1 \documentclass{article}
3 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
13 \hypersetup{bookmarks, bookmarksopen,
14 pdftitle={VYM - a tool for visual thinking },
15 pdfauthor={Uwe Drechsel},
17 pdfkeywords={map, tool},
18 pdfpagemode={UseOutlines},
19 bookmarksopenlevel={1},
26 \newcommand{\vym}{{\sc vym }}
27 \newcommand{\ra}{$\longrightarrow$}
28 \newcommand{\la}{$\longleftarrow$}
29 \newcommand{\ua}{$\uparrow$}
30 \newcommand{\da}{$\downarrow$}
31 \newcommand{\key}[1]{[#1]}
35 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/vym-logo-new.png}
37 VYM \\ -- \\View Your Mind\\ {\small Version 1.8.71}}
38 \author{\textcopyright Uwe Drechsel }
49 \section{Introduction}
50 \subsection{What is a \vym map?}
51 A \vym map (in short words {\em map}) is a tree like structure:
53 \includegraphics[width=12cm]{images/example1.png}
55 Such maps can be drawn by hand on a paper or flip chart and help to
56 structure your thoughts. While a tree like structure like above can be
57 drawn manually \vym offers much more features to work with such maps.
58 \vym is not another drawing software, but a tool to store and modify
59 information in an intuitive way. For example you can reorder parts of
60 the map by pressing a key or add various information like a complete
61 email by a simple mouse click.
63 Once you have finished collecting and organizing your ideas, you can
64 easily generate for example a presentation in Open~Office based on a
67 \subsection{Why should I use maps? Time, Space and your Brain.}
68 \subsubsection*{Space}
69 A map can concentrate a very complex content on little space e.g. a
70 piece of paper. It helps to use both sides of your brain: the logical
71 side and also your creative side (e.g. by using pictures, colors and
72 keywords in a map, so called {\em anchors}). It is a technique to
73 organize the way you think: It can help you by developing, sorting and
74 memorizing your thoughts.
77 Because you just use keywords and drawings, it is much faster than good
78 old fashioned notes. Your brain memorizes things by associating them to
79 other things -- a map makes use of those connections and stimulates
83 \subsubsection*{Your Brain}
84 In 1960 the Prof. {\sc Roger Sperry} discovered that both hemispheres
85 of the human brain have different tasks (of course both of them
86 basically {\em can} do the same):
88 \begin{tabular}{|p{5.5cm}|p{5.5cm}|} \hline
89 Left side & Right side \\ \hline
91 \item verbal speech and writing
93 \item logical thinking
94 \item analyzing and details
101 \item visual thinking, day dreams
102 \item intuition and emotion
103 \item overview of things
105 \item art, music, dancing
106 \item non-linear thinking, connecting things
107 \item spatial awareness
108 \end{itemize} \\ \hline
111 In our science oriented society we have learned to mainly rely on our
112 left side of the brain, the "rational" one. In other cultures,
113 especially like the native americans and other "old" cultures, the right
114 side is much more important. Maps are just one way to stimulate the
115 other side and make use of additional ressources we all have.
118 \subsection{Where could I use a map?}
119 Here are some examples, how you can use those maps
121 \item to prepare articles, papers, books, talks, \ldots
122 \item to sort complex data
123 \item to memorize facts, persons, vocabulary, \ldots
124 \item to sort emails, files and bookmarks on your computer
125 \item to moderate conferences
128 \subsection{What you shouldn't do with a map...}
129 A map drawn by somebody shows the way the author thinks. There is
130 no right or wrong in the way it is drawn, so there is no way to criticize
131 it. "It is, what it is" ({\sc F.~Lehmann}).
136 \subsection{Internet Ressources}
137 A good starting point to learn more about maps in general is Wikipedia:
140 \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map}{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind\_map}
142 \href{http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindmap}{http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindmap}
148 \section{Concept of \vym}
149 %TODO may add a general introduction here...
150 \subsection{Windows: Mapeditor, Noteeditor, and more}
151 \vym uses mainly two windows: an editor for the map itself and another one for
152 notes, which are part of the map. Let's call them {\em mapeditor} and
155 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/windows.png}
157 Usually you will work in the {\em mapeditor} by just adding new
158 branches, moving around and reordering them. The various ways to do this
159 will be explained in \ref{mapeditor}. You can store additional
160 information e.g. the content of a email easily in a {\em branch}: Just
161 type or copy\&paste it into the {\em noteeditor}. Working with notes is
162 explained in \ref{noteeditor}
164 Another window which can be toggled on or off is the {\em history
165 window}. It can be used to see the latest actions performed on a map and
166 also to undo and redo actions. Details are in \ref{historywindow}.
168 \subsection{Menus and Context menus}
169 On top of each window you find the menubar. The options you find there
170 are similar to those you are used from other applications. Note that
171 many (and even more) options are availabe via {\em context menus}. Those
172 are available if you right-click onto an object in a map (on Mac~OS~X
175 \subsection{Toolbars}
176 The toolbars in the mainwindows give quick access to many functions and
177 also visualize the state of an object. For example a part of of the map
178 can be hidden when the map is exported into an Open~Office presentation.
179 To show this the branch in the map will have a little cloud symbol,
180 which is also "switched on" in the toolbar.
182 Note that you can reposition all toolbars by simply grabbing them. For
183 example you can move the flags-toolbar from its original horizontal
184 position on top of the mapeditor to a vertical position on the right
185 side. You can even detach it and make it "float" separate from the other
186 windows. Or just insert it again at its original position.
189 The map itself has always a {\em mapcenter}. The
190 mapcenter has {\em branches} just like the trunk of a tree. Each branch
191 in turn may have branches again.
193 \includegraphics[width=10cm]{images/branches.png}
195 We will call a branch directly connected to the mapcenter a {\em
196 mainbranch}, because it determines the position of all its child
199 The mapcenter and the branches all have a {\em heading}. This is the
200 text you see in the mapeditor. Usually it should just be one or a few
201 words, so that one can easily keep track of the whole map.
