#59 Rainbow bracket matching!

[Nick Abbott]

I have been working with some very experienced Mathematics teachers in recent months - some in the 70s - and while they are not technically superheroes I have managed to get them successfully using using LaTeX for their Maths in Libre Writer AS LONG AS I KEEP IT REALLY SIMPLE and of course, because of TexMaths!

The LaTeX I get them using is deliberately very simple but often the upshot of that we end up with a whole load of nested braces and it can become quite easy to get lost.

I have a suggestion that I think might be relatively easy to add but would make many lives easier, here goes...

While I completely understand that full LaTeX syntax highlighting is a whole different ball game (see:https://sourceforge.net/p/texmaths/feature-requests/24/) I do think that simple coloured brace {} and maybe bracket () matching would really help.

Rainbow colouring as in the attached screenshot (VSCode) would be fabulous even it were simply that when position the caret on a particular brace, to see it's 'closing match' coloured or emboldened would still be a life saver.

Anything is better than having to count!

Thanks

[Roland Baudin]

Hi, I fully agree with you that TexMaths lacks syntax highlighting.

However, due to limitations in LibreOffice UNO text widget (the one used in the TexMaths dialog), it is not possible to apply some text formatting (color, bold, italic, etc.) to the equation text.

[Nick Abbott]

Thanks for the response Roland,

Is there somewhere else I can contribute to see if we can help move the
UNO widget on?

I ask here since I'm sure you are in conversations RE Libre Office
fairly regularly.

N

On 2024-02-10 14:17, Roland Baudin wrote:

Hi, I fully agree with you that TexMaths lacks syntax highlighting.

However, due to limitations in LibreOffice UNO text widget (the one
used in the TexMaths dialog), it is not possible to apply some text
formatting (color, bold, italic, etc.) to the equation text.

---

[feature-requests:#59]
https://sourceforge.net/p/texmaths/feature-requests/59/ Rainbow
bracket matching!

Status: open
Group: Next_Release_(example)
Created: Wed Feb 07, 2024 03:06 PM UTC by Nick Abbott
Last Updated: Wed Feb 07, 2024 03:06 PM UTC
Owner: nobody
Attachments:

• LaTeX_colourisation_example.png
  https://sourceforge.net/p/texmaths/feature-requests/59/attachment/LaTeX_colourisation_example.png
  (26.4 kB; image/png)

I have been working with some very experienced Mathematics teachers in
recent months - some in the 70s - and while they are not technically
superheroes I have managed to get them successfully using using LaTeX
for their Maths in Libre Writer AS LONG AS I KEEP IT REALLY SIMPLE and
of course, because of TexMaths!

The LaTeX I get them using is deliberately very simple but often the
upshot of that we end up with a whole load of nested braces and it can
become quite easy to get lost.

I have a suggestion that I think might be relatively easy to add but
would make many lives easier, here goes...

While I completely understand that full LaTeX syntax highlighting is a
whole different ball game
(see:https://sourceforge.net/p/texmaths/feature-requests/24/) I do
think that simple coloured brace {} and maybe bracket () matching
would really help.

Rainbow colouring as in the attached screenshot (VSCode) would be
fabulous even it were simply that when position the caret on a
particular brace, to see it's 'closing match' coloured or emboldened
would still be a life saver.

Anything is better than having to count!

Thanks

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[Roland Baudin]

I don't think they will do something like this. The UNO part of LibreOffice does not evolve anymore these days.

A solution would be to completely rewrite the UI part of TexMaths using some graphics toolkit (GTK? Qt?) but of course this would require a lot of work and skills that I don't have.

[Nick Abbott]

OK, thanks Roland.
What a terrible shame that is but we'll still use nothing else!

[Roland Baudin]

Yes, but obviously the Document Foundation does not have the resources of Microsoft and we can understand that improving macros is not its priority.