Show symbols in file (i.e. Outline)

[gandalfsaxe]

Description

LaTeX Workshop does not help VSCode recognize symbols, i.e. you can't jump to a section of text with the Go To Symbol in File... command (⌘⇧O). I suggest making this into symbols for easy navigation:

• chapter
• section
• subsection
• subsubsection

How symbols look in LaTeX currently

It also means that the Outline pane is empty, which would otherwise be populated by the the list of symbols (i.e. sections):

How symbols look in Markdown

As an example, here is how the symbol list looks for a typical Markdown file:

And the Outline contains the same but collapsable:

[gandalfsaxe]

Btw I do see there's a "LaTeX Outline", but it doesn't currently work; if I click to open it, it contains nothing:

And also give this error:

[jlelong]

Can you post a minimal example reproducing the LaTeX Outline problem? I thought it had been fixed.

[gandalfsaxe]

Huh when I checked again it works now. I'll let you know if it happens again, and if I see a pattern in what could cause it.

Anyway my feature request of using the various section levels + chapters as a symbol list still stands, it'd be really useful 🙂

[werunom]

+1 vote for this. Similar request has been done here.

@jlelong - the latex-outline problem fix (tracked here) probably has not yet been pushed. In my case, it is still not working. When the fix might be released?

[James-Yu]

Will be released shortly.

[gandalfsaxe]

The purpose of this issue was primarily too add chapters, sections, subsections and subsubsections to the symbols list, i.e. command ⇧⌘O on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+O and Windows. Is that what's being released shortly? This wasn't really about populating an outline in the sidebar, but making that same outline available in the symbols list.

The only symbol I've noticed being detected is for figures. Symbols for various levels of sections would be much more useful.

[James-Yu]

Sections worked originally. The new release is not about providing a new feature but refining it. If there is no outline shown for your project for now, pleae provide your source file since it is currently working for other projects.

[gandalfsaxe]

@James-Yu I want to distinguish between outline being available in the sidebar, which I suspect you may be talking about vs. outline being available in "Go to symbol in file" command (workbench.action.gotoSymbol), which is really what this issue was about.

[James-Yu]

Actually in either versions of the extension, the outline view can be populated by the LaTeX content. If it's empty, something wrong happened.

In the current version:

If the outlines above is not expected behavior, please give a more concrete example.

[gandalfsaxe]

Ok here are concrete examples 🙂

This is the outline you're talking about

This is the "current file symbol list" I'm talking about

It's populated by equations and figures right now. What I would like to see is the same content of "Outline / LaTeX Outline" in this symbol list.

What the symbol list looks like with markdown

Basically I want the same of LaTeX

The purpose of having sections in symbol list

..is to be able to quickly jump to a section using fuzzy search. Such is possible with Markdown in VSCode (using the "Markdown All in One" extension, or as demonstrated here for the markdown editor Caret:

I think it'd be fine to have both figures, equations and outline in the symbols list, i.e. not have the outline replace, but added to the current list of symbols.

[James-Yu]

It is implemented in the current new version. An example: It is unlikely that figures and tables will be included due to the complex syntax structures these two floats have.

[gandalfsaxe]

Ah, excellent! Very nice.

As for figures and tables, why not just include the figure/table label if it exists, otherwise the caption if it exist, otherwise just list a generic figure? That's what happens if you "Go to Symbol in Workspace..." (⌘T) anyway:

[James-Yu]

Because regex seems not powerful enough to identify which environment the current \caption is in. I'll look into it, but it seems not quite likely.

[James-Yu]

This one should serve the purpose.

[gandalfsaxe]

Yes I think that’s good actually.

It’s strange the commands are called the same, with the distinction of being symbols in file and symbols in workspace. Obviously it’s also a different set of symbols l, not just a question of scope.

Anyway this issue is surely concluded now with a satisfying conclusion. Thanks for your work.