204 In the toolbar above the mapeditor you see various symbols.
206 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/default-flags.png}
208 These are called {\em flags} and can be used to mark branches in the
209 map, e.g. if something is important or questionable.
210 There are also more flags set by \vym automatically to show additional
211 information, e.g. when a exists for a particular branch.
213 By default some of these flags are set exclusively e.g. when the
214 "thumb-up" flag is set, then the "thumb down" is unset and vice
215 versa. You can change this default behaviour in the settings menu.
217 %TODO add info about toolbars e.g. undo/redo, ...
218 %TODO or reference to advanced editing undo/redo
220 \section{Mapeditor} \label {mapeditor}
221 \subsection{Start a new map}
222 After \vym is started two windows will open: the mapeditor and the
223 noteditor. Usually you will work in both windows, but at the moment we
224 will just need the mapeditor.
226 Select the mapcenter "New map" in the middle of the mapeditor by
227 left-clicking with the mouse. It will turn yellow to show that is
228 selected. There are several ways to add a new branch to the center:
230 \item Using the mouse: Open the context meny by clicking with the
231 right mouse button (CTRL-Click on Mac) onto the
232 mapcenter and choose Add \ra Add as child
233 \item Press \key{Ins} or \key{A}
235 A new branch will appear and you will be able to type the heading of the
236 branch. Finish adding the new branch by pressing \key{Enter}.
238 Sometimes it comes handy to add a new branch above or below the current
239 one. Use \key{Ins} together with \key{Shift} or \key{Ctrl}. It is also
240 possible to add a branch in such a way, that the current selection
241 becomes the child of the new branch, which is like inserting it {\em
242 before} the selection. This can be done using the context menu.
244 \subsection{Navigate through a map}
245 \subsubsection*{Select branches}
246 To select branches you can use the left button of your mouse or also the
247 arrow keys. Depending on the {\em orientation} of a branch type
248 \key{\la} or \key{\ra} to get nearer to the mapcenter or deeper
249 down into the branches. Within a set of branches, let's call them a
250 {\em subtree}, you can use \key{\ua} and \key{\da} to go up and down. You can
251 also use \key{Pos1} and \key{End} to select the first and last branch.
254 \subsubsection*{Zoom a map}
255 While adding more and more branches the size of the map may become
256 bigger than the mapeditor window. You can use the scrollbars on the
257 right and the bottom of your mapeditor window to scroll, but it is
258 easier to just scroll using the left mouse button: Click onto the {\em
259 canvas} itself, the empty space somewhere between the branches. The
260 mouse pointer will change from an arrow to a hand, now move the visible
261 part of the map to show the desired part.
263 If you select branches using the arrow keys, the map will scroll
264 to ensure that the selected branch is always visible.
266 Working with huge maps, the {\em zoom}-function comes in handy: You can
269 \item from the menu View \ra Zoom
270 \item the toolbar buttons
272 \includegraphics[width=3cm]{images/zoom-buttons.png}
275 The crossed magnifying lens resets the zoomed view to its original size.
278 \subsubsection*{Find Function} \label{findwindow}
279 With huge maps there is the need to have a
280 find function. Choose Edit \ra Find to open the Find Window:
282 \includegraphics[width=6cm]{images/find-window.png}
284 The text you enter here will be searched in all the headings and also in
285 notes. Everytime you press the "Find"-button it will look for the next
286 occurence, which then will be selected automatically. If the search
287 fails, there will appear a short message "Nothing found" or a few
288 seconds in the {\em statusbar} on the bottom of the mapeditor.
290 \subsubsection*{Keep the overview -- scroll a part of the map}
291 A very big subtree of a map e.g. a branch with hundreds of childs makes
292 it very hard to keep an overview over the whole map. You can hide all
293 the childs of a branch by {\em scrolling} it -- this function is also
294 often called {\em folding}. Think of the whole subtree as painted onto a
295 big newspaper. You can scroll the paper to a small roll, leaving just
296 the headline readable.
298 To scroll or unscroll a branch and its childs, press the
300 \item \key{Scroll} key or \key{S}
301 \item press the middle-mouse button or
302 \item choose the little scroll from the toolbar.
304 If you select parts of a scrolled branch e.g. using the find function or
305 by using the arrow-keys, it will unscroll temporary. This is shown as a
306 scroll with a little hour glass. If the temporary unscrolled part is not
307 longer needed, it will be hidden again automatically. It is also
308 possible to unscroll all branches using "Edit\ra Unscroll all scrolled
311 You can also hide parts of the map while exporting it e.g. to a webpage
312 or a presentation, see \ref{hideexport} for details.
314 \subsection{Modify and move branches}
315 \subsubsection*{Modify the heading}
316 You can edit the heading by selecting the branch and then
318 \item pressing \key{Enter}
319 \item double-clicking with left mouse.
321 Just type the new heading (or edit the old one) and press \key{Enter}.
323 \subsubsection*{Move a branch}
324 The easiest way to move a branch is to select it with left-mouse and
325 drag it to the destination while keeping the mouse button pressed.
326 Depending on the branch it will be
328 \item moved to the destination or
329 \item {\em linked} to a new {\em parent} (mapcenter or branch)
331 If you drag the branch over another one or over the mapcenter, you will
332 notice that the link connecting it to the old parent will be changed to
333 lead to the new parent which is now under your mousepointer.
334 If you release the button now, the branch will be relinked.
336 If you release the button in the middle of nowhere, the result will
337 depend on the type of branch you are releasing:
339 \item A mainbranch is directly connected to the mapcenter.
340 It will stay on its new position.
341 \item An ordinary branch will "jump" back to its original position.
343 Thus you can easily rearrange the layout of the mainbranches to avoid
344 overlapping of their subtrees.
