Sends a SHIFT keystroke. For example, Send +abC would send the text AbC, and Send !+a would press Alt+SHIFT+a.
^: Sends a Ctrl keystroke. For example, Send ^!a would press Ctrl+Alt+a, and Send ^{Home} would send Ctrl+Home. Note: ^A produces a different effect in some programs than ^a. This is because ^A presses Ctrl+SHIFT+A and ^a presses Ctrl+a. If in doubt, use lowercase.
#: Sends a WIN keystroke, therefore Send #e would hold down the Windows key and then press the letter e.

^{...and start reading here again.}

As such, you could define the hotkeys

Ctrl+Alt+p (short for parentheses) using ^!p::Send (); and
Ctrl+Alt+b (short for braces) using ^!b::Send {{}{}}. Note the grouping required for successfully sending { and }.

This is what AutoHotkey.ahk would look like:

; IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT GETTING STARTED: Lines that start with a
; semicolon, such as this one, are comments.  They are not executed.

; Ctrl+Alt+b -> {}
^!b::Send {{}{}}
; Ctrl+Alt+p -> ()
^!p::Send ()

You could append {Left} to each command, which would move the cursor back one spot to between () or {}, if need be. Changes to hotkeys can be made on-the-fly, as long as you "reload the script" before using it.

[Tex/LaTex] How to show structure windows in TeXnicCenter

You need a project in order to have a visible "structure." Moreover, this terminology has been updated and is now referred to as an "outline." And, with each project, there is an associated "main file." It's this file that TeXnicCenter starts with in order to build the outline view. To show the TeXnicCenter outline of a project, use Ctrl+Alt+O (or via the menus View > Tool Windows > Outline).

Note that the outline displayed requires a specific format for your files. That is, TeXnicCenter parses the main project file with every "Save" operation (but not if it autosaves before you compile!), including any subsidiary (included files). For example, if you have a project that has a main file latex_stuff.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\section{section 1}
\include{myinput}
\end{document}

together with myinput.tex:

\section{section 2}
\begin{figure}\caption{Figure caption}\label{figure}\end{figure}
\begin{table}\caption{Table caption}\end{table}
\subsection{subsection 1}

it will render in the project outline as

enter image description here

See how the project only displays the caption of the labelled float (figure), while the table is left blank. Moreover, if you define your own environments or macros with names other than the default ones, they won't be picked up by TeXnicCenter.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Shortcut for “{}” and “()” in TeXnicCenter

[Tex/LaTex] How to show structure windows in TeXnicCenter

Related Question