Future Development of AUCTeX
****************************

The following sections describe future development of AUCTeX.  Besides
mid-term goals, bug reports and requests we cannot fix or honor right
away are being gathered here.  If you have some time for Emacs Lisp
hacking, you are encouraged to try to provide a solution to one of the
following problems.  If you don't know Lisp, you may help us to improve
the documentation.  It might be a good idea to discuss proposed changes
on the mailing list of AUCTeX first.

1 Mid-term Goals
****************

   * Integration of preview-latex into AUCTeX

     As of AUCTeX 11.81 preview-latex is a part of AUCTeX in the sense
     that the installation routines were merged and preview-latex is
     being packaged with AUCTeX.

     Further integration will happen at the backend.  This involves
     folding of error parsing and task management of both packages which
     will ease development efforts and avoid redundant work.

   * Error help catalogs

     Currently, the help for errors is more or less hardwired into
     'latex.el'.  For supporting error help in other languages, it would
     be sensible to instead arrange error messages in language-specific
     files, make a common info file from all such catalogs in a given
     language and look the error texts up in an appropriate index.  The
     user would then specify a preference list of languages, and the
     errors would be looked up in the catalogs in sequence until they
     were identified.

   * Combining 'docTeX' with RefTeX

     Macro cross references should also be usable for document
     navigation using RefTeX.

   * Fix remove-style feature

     Currently 'TeX-remove-style' implementation isn't good.  It is
     common practice that major mode functions directly add macros and
     environments via 'TeX-add-symbols' and 'LaTeX-add-environments',
     but those macros and environments are lost once 'TeX-remove-style'
     runs.  It is necessary to run major mode function, by e.g.
     'normal-mode', again to recover them, but that makes no point in
     running 'TeX-remove-style' itself because major mode function kills
     all buffer-local variables.

     As of AUCTeX 12.3, 'TeX-remove-style' is no longer used by any
     other codes.

   * Document 'LaTeX-insert-into-commments',
     'TeX-translate-location-hook', and usage of ConTeXt mode.

2 Wishlist
**********

   * Simplify tool bar implementation.  The library 'toolbar-x.el' was
     developed as an abstraction layer to absorb difference between
     XEmacs and GNU Emacs.  Now that XEmacs is no longer supported, the
     library, together with 'tex-bar.el' as a whole, can be much
     simplified (or even unified).

   * Documentation lookup for macros

     A parser could gather information about which macros are defined in
     which LaTeX packages and store the information in a hashtable which
     can be used in a backend for 'TeX-doc' in order to open the
     matching documentation for a given macro.  The information could
     also be used to insert an appropriate '\usepackage' statement if
     the user tries to insert a macro for which the respective package
     has not been requested yet.

   * Improvements to error reporting

     Fringe indicators for errors in the main text would be nice.

   * A math entry grid

     A separate frame with a table of math character graphics to click
     on in order to insert the respective sequence into the buffer (cf.
     the "grid" of 'x-symbol').

   * Crossreferencing support

     It would be nice if you could index process your favorite
     collection of '.dtx' files (such as the LaTeX source), just call a
     command on arbitrary control sequence, and get either the DVI
     viewer opened right at the definition of that macro (using Source
     Specials), or the source code of the '.dtx' file.

   * Better plain TeX support

     For starters, 'LaTeX-math-mode' is not very LaTeX-specific in the
     first place, and similar holds for indentation and formatting.

   * Page count when compiling should (optionally) go to modeline of the
     window where the compilation command was invoked, instead of the
     output window.  Suggested by Karsten Tinnefeld
     <tinnefeld@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>.

   * Command to insert a macrodefinition in the preamble, without moving
     point from the current location.  Suggested by "Jeffrey C. Ely"
     <ely@nwu.edu>.

   * A database of all commands defined in all stylefiles.  When a
     command or environment gets entered that is provided in one of the
     styles, insert the appropriate '\usepackage' in the preamble.