345 There is another convenient way to move branches, especially if you want
346 to {\em reorder} a subtree: You can move a branch up or down in a
349 \item pressing \key{\ua} and \key {\da}
350 \item selecting Edit \ra Move branch
351 \item clicking on the toolbar buttons:
353 \includegraphics[width=1.5cm]{images/move-buttons.png}
357 There is yet another way to move branches: If you press \key{Shift} or
358 \key{Ctrl} while moving with the mouse, the branch will be added above
359 or below the one the mouse pointer is over. This helps also to reorder a
362 \subsection{The right side of your brain - colors and images}
363 \subsubsection*{Change color of a heading}
364 You can also use colors to put more information into a map, e.g. use
365 red, green and more colors to prioritize tasks. Again you can
367 \item use the menu and choose e.g Format \rq Set Color
368 \item use the toolbar
370 \includegraphics[width=3cm]{images/color-buttons.png}
373 The first button (black in the graphic above) shows the actual color.
374 Clicking on it let's you choose another color. You can also "pick"
375 another color by selecting a branch with the desired color and using the
376 "pick color" button. Both of the buttons showing a bucket actually put
377 the current color to the selected branch. While the first one just
378 colors the heading of the selection, the last one also colors all the
379 childs of the selected branch.
382 A very useful function is the "copy color" using the mouse: Select the
383 branch which should get the new color, then press \key{Ctrl} and
384 simultanously click with left-mouse on another branch to copy its color
385 to the first one. Here the childs of the selection also will get the new
386 color, if you just want to color the selection itself, additionally
389 \subsubsection*{Use flags}
390 \vym provides various flags. You see them in the toolbar on top of the
391 mapeditor window. (Note: Like all toolbars you can also move them to the
392 left or the right side of the window or even detach them. Just grab the
393 very left "dotted" part of the toolbar with your left-mouse button.)
395 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/default-flags.png}
397 If you have a branch selected, you can set any number of flags by
398 clicking them in the toolbar. The toolbar buttons change their state and
399 always reflect the flags set in the selected branch.
401 Presently \vym uses two kinds of flags: {\em System Flags} and {\em
402 Standard Flags}. The standard flags are those shown in the toolbar.
403 System flags are set by \vym to indicate e.g. that there is additional
404 information in a note (more on this in \ref{noteeditor}). Later versions
405 of \vym may have another kind of flags, which may be edited by the user.
407 \subsubsection*{Images}
408 The easiest way to add an image to a branch is by dragging it e.g. from a
409 webbrowser to the mapeditor while a branch is selected there.
411 You can also add a image to a branch by opening the context menu of the
412 branch choose "Add Image". A
413 dialog window lets you choose the image to load.
414 \footnote{Supported image types are: PNG, BMP, XBM, XPM and PNM. It may
415 also support JPEG, MNG and GIF, if specially configured during
416 compilation (as done when \vym is part of SUSE LINUX).}
417 While an image is selected in the dialog, you can see a preview of the
418 image. It is also possible to select multiple images.
420 You can position the image anywhere you want, just drag it with left
421 mouse. To relink it to another branch, press \key{Shift} while moving
422 it. To delete it, press \key{Del}.
424 If you right-click onto an image, a context menu will open which let's
425 you first choose one of several image formats. Then a file dialog opens
426 to save the image. Hint: This is used to "export" the image, it will be
427 saved anyway in the map itself! You can also cut and
428 copy images, but it is not possible to add objects to an image\footnote{
429 Images are regarded as "extra feature". It would make working with
430 the map much more complex if e.g. images could be linked to images.}
432 The option \lq{\bf Use for export} \rq controls the output of exports
433 e.g. to HTML: If set to no, the image won't appear in the {\em text}
434 part of the output. This is useful for large images or if images are
435 used as a kind of frame e.g. the famous cloud symbol around a part of
436 the map. Those shouldn't appear in the middle of the text.
438 At the moment image support is preliminary: Images will be saved
439 together with all the other data of a map in the {\tt .vym}-file.
440 Later versions will include more functionality like resizing the images,
441 changing its z-value (put it into background) etc.
443 \subsubsection*{Frames}
444 A frame can be added to a branch by clicking with the
445 right-mouse button. A context menu will open, where you can choose the
446 frame. At the moment just a rectangle resp. "No Frame" will be offered,
447 nevertheless you can use images as frames. Have a look at the demo map
448 {\tt todo.vym} as an example, where the mapcenter is a cloud. You can
449 use an external drawing program like {\tt gimp} to create an image,
450 preferable with an transparency channel, so that you can design frames
451 which don't use a rectangular borderline, just like the cloud.
454 \subsection{Background design}
455 The design of the background of a map and also of the links connecting
456 various parts of the map can be changed by
458 \item Selecting Format from the menu
459 \item Right clicking onto the canvas, which will open a context menu
462 \subsubsection*{Background color}
463 The color is set (and also displayed) as "Set background color".
465 \subsubsection*{Link color}
466 Links connecting branches can be colored in one of the following ways:
468 \item use the color of the heading of the branch the links is
469 \item use {\em one} color for all links. The default color is blue.
472 The latter can be set with "Set link color". Check or uncheck the "Use
473 color of heading for link" option to choose one of the two designs for
476 \subsubsection*{Link style}
477 \vym offers four different styles for the appearences of links:
484 The "thick" styles only draw links starting at mapcenter thick, the rest
485 of the map is always painted "thin".
488 \subsection{Links to other documents and webpages}
489 \vym supports two kind of external links:
491 \item Document, which will be opened in an external webbrowser
492 \item \vym map, which will be opened in \vym itself
494 In addition to the external links there also internal ones, leading from one
495 branch in a map toanother one. Those are called {\em XLinks} and are explained
496 in section~\ref{xlinks}.
498 \subsubsection*{Webbrowser}
499 Modern Webbrowsers like {\tt konqueror} are able to display various
500 types of files, both local or in the internet. To enter the URL of
501 any document, right-click onto a branch or use the Edit Menu
502 and choose "Edit URL". Enter the path to your document (or copy and
503 paste it from your browser). Examples for valid paths are:
505 http://www.insilmaril.de/vym/index.html
506 file:/usr/share/doc/packages/vym/doc/vym.pdf
508 If an URL was entered, a little globe will appear in the branch. By
509 clicking on the globe in the toolbar or the context menu an external
511 The browser can be changed in the Settings Menu.}
514 \includegraphics[width=0.5cm]{images/flag-url.png}
516 For more information on working with bookmarks and webbrowsers see
517 section \ref{bookmarks}.
520 \subsubsection*{\vym map}
521 To link to to another map right click on a branch or choose "Edit \ra
522 Enter \vym link". A file dialog opens where you can choose the map. A
523 branch with a link is marked with
525 \includegraphics[width=0.5cm]{images/flag-vymlink.png}
527 Clicking this flag in the toolbar or in the context menu of a branch
528 will open the map in another tab (see \ref{tabs} for working with
529 multiple maps). To delete an existing link, just press the "Cancel"
532 Technical note: Internally \vym uses absolute paths, to avoid opening
533 several tabs containing the same map. When a map is saved, this path is
534 converted to a relative one (e.g. {\tt /home/user/vym.map} might become
535 {\tt ./vym.map}. This makes it fairly easy to use multiple maps on
536 different computers or export them to HTML in future.
538 \subsection{Multiple maps} \label{tabs}
539 You can work on multiple maps at the same time. Each new map is opened
540 in another {\em tab}. The available tabs are shown just above the
541 mapeditor. You can use the normal cut/copy/paste functions to
542 copy data from one map to another.
547 %\subsubsection{Menus}
548 %\subsubsection{Keyboard shortcuts}
553 % Working with tabs (multiple maps)
557 \section{Noteeditor} \label {noteeditor}
558 If you want to save more text in a branch e.g. a complete email, a
559 cooking recipe, or the whole source code of a software project, you can
562 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/noteeditor.png}
564 This editor displays text associated to a branch selected in the
565 mapeditor. To visualize that there maybe is no text yet, the noteeditor
566 shows different background colors depending on its state:
569 Before you can type or paste text into it, you have
570 to select a branch in the mapeditor. Note that the background color
571 of the noteeditor indicates its state:
573 \item black: no branch selected
574 \item grey: no text entered yet
575 \item white: text is already available
577 To show you in the mapeditor itself that there is a note with more
578 information for a particular branch, a little note flag will appear next
579 to the heading of the branch. See the lower branch on the right side:
581 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/branches-flags.png}
584 \subsection{Import and export notes}
585 The note is always saved automatically within the \vym map itself.
586 Nevertheless sometimes it is nice to import a note from an external file
587 or write it. Use "Map\ra~Import" and "Map\ra~Export" to do so.
589 \subsection{Edit and print note}
590 Editing works like in any simple texteditor, including undo and redo
591 functions. You can delete the complete note by clicking the
592 trashcan. Only the note itself is printed by clicking the printer icon.
594 When pasting into the editor using the X11 copy\&paste mechanism, the
595 editor will create a paragraph for each new line. Usually this is not
596 wanted, so there you can convert all paragraphs into linebreaks by using
597 Edit~\ra~Remove~Paragraphs or \key{ALT-X}.
599 \subsection{RichText: Colors, paragraphs and formatted text}
600 \vym supports formatted text (QT Rich Text) in the noteeditor since
601 version 1.4.7. Colors and text attributes (e.g. italic, bold) can be
602 set with the buttons above the text. The text itself is divided in
603 paragraphs. For each paragraph the format can be set (e.g. centered,
604 right). A paragraph is ended when a \key{Return} is entered. If you just
605 want to begin a new line, press \key{CTRL-Return}.
607 \subsection{Fonts and how to quickly switch them}
608 The noteeditor is ment to be used for simple notes, not really as full
609 featured text editor. Because of many requests \vym supports now
610 formatted text in the noteeditor\footnote{
611 \vym uses the QRichtText format, which is basically a subset of the
612 formatting provided in HTML.}
613 Two default fonts are supported which can be set in the Settings menu.
614 One is a fixed width font, the other has variable width. The fixed font
615 is usually used for emails, source code etc.\ while the variable font is
616 used for simple notes, where one doesn't need fixed character widths.
617 Both fonts can easily switched using the following symbol from the
620 \includegraphics[width=0.5cm]{images/formatfixedfont.png}
622 In the Settings menu both fonts can be set and also which font should be
625 Additionally to the default fonts any font installed on your system can
626 be used. Please note, that the chosen font also will be used for HTML
627 exports, so you should only use fonts which are available generally.
629 \subsection{Find text}
630 The noteeditor itself has no Find function, use Find in the mapeditor,
631 which will also search all notes (see \ref{findwindow}).
633 \subsection{Paste text into note editor}
634 Often you will paste text into the editor from another application e.g.
635 an email. Normally \vym will generate a new paragraph for each new line.
636 This usually is not what you want, so you can choose from the menu
638 \section{Hello world}
639 This section is about how \vym can interact with other applications.
640 Many applications meanwhile can read and write their data using XML, the
641 eXtensible Markup Language. \vym also uses XML to save its maps, see
642 \ref{fileformat} for a more detailed description.
644 So if your an application understands XML, chances are good that someone
645 could write import/export filters for \vym. Volunteers are always
648 \subsection{Import} \label{import}
650 \subsubsection*{KDE Bookmarks}
651 The integrated bookmark editor in KDE is somewhat limited, so why not
652 use \vym to maintain the bookmark mess? To create a new map containing
653 your current KDE bookmarks just choose
655 \item Map \ra Import\ra KDE Bookmarks
658 \subsubsection*{Mind Manager}
659 \vym has currently a very basic import filter to convert maps created by
660 {\em Mind Manager}\footnote{Mind Manager is a professional software by
661 Mindjet. Both names are registered trademarks by Mindjet. For more
662 information see their website at
663 \href{http://mindjet.de}{http://mindjet.de}} into \vym maps. Notes and
664 pictures are not converted at the moment. You can import files with
666 \item Map \ra Import\ra Mind Manager
670 \subsubsection*{Directory structure}
671 \vym can read a directory structure. This is mainly for
672 testing \vym e.g. to easily create huge maps used for benchmarks (yes,
673 there is still room to optimize \vym ;-)
678 \subsection{Export} \label{export}
680 Often you don't want to export the whole map, but just parts of it. For
681 example you may have additional info you want to talk about in a
682 presentation, while those parts should not be visible to the audience.
683 To achieve this you can "hide" parts of the map during exports by
684 setting the "hide in export" flag.
686 \includegraphics[width=0.5cm]{images/flag-hideexport.png}
688 You can toggle this flag in the toolbar or by pressing \key{H}.
689 Note that there is a global option in the settings menu to toggle the
690 use of this flag. By default the flag is enabled.
692 \subsubsection*{Open Office}
693 Open Office beginning with version~2 uses the so called "Open Office
694 Document Format", which can be written by \vym. The options are
695 currently limited, but it possible to export presentations which can be
696 opened in Open Office Impress. By selecting
698 \item Map \ra Export\ra Open Office
700 you get a file dialogue where you can choose the output file and the
703 \includegraphics[width=12cm]{images/export-oo.png}
705 The file types represent various templates, which can be created with
706 some manual work from an existing Open Office document. The structure of
707 \vym map is then inserted into a template.
708 There are some limitations at the moment:
710 \item \vym can't take care of page lengths, so you have to check and
711 probably reedit in Open Office to avoid text running over the end of
713 \item Images and flags are not used at the moment
714 \item Notes are just written as plain text, without RichText
716 Some of the templates make use of {\em sections} e.g. insert the
717 headings of mainbranches as chapters for sections into the presentation.
719 \subsubsection*{Image}
720 \vym supports all image formats which are natively supported by the
722 BMP, JPEG, PBM, PGM, PNG, PPN, XPM, and XBM.
723 For use in websites and for sending images by email PNG is a good
724 recommodation regarding quality and size of the image. \vym uses QTs
725 default options for compressing the images.
727 \subsubsection*{ASCII}
728 Exporting an image as text is somewhat experimental at the moment. Later
729 this will probably done using stylesheets. So the output may change in
730 future versions of \vym.
732 \subsubsection*{\LaTeX}
733 \vym can generate an input file for \LaTeX. Currently this is considered
734 as experimental, there are no options (yet).
737 \item Map \ra Export\ra \LaTeX
739 you will be asked in a file dialog for the name of the output file. This
740 file should be included in a \LaTeX document using command
742 \include{inputfile.tex}
745 \subsubsection*{KDE Bookmarks}
746 \vym will overwrite the KDE bookmarks file and then try to notify
747 running konquerors via DCOP of the changed file. \vym does not create a
750 \item Map \ra Export \ra KDE Bookmarks
754 \subsubsection*{XHTML (Webpages)}
756 This is the format you want to use to create a webpage. For an example
757 have a look at the \vym homepage:
758 \href{http://www.InSilmaril.de/vym}{www.InSilmaril.de/vym}
760 Some explanation how this works:
761 Before a map is exported as XHTML, it will be first written as XML into a
762 directory (see \ref{xmlexport}). Then the external program {\tt
763 xsltproc}\footnote{On SUSE Linux {\tt xsltproc} is installed by
765 will be called to process the XML file and generate HTML code.
766 A dialog allows to set various options:
768 \item {\bf Include image:} If set, \vym will creat an image map at
769 the top of the HTML output. Clicking on a branch in the map will
770 jump to the corresponding section in the output.
772 \item {\bf Colored headings:}
773 If set to yes, \vym will color the headings in the text part with the
774 same colors like in the map.
775 \item {\bf Show Warnings:}
776 If set to yes, \vym will ask before overwriting data.
777 \item {\bf Show output:}
778 This is useful mainly for debugging. It will show how the processing of
779 the XML file works by calling the external {\tt xsltproc}.
781 Additionally the paths to the CSS and XSL stylesheets can be set. By
782 default on SUSE~Linux they will be in {\tt /usr/share/vym/styles}.
785 \subsubsection*{XML} \label{xmlexport}
786 The map is written into a directory both as an image and as XML. The
787 directory is set in a file dialog. If the directory is not empty, you
788 will be questioned if you risk to overwrite its contents.
790 It is possible to export different maps into the same directory. Each
791 file generated will have the map's name as prefix, e.g. {\tt todo.vym}
792 becomes {\tt todo.xml}, {\tt todo.png}, {\tt todo-image-1.png} and so
793 on. This is useful if e.g. for a website several combined maps have to
794 be stored in the same directory.
796 \subsubsection*{Export a part of a map}
797 Select a branch you want to export together with its childs, then open
798 the context menu and choose {\em Save Selection}. This will create a
799 file with the postfix {\tt .vyp}, which is an abbreviation for \lq vym
803 \section{Advanced Editing}
805 \subsection{Changing the history: Undo and Redo}
808 \subsection{Macros} \label{macros}
809 Macros have been added to \vym in version~1.9.0. Each function key
810 \key{F1} to \key{F12} holds a macro, which is executed on the current
811 selection if the key is pressed. The default macros change the color of
812 a subtree or set the frame of a branch:
814 \includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/macros.png}
816 Each macro is a \vym script, which is executed when the associated key
817 is pressed. The default location of the scripts can be changed in the
818 Settings menu. More information on using scripts in \vym is found in
819 appendix~\ref{scripts}.
