Mapping to Local Folders

File Mapping

File mapping allows the user to map the workspace to a folder on the disk, and then compile / edit using a text editor.

Step

• Make sure you are using Chrome or Edge 111+. Firefox and Safari do not support required API.
• On the LaTeX page, click Map to a folder in the menu
• Select a folder. Empty folder is recommended as local changes will be discarded.
• Click yes to allow the app to write to the selected folder.
• Now the browser will start syncing the workspace and the folder.
  • Remote updates will be write to the disk folder upon receiption.
  • Local updates will be processed and propagated in about 1.5s after you save the file.
  • Note that real time collaboration is NOT supported in the text editor. Some content will be lost when there is a conflict. (VSCode will warn you at that time) If you cannot make sure that only you are editing one file, please go back to the browser app.
  • Only files existing in the workspace will be synced. If you need to create a new file, please use the browser app.
• To stop syncing, navigate to any page other than LaTeX.

Demo

Mechanism

• Keep the handle of the directory the user selected.
• Scan that folder every 1.5s.
  • When there is an update to a text file, use JS diff to capture the deltas and apply to the YDoc.
  • When there is an update to a blob file, wrap the local version into a segmented object and publish.
  • On the other hand, if the YDoc version is newer, write is back to the disk.
  • This function uses a mutex to avoid race conditions.
• Listen to all YDoc updates. Call the callback above when there is an update.