   * A way to add and overwrite math mode entries in style files, and to
     decide where they should be.  Suggested by Remo Badii
     <Remo.Badii@psi.ch>.

   * Create template for (first) line of tabular environment.

   * I think prompting for the master is the intended behaviour.  It
     corresponds to a 'shared' value for 'TeX-master'.

     There should probably be a 'none' value which wouldn't query for
     the master, but instead disable all features that relies on
     'TeX-master'.

     This default value for 'TeX-master' could then be controled with
     mapping based on the extension.

   * Use index files (when available) to speed up 'C-c C-m include
     <RET>'.

   * Option not to calculate very slow completions like for 'C-c C-m
     include <RET>'.

   * Font menu should be created from 'TeX-font-list'.

   * Installation procedure written purely in emacs lisp.

   * Included PostScript files should also be counted as part of the
     document.

   * A nice hierarchical by-topic organization of all officially
     documented LaTeX macros, available from the menu bar.

   * 'TeX-command-default' should be set from the master file, if not
     set locally.  Suggested by Peter Whaite <peta@cim.mcgill.ca>.

   * Make AUCTeX work with 'crypt++'.  Suggested by Chris Moore
     <Chris.Moore@src.bae.co.uk>.

   * Make AUCTeX work with 'longlines'.  This would also apply to
     preview-latex, though it might make sense to unify error processing
     before attempting this.

   * The 'Spell' command should apply to all files in a document.  Maybe
     it could try to restrict to files that have been modified since
     last spell check?  Suggested by Ravinder Bhumbla
     <rbhumbla@ucsd.edu>.

   * Make <.> check for abbreviations and sentences ending with capital
     letters.

   * Use Emacs 19 minibuffer history to choose between previewers, and
     other stuff.  Suggested by John Interrante
     <interran@uluru.Stanford.EDU>.

   * Documentation of variables that can be set in a style hook.

     We need a list of what can safely be done in an ordinary style
     hook.  You can not set a variable that AUCTeX depends on, unless
     AUCTeX knows that it has to run the style hooks first.

     Here is the start of such a list.

     'LaTeX-add-environments'

     'TeX-add-symbols'

     'LaTeX-add-labels'

     'LaTeX-add-bibliographies'

     'LaTeX-largest-level'

   * Outline should be (better) supported in TeX mode.

     At least, support headers, trailers, as well as
     'TeX-outline-extra'.

   * 'TeX-header-start' and 'TeX-trailer-end'.

     We might want these, just for fun (and outlines)

   * Plain TeX and LaTeX specific header and trailer expressions.

     We should have a way to globally specify the default value of the
     header and trailer regexps.

   * Get closer to original 'TeX-mode' keybindings.

     A third initialization file ('tex-mode.el') containing an emulator
     of the standard 'TeX-mode' would help convince some people to
     change to AUCTeX.

   * Use markers in 'TeX-error-list' to remember buffer positions in
     order to be more robust with regard to line numbers and changed
     files.

   * Finish the Texinfo mode.  For one thing, many Texinfo mode commands
     do not accept braces around their arguments.

   * Hook up the letter environment with 'bbdb.el'.

3 Bugs
******

   * The style hooks automatically generated by parsing files for
     'example.dtx', 'example.sty', 'example.drv' and 'example.bib' all
     clash.  Bad.  Clash with hand-written style hooks should be removed
     by dialect discrimination -- to be checked.

   * 'C-c `' should always stay in the current window, also when it
     finds a new file.

   * Do not overwrite emacs warnings about existing auto-save files when
     loading a new file.

   * Maybe the regexp for matching a TeX symbol during parsing should be
     '"\\\\\\([a-zA-Z]+\\|.\\)"' --
     <thiemann@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> Peter Thiemann.

   * AUCTeX should not parse verbatim environments.

   * Make '`' check for math context in 'LaTeX-math-mode'.  and simply
     self insert if not in a math context.

