doc-view / pdf-view-mode integration (#4)

sportmacher opened 2 months ago

Reported by: Reddit user

Add integration with doc-view-mode (built-in) and optionally pdf-view-mode (pdf-tools) to display PDF pages as images in terminal Emacs via Kitty graphics.

Approach:

doc-view-mode already converts PDF pages to PNG — hook into its display path
Similar to the image-mode advice pattern: intercept when in terminal mode
Need to handle page navigation (next/prev page should update the displayed image)
pdf-tools uses its own rendering pipeline — may need separate integration

Considerations:

doc-view already works in terminal Emacs (text-based), so this would be an enhancement
Page-at-a-time rendering to avoid memory issues with large PDFs

Activities

sportmacher commented 2 months ago
doc-view integration implemented with two advice functions:

kitty-gfx--doc-view-mode-p-advice: Bypasses (display-graphic-p) guard in doc-view-mode-p. Checks for conversion tools (gs, mutool, pdftocairo) to ensure the pipeline can actually run.

kitty-gfx--doc-view-insert-image-advice: Intercepts doc-view-insert-image to display page PNGs via Kitty graphics instead of Emacs image specs. Manages a per-buffer overlay (kitty-gfx--doc-view-overlay) so page navigation replaces the previous page image.

The conversion pipeline (PDF→PNG via Ghostscript/MuPDF) works without GUI — only the display step assumes a graphical frame. Page navigation (next/prev) should work via the existing doc-view-goto-page → doc-view-insert-image path.

Byte-compiles and load-tests clean. Needs manual testing with a PDF file.
sportmacher changed state to 'In Review' 2 months ago
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sportmacher commented 2 months ago

Fixed in fec2c3b. PDF pages display via Kitty graphics with page navigation (n/p) and zoom (+/-/0). Centered display. User verified working. Known minor limitation: initial page may briefly flash before centering.
sportmacher changed state to 'Closed' 2 months ago
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Reference

cashmere/kitty-graphics#4