821 \subsection{How to deal with Bookmarks} \label{bookmarks}
822 \subsubsection*{Open new tabs instead of new windows}
823 If you use konqueror as browser, \vym will remember the konqueror which
824 was opened first by \vym. You can also press \key{Ctrl} and click to
825 open the link in a new tab then.
827 \vym can also open a new tab in Mozilla or Firefox using the remote
828 command\footnote{\href{http://www.mozilla.org/unix/remote.html}{http://www.mozilla.org/unix/remote.html}}
831 \subsubsection*{Drag and Drop}
832 If you want to keep bookmarks in a map, select a branch where you want
833 to add the bookmark, then simply drag the URL from your browser to the
834 map. Also you could use an existing heading as URL: Right click onto the
835 branch and select "Use heading for URL".
838 \subsubsection*{Directly access bookmark lists of a browser}
839 Please see the sections \ref{import} and \ref{export} about
840 Import and Export filters.
842 \subsubsection*{Special URLs}
843 \vym can turn an existing heading of a branch into an URL. Currently
844 this works for Bugentries in the Novell Bugtracking system: Open the
845 context menu of a branch (usually by right-clicking it) and select
847 \item Create URL to Bugzilla
849 The URL will be build from the number in the heading.
851 \subsection{Including images into a branch}
852 The default setting of an image is to float "freely". They can be
853 positioned everywhere, but they might end up in the same place as other
856 The solution is to include them "into" a branch. This can be done via
857 the context menu of their parent branch:
859 \item Include images horizontally
860 \item Include images vertically
862 The image ist still positioned relatively to its parent branch, but the
863 heading and border of the branch adapt to the floating image, see below:
865 \includegraphics[width=11cm]{images/includeImages.png}
868 \subsection{Modifier Modes}
869 Modifiers are for example the \key{Shift}- or the \key{Alt}-keys. When
870 pressed while doing actions with the mouse, they will cause \vym to use
871 a "modified" action. E.g. you can move branches with mouse. If
872 \key{Ctrl} or \key{Alt}is pressed while releasing the branch, it will be
873 added above/below the target, not as child of the target.
875 Without a modifier pressed, the first click on a branch just selects
876 it. For the behaviour of the \key{Ctrl} modifier there are several
877 options, which can be set from the modifier toolbar:
879 \includegraphics[width=3cm]{images/modmodes.png}
881 The default is to copy the color from the clicked branch to the already
882 selected branch. In the toolbar shown above the default modifier is
883 selected, namely to copy the color of a branch. The second modifier
884 let's you easily copy a whole branch with a single click. The third
885 modifier lets you create {\em xLinks}, which will be explained in the
888 \subsection{Hide links of unselected objects}
889 Sometimes it would be useful to position a branch freely, just like a
890 mainbranch or an image. Though this is not possible (yet) for all
891 branches, you can use a mainbranch and hide its connecting link to the
892 mapcenter. This can be used e.g. for legends or a collection of vymLinks
893 pointing to other maps:
895 \includegraphics[width=9cm]{images/hiddenlink.png}
897 Change hiding of the links in the property window (opened in context
898 menu or with \key{CTRL-I} on the "links"-tab.
901 \subsection{XLinks} \label{xlinks}
902 So far all the data in the \vym map has been treelike. Using xLinks you
903 can link one branch to any other, just like attaching a rope between two
904 branches in a real tree. This is especially useful in complex maps,
905 where you want to have crossreferences which don't fit on the same
906 visible area, which fits on your screen. The following example, which is
907 part of the \vym package, still fits on one screen, but shows how data
908 can be crosslinked. In the graphics there is a link from a task (prepare
909 a presentation) to general information:
911 \includegraphics[width=12cm]{images/xlink.png}
913 Note that a xLink which points to a branch that is not visible (because
914 it is scrolled), is just show as a little horizontal arrow. In the
915 screenshot above have a look at the \lq Tuesday\rq\ branch.
917 \subsubsection*{Create a xLink}
918 Choose the link mode from the modifier toolbar (by clicking or pressing
919 \key{L}). Select the branch, where the xLink should start. Press the
920 modifier key \key{Ctrl} and simultanously click on the branch where the
921 link should end. (The link is already drawn before you release the mouse
922 key). If you release the mouse over a branch the xLink becomes
925 \subsubsection*{Modify or delete a xLink}
926 Open the context menu of a branch and select \lq Edit xLink\rq. A
927 submenu contains all the xLinks of the branch (if there are any). They
928 are named like the branches, where they end. Choose one and
929 the xLink dialogue opens, where you can set color, width and also delete
932 \subsubsection*{Follow a xLink}
933 In a complext \vym map it sometimes comes handy to jump to the other end
934 of a xLink. You can do this by opening the context menu of the branch
935 and clicking on \lq Goto xLink\rq and selecting the xLink you want to
940 \subsection{Adding and removing branches}
941 The context menu of a branch shows some more ways to add and delete data
942 e.g. you can delete a branch while keeping its childs. The childs become
943 linked to the parent of the previously removed branch.
944 Similar branches can be inserted into existing maps. For keyboard
945 shortcuts also have a look at the context menu.
947 \subsection{Adding a whole map or a part of a map}
948 Select a branch where you want to add a previously saved map ({\tt .vym})or a part
949 of a map ({\tt .vyp}) , then open
950 the context menu and choose {\em Add \ra Import}. For the import you can
951 choose between {\em Import Add} and {\em Import Replace}: The imported
952 data will be added after the selection resp. replace the selection.
954 \label{historywindow}
956 \section{\vym on Mac OS X}
957 \subsection{Overview}
958 Basically there are two ways to run \vym on Macs:
959 \subsubsection*{QT Mac Edition:}
960 \vym here provides the well known Mac look and feel. \vym is
961 available as zipped Mac OS X application. It has been compiled and
962 tested in Mac~OS~10.3, but should also work on Tiger. It is using
963 the Mac version of Trolltechs QT library.
