feature request: improve commandline + reload option

[kyanh]

Hi all,

Foxit is very very nice pdfreader. I really love it.

The lastest foxit (2.0 build 0930) supports command line option. It is great for tex users. But I see that multiple calling foxit will open many foxit windows :( This bothers the users. (comparing to adobe reader and ghost view and xpdf on linux and many others reader: they all can run only one instance and open multiple files)

Currently foxit doesn't support realod option. If pdf files change while we are reading them foxit doesn't know that:(. So foxit should have a "Reload" button and "Reload" shortcut to help users reload the pdf page when neccessary.

Thank you again for a great job and consideration.

Regards,

kyanh at Vietnamese TeX Users Group, http://www.viettug.org/

[Jessamine]

Hi,
Thanks for praise.
One instance and reload feature are all in our developers' to-do-list now.

[woto]

I suppose a command line that closes pdf-files would solve the problem, too. One could adjust the output-options of e.g. texniccenter so that it closes a document of the same name. Does there already exist this option and I just didn't find it?

Thank's to the devellopers.

[No-Nonsense]

Currently foxit doesn't support realod option. If pdf files change while we are reading them foxit doesn't know that:(. So foxit should have a "Reload" button and "Reload" shortcut to help users reload the pdf page when neccessary.

As I am writing my diploma thesis using LaTeX and pdfLaTeX right now, I would love to see this reload-feature in the near future if possible.

Please add a "Reload" entry in the file menu with "Ctrl+R" or "F5" shortcut. It would be cool, if Foxit Reader would keep the current view (e.g. same page and zoom, etc.). A command line option to reload a file would be also niche.
If Foxit Reader would even detect the file change (maybe make it an option) and reload the page (maybe asking "The file has been changed. Reload Cancel") this would be even better, but I could live with a shortcut. :)

Thanks in advance, keep improving this great software!
-Jens

[penreyes]

So is there a functionality now that allows refresh/reload?

[christina]

sorry, not yet right now.

[switz]

As far as I can see, the Foxit Reader is the only usable PDF-Reader under Windows that does not prevent write access to the pdf-file while showing it. This is good, but it is only helpful if there is a possibility to refresh the view. I imagine, this is not a particularly complicated feature to implement (I mean, in the easiest case you might just close and re-open the file - though of course one would usually want the file to be shown at the same position after the refresh) and it would make Foxit Reader practically the only reasonable choice of a PDF-Reader for TeX-Users. So it might be worth not to wait another two years before implementing it.

[christina]

Thanks for post. I will add your comment to the request list for this feature.

This Feature ID:0004298

[Circularity]

I, too, would like to request this feature. I'm making pdf slides with LaTeX+beamer right now and I'm at the end of my rope with Adobe reader. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Foxit allows for write-access to an open pdf, but to take advantage of this feature we really need an option to refresh the view of the pdf, keeping the page number and position the same.

Right now I'm closing my pdf, editing my code, recompiling my code, reopening the pdf and trying to find the page my edit affected, and repeating this process for each edit/slide...it's driving me totally crazy. Save me :)

[christina]

Thanks for input. I will add your post to the request list for this feature. I believe this will further the implementation of this feature.

[lutorm]

Let me second (or third) the request for this feature. It should work exactly like the --watch option in gv, which is what I'm using now for reading my latex documents: Just detect the updated pdf file and update the display without changing the view. (Needing to click a button would make it much less useful for me, as it would require me to change focus to foxit. I want the view to update so I can see the current version of the document without always clicking back and forth.)

Another important consideration is that the program must not display a dialog with an error if the file is detected to be updated but is damaged. In this scenario, it is most likely because the pdf is in the process of being updated. It's ok to say the file is unreadable, but when it checks again and the file is ok, it should revert to the same view it had before. (gv fails on this point.)

I'm really surprised this functionality is so rare in windows pdf viewers. It's like everyone assumes pdfs are static content... ;-)

Regards,

/Patrik

[christina]

Thanks Patrik. The feature has been addressed to our developement team.

For the "Another important consideration ", could you please provide us a copy of the file and help to make a screenshot of the error message?

Thanks in advance.

[lutorm]

Thanks Patrik. The feature has been addressed to our developement team.

For the "Another important consideration ", could you please provide us a copy of the file and help to make a screenshot of the error message?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Christina,

Thanks for putting the word in. Maybe I was unclear, but the "important consideration" is for the suggested functionality, not an existing problem with the reader. The issue is that when the functionality for foxit to monitor the pdf for changes is added, the following will happen: it will occasionally detect that the pdf has changed while latex is still processing it. If it then tries to read it, the file will be truncated. It is at that point that the reader should just silently wait a while and try again rather than display a message that the file is corrupt.

What happens right now if you try to open a pdf file that is still open by latex by clicking on it in the Explorer is that the reader bings and opens a dialog saying "Could not open file. File not found." (Which is misleading, the file is there but not completely written. I suspect since it is still open by latex, foxit can't open the file yet.) My point is that if it were to do this in the suggested "watch file mode", it would completely defeat the point since you would have to switch to foxit and dismiss the dialog anyway. So, when watching a file, failure to open or parse the file being watched should not be an error.

Hope that makes it clearer,

/Patrik

[Trevelyan]

Any news about this? I'm writing my diploma thesis using LaTeX and this functionality would be very much appreciated.

[christina]

This issue has been passed to our developer team...Hopefully it could be implemented in near future version.


Edit: sorry to say, this feature might not be implemented in our near version due to some technical problems.

[Trevelyan]

This feature should be done BEFORE alot of the other features the developer team might be working on right now. DDE commands support should have been made a long time ago. Maybe there could be a poll for new features so we could give our opinion about new features?

[henrikb]

Yet another LaTeX user on Windows. Implementing a reload feature would be extremely simple, especially if it is just a menu item w/ Ctrl-R (think Firefox). Please please please please do this.

For FoxIt Reader users, the following seems to be the best option:

SETUP:
1. In menu Edit -> Preferences... under the Document pane: Check [x]
Restore last view settings when reopening documents
2. Make sure that "Documents in recently used list: [ ]" is at least one.

"RELOADING" A DOCUMENT:
1. Close document; menu File -> Close (Ctrl-W)
2. Open most recent document; menu File -> 1 ... (Alt-F + 1)

In the meanwhile, I'm continuing with GhostView (although the quality of PDF pages with graphics is poor). Adobe Acrobat Reader won't do because it blocks the PDF preventing pdflatex et al. to regenerate it.

Henrik Bengtsson
UC Berkeley

[henrikb]

See new thread

http://forums.foxitsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=15062

for a solution/workaround that provides Ctrl-R reloading.

/Henrik

[Trevelyan]

Since the foxit developers don't seem to prioritize this functionality I had to switch to Sumatra pdf viewer. Sumatra works perfect with LaTeX and have excellent reload options and even places the cursor at the same line in the pdf as in the .tex file.

[ulrich]

I would also love a new reload or even better auto-reload (if foxit detects a file change) feature .....

[christina]

I will let our team know your requst. Thanks.