   * Make 'TeX-insert-dollar' more robust.  Currently it can be fooled
     by '\mbox''es and escaped double dollar for example.

   * Correct indentation for tabular, tabbing, table, math, and array
     environments.

Future Development of preview-latex
***********************************

   * Support other formats than just LaTeX

     plain TeX users and ConTeXt users should not have to feel left out.
     While ConTeXt is not supported yet by released versions of AUCTeX,
     at least supporting plain would help people, and be a start for
     ConTeXt as well.  There are plain-based formats like MusiXTeX that
     could benefit a lot from preview-latex.  The main part of the
     difficulties here is to adapt 'preview.dtx' to produce stuff not
     requiring LaTeX.

   * Support nested snippets

     Currently you can't have both a footnote (which gets displayed as
     just its footnote number) and math inside of a footnote rendered as
     an image: such nesting might be achieved by rerunning preview-latex
     on the footnote contents when one opens the footnote for editing.

   * Support other text properties than just images

     Macros like '\textit' can be rendered as images, but the resulting
     humungous blob is not suitable for editing, in particular since the
     line filling from LaTeX does not coincide with that of Emacs.  It
     would be much more useful if text properties just switched the
     relevant font to italics rather than replacing the whole text with
     an image.  It would also make editing quite easier.  Then there are
     things like footnotes that are currently just replaced by their
     footnote number.  While editing is not a concern here (the number
     is not in the original text, anyway), it would save a lot of
     conversion time if no images were generated, but Emacs just
     displayed a properly fontified version of the footnote number.
     Also, this might make preview-latex useful even on text terminals.

   * Find a way to facilitate Source Specials

     Probably in connection with adding appropriate support to 'dvipng',
     it would be nice if clicking on an image from a larger piece of
     source code would place the cursor at the respective source code
     location.

   * Make 'preview.dtx' look reasonable in AUCTeX

     It is a bit embarrassing that 'preview.dtx' is written in a manner
     that will not give either good syntax highlighting or good
     indentation when employing AUCTeX.

   * Web page work

     Currently, preview-latex's web page is not structured at all.
     Better navigation would be desirable, as well as separate News and
     Errata eye catchers.

   * Manual improvements

        - Pepper the manual with screen shots and graphics

          This will be of interest for the HTML and TeX renditions of
          the texinfo manual.  Since Texinfo now supports images as
          well, this could well be nice to have.

        - Fix duplicates

          Various stuff appears several times.

   * Implement rendering pipelines for Emacs

     The current preview-latex interface is fundamentally flawed, not
     only because of a broken implementation.  A general batchable and
     daemonizable rendering infrastructure that can work on all kinds of
     preview images for embedding into buffers is warranted.  The
     current implementation has a rather adhoc flavor and is not easily
     extended.  It will not work outside of AUCTeX, either.

   * Integrate into RefTeX

     When referencing to equations and the like, the preview-images of
     the source rather than plain text should be displayed.  If the
     preview in question covers labels, those should appear in the
     bubble help and/or a context menu.  Apropos:

   * Implement LaTeX error indicators

     Previews on erroneous LaTeX passages might gain a red border or
     similar.

   * Pop up relevant online documentation for frequent errors

     A lot of errors are of the "badly configured" variety.  Perhaps the
     relevant info pages should be delivered in addition to the error
     message.

   * Implement a table editing mode where every table cell gets output
     as a separate preview.  Alternatively, output the complete table
     metrics in a way that lets people click on individual cells for
     editing purposes.

   * Benchmark and kill Emacs inefficiencies

     Both the LaTeX run under Emacs control as well as actual image
     insertion in Emacs could be faster.  CVS Emacs has improved in that
     respect, but it still is slower than desirable.

   * Improve image support under Emacs

     The general image and color handling in Emacs is inefficient and
     partly defective.  This is still the case in CVS. One option would
     be to replace the whole color and image handling with GDK routines
     when this library is available, since it has been optimized for it.