965 \vym can also be run using the Linux version, but then menus and
966 handling will also be those of the Linux version e.g. The menu bar
969 \subsection {Contextmenu and special keys}
970 Most Macs unfortunatly just have a single mouse button. In order to show
971 the context menu which usually would be opened with the right mouse
972 button, you can click while pressing the \key{kommand}-key.
974 Especially on Laptops some of the keys usually used on PC keyboards seem
975 to be missing. The QT-Mac Edition of \vym has its own keyboard
976 shortcuts. To find the shortcuts just have a look at all the menu
977 entries, the shortcut is visible next to an entry. Toolbar buttons also
978 may have shortcuts, just position the mouse pointer over a button and
979 wait for the little help window to appear.
981 \subsection {Viewing external links}
982 \vym on Mac uses the system call {\tt /usr/bin/open} to view links.
983 Mac~OS determines automatically if the link is a pdf or www page and
984 opens the right browser.
989 \section{\vym initialization process and configuration}
990 \subsection{Configuration file}
991 On startup \vym will look for a configuration for user specific settings
992 like window positions, toolbars etc. If this file does not already
993 exist, it will be created. The file is located in the users home
994 directory. The exact position depends on the platform:
997 {\bf Platform} & {\bf Configuration file} \\ \hline
998 Linux & {\tt $\sim$/.config/InSilmaril/vym.conf } \\
999 Mac OS X & {\tt /Users/NAME/Library/Preferences/com.insilmaril.vym.plist } \\
1002 The file can be edited manually, or on Mac~OS~X with Property List
1003 Editor (installed with xtools).
1005 \subsection{Path to ressources}
1006 \vym will try to find its ressources (images, stylesheets, filters,
1007 etc.) in the following places:
1009 \item Path given by the environment variable {\tt VYMHOME}.
1010 \item If called with the local option (see \ref{options} below),
1011 \vym will look for its data in the current directory.
1012 \item {\tt /usr/share/vym}
1013 \item {\tt /usr/local/share/vym}
1016 \subsection{Command line options} \label{options}
1017 \vym has the following options:
1019 \begin{tabular}{cccp{8cm}}\\
1020 \bf Option & \bf Comment & \bf Argument & \bf Description \\ \hline
1021 v & version & & Show version ov \vym\\
1022 l & local & & Use local paths to stylesheets, translations, icons,
1023 etc. instead of system paths. Useful for testing\\
1024 h & help & & Show help\\
1025 r & run & filename & Run script\\
1026 q & quit & & Quit immediatly after startup. Useful for benchmarks.\\
1029 You can also give several filenames at the commandline to let \vym open
1030 several maps at once.
1033 \section{Scripts} \label{scripts}
1040 \section{Contributing to \vym}
1041 So far I'd say I have written 98\% of the code on my own. No surprise,
1042 that \vym exactly fits my own needs. Nevertheless I would like to
1043 encourage all users of \vym to contribute. Maybe not only with feature
1044 requests, but also with code, new import/export filters, translations
1045 etc. In this appendix I'll try to show how easy it is to expand the
1046 things you can do already with \vym. I really look forward to hear from
1049 \subsection{Getting help}
1051 \subsubsection*{Frequently asked questions}
1052 Please refer to the FAQ available on the \vym website:
1054 \href{http://www.InSilmaril.de/vym/faq.html}{http://www.InSilmaril.de/vym/faq.html}
1057 \subsubsection*{Mailinglists}
1058 There are two mailinglists: {\tt vym-forum} is the \vym users forum to
1059 discuss various questions, while {\tt vym-devel} is intended for people
1060 interested in contributing to \vym. You can view the archives and
1063 \href{https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=127802}{https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group\_id=127802}
1066 \subsubsection*{Contacting the author}\label{author}
1067 Especially for support questions please try the mailinglists first. If
1068 everything else fails you can contact the Uwe Drechsel at
1070 \href{mailto:vym@InSilmaril.de}{vym@InSilmaril.de}
1075 \subsection{How to report bugs}
1076 Though Sourceforge has its own bugreporting system, I'd rather prefer if
1077 you contact me directly (see \ref{author}) or even better: You can file
1078 a bugreport in Bugzilla, the bugtracking system of openSUSE:
1080 \href{http://en.opensuse.org/Submit_a_bug}{http://en.opensuse.org/Submit\_a\_bug}
1082 I build \vym regulary for openSUSE, so you may report it against a
1083 recent version there, even if you use another Operating System.
1084 Please don't forget to tell
1086 \item the exact steps needed to reproduce the bug
1087 \item the version and build date of \vym (see the Help \ra About
1089 \item hardware and Operating System
1092 \subsection{Compiling from the sources}
1093 \subsubsection{Getting the sources} \label{getsources}
1094 You find the latest version of \vym at the project site:
1096 \href{https://sourceforge.net/projects/vym/}{https://sourceforge.net/projects/vym/}
1098 There you can check them out of the source repository (CVS):\\
1101 cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sf.net:/cvsroot/vym checkout code
1104 \subsubsection{The Qt toolkit}
1105 Qt is C++ toolkit for multiplatform GUI and application development. It
1106 provides single-source portability across MS~Windows, Mac~OS~X, Linux
1107 ans all major commercial Unix variants. Qt is also available for
1108 embedded devices. Qt is a Trolltech product. For more information see
1110 \href{http://www.trolltech.com/qt/}{www.trolltech.com/qt}
1114 \subsubsection{Compiling \vym }
1115 Make sure you have installed your Qt environment properly, see the Qt
1116 documentation for details. You need to have the Qt command {\tt qmake}
1117 in your {\tt PATH}-environment, then run
1123 The last command {\tt make install} needs root-permissions. Of course it
1124 may be omitted, if you just want to test \vym.
