Document Preview Navigation
This feature enhances the AsciiDoc and Markdown previewers in DevCentr by providing browser-like navigation capabilities. It addresses a common limitation in IDE document previews (like VS Code) where clicking a link that opens another document in the same preview tab prevents the user from navigating back to the previous document.
Overview
DevCentr provides real-time previews for technical documentation. When these documents contain links to other local documentation files, clicking them should update the current previewer instance. To ensure a seamless "browsing" experience, the previewer must maintain a navigation history.
Requirements
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Navigation History: Maintain a stack of visited documents within each previewer session.
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Navigation Controls:
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Back button: Navigate to the previous document in history.
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Forward button: Navigate forward if the user has moved back.
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Refresh button: Force a re-render of the current document.
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Keyboard Shortcuts: Support standard browser shortcuts:
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Alt + Left Arrow/Backspace(if not in input): Back -
Alt + Right Arrow: Forward -
Ctrl + R/F5: Refresh
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Link Handling: Intercept document links within the preview and route them through the navigation manager instead of opening a new tab by default (unless specified).
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State Persistence: (Optional/Future) Remember the scroll position when navigating back/forward.
Design
Navigation Manager
The previewer component will incorporate a simple NavigationManager that handles the History stack.
struct NavigationStep {
string filePath;
int scrollPosition;
}
class NavigationManager {
private NavigationStep[] history;
private int currentIndex = -1;
void navigateTo(string path) {
// Handle new navigation, clearing forward history if necessary
if (currentIndex < cast(int)history.length - 1) {
history = history[0 .. currentIndex + 1];
}
history ~= NavigationStep(path, 0);
currentIndex++;
}
void back() {
if (canGoBack()) {
currentIndex--;
applyStep(history[currentIndex]);
}
}
void forward() {
if (canGoForward()) {
currentIndex++;
applyStep(history[currentIndex]);
}
}
bool canGoBack() => currentIndex > 0;
bool canGoForward() => currentIndex < history.length - 1;
private void applyStep(NavigationStep step) {
// Logic to load the file and restore scroll position
}
}UI Integration
The previewer window or tab will include a slim navigation bar at the top (or integrated into the title bar) containing the navigation buttons.
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Visual Feedback: Disable back/forward buttons when the respective action is not possible.
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URL/Path Bar: (Optional) Show the relative path of the currently previewed file.
Implementation Notes
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WebView Interception: If using a WebView (e.g., via
WebView2on Windows), link clicks must be intercepted to prevent the default browser behavior and instead trigger a local document load within the same WebView instance. -
Real-time Synchronization: The navigation history should be distinct from the file’s "open" state in the editor, although they can be linked if the user prefers "Navigate Editor on Preview Link Click".