1126 %\subsubsection*{Compiling \vym on Macs}
1129 \subsection{\vym file format} \label{fileformat}
1130 \vym maps usually have the postfix "{\tt .vym}" and represent a
1131 compressed archive of data. If you want to have a
1132 closer look into the data structure map called "mapname.vym",
1133 just uncompress the map manually using
1137 This will create directories named {\tt images} and {\tt flags} in your
1138 current directory and also the map itself, usually named {\tt
1140 The XML structure of \vym is pretty self explaining, just have a look at
1143 This XML file can be loaded directly into \vym, it does not have to be
1144 compressed. If you want to compress all the data yourself, use
1146 zip -r mapname.vym .
1148 to compress all data in your current directory.
1150 \subsection{New features}
1151 There are lots of features which might find their way into \vym.
1152 Together with \vym you should have received a directory with several
1153 maps e.g. on SUSE~LINUX this is
1155 {\tt /usr/share/doc/packages/vym/demos}
1157 where you find the map {\tt todo.vym}. It lists quite a lot of things to
1158 be done in future. If you have more ideas, contact the development team
1160 {\tt vym-devel@lists.sourceforge.net}.
1163 \subsection{New languages support}
1164 In order to add a new language to \vym you need
1165 the sources (see \ref{getsources}) and
1166 an installation of Trolltechs QT. A part of QT are the development
1167 tools, from those tools especially the translation tool "Linguist" is
1170 In some Linux distributions the development tools are in an extra package, e.g. on SUSE LINUX you should have installed:
1177 If you don't have QT in your system, you can get it from
1178 \href{http://www.trolltech.com}{http://www.trolltech.com} Once you
1179 are able to compile vym yourself, you can translate the text in vym
1180 itself by performing the following steps:
1182 \item Let's assume now your encoding is "NEW" instead of for example
1183 "de" for german or "en" for english
1185 \item Copy the file {\tt lang/vym\_en.ts} to l{\tt ang/vym\_NEW.ts} (The code
1186 itself contains the english version.)
1188 \item Add {\tt lang/vym\_NEW.ts} to the TRANSLATIONS section of vym.pro
1190 \item Run Linguist on {\tt vym\_NEW.ts} and do the translation
1192 \item Run {\tt lrelease} to create {\tt vym\_NEW.qm}
1194 \item Do a make install to install the new vym and check your translation
1197 If you feel brave, you can also translate the manual. It is written in
1198 LaTeX, you just have to change the file tex/vym.tex. (Linguist and QT
1199 are not needed, but it is useful to know how to work with LaTeX and esp.
1200 pdflatex to create the PDF.)
1202 Please mail me every translation you have done. I can also give you a
1203 developer access to the project, if you want to provide translations
1206 \subsection{New export/import filters}
1207 \vym supports various kinds of filters. Data can be written directly,
1208 inserted into templates or it can be written as XML data and then
1209 processed by XSL transformations.
1211 Most of the import/export functionality is available in the classes
1212 ImportBase and ExportBase and subclasses. All of them can be found in
1213 {\tt imports.h} and {\tt exports.h}.
1215 \subsubsection*{Direct import/export}
1216 An example for a direct export is the XML export. This method touches
1217 the implementation of nearly every object of \vym, so whenever possible
1218 you should better use a XSL transformation instead.
1220 If you still want to know how it is done, start looking at
1221 {\tt MapEditor::saveToDir} in {\tt mapeditor.cpp}.
1223 \subsubsection*{Templates}
1224 Templates have been introduced to export to opendoc format used e.g. by
1225 Open~Office. While I read the spec ($>$ 500 pages) about the format\footnote{
1226 \href{http://www.oasis-open.org/}{http://www.oasis-open.org/}}\
1227 I had the feeling that I did not want to write the export from scratch.
1228 It would be too complex to adapt the styles to your own wishes, e.g. the
1231 Instead I analyzed existing Open~Office documents. I found out that
1232 there are lots of redundant bits of information in a standard
1233 presentation, for example each list item is contained in its own list.
1234 In the end I came up with the default presentation style, which still
1235 could be simplified, just in case you have free time\ldots
1237 The existing templates are still work in progress, before you spent too
1238 much time developing your own style, please contact me. Basically the
1239 following steps are needed to build your own style:
1241 \item Create an example in Open Office. Use a title, authors name,
1242 page heading etc.\ which you can easily grep for in the output file.
1244 \item Unzip the Open Office document into a directory.
1246 \item The main file is called {\tt content.xml}. All data is in one
1247 single line. You can split the XML tags using the script {\tt
1248 scripts/niceXML}, which is part of the \vym distribution.
1250 \item Copy the output of {\tt niceXML} to {\tt
1251 content-template.xml}.
1253 \item Looking closer you will find lots of unused definitions, for
1254 example of styles. You can delete or simply ignore them.
1256 \item Try to find your title, authors name. \vym will replace the
1257 following strings while exporting:
1259 \begin{tabular}{lp{4cm}}
1260 {\tt <!-- INSERT TITLE -->} & title of map \\
1261 {\tt <!-- INSERT AUTHOR--> } & author \\
1262 {\tt <!-- INSERT COMMENT -->} & comment \\
1263 {\tt <!-- INSERT PAGES-->} & content of map \\
1266 The content itself is generated in a similar way by inserting lists
1267 into {\tt page-template}. Here the following substitutions are made:
1269 \begin{tabular}{lp{7cm}}
1270 {\tt <!-- INSERT PAGE HEADING-->} & heading of a page
1271 (mainbranch or child of mainbranch, depending on the use of
1273 {\tt <!-- INSERT LIST --> } & all childs of the branch above \\
1277 Currently images are exported and notes just will appear as text
1278 without formatting and colors.
1283 \subsubsection*{XSL Transformation}
1284 \vym uses XSL transformations while exporting (e.g. XHTML) and importing
1285 data (e.g. KDE bookmarks). There is a little code needed to provide the
1286 GUI, the rest is done using the {\tt .xsl} stylesheet and calling the
1287 {\tt xsltproc} processor, which is part of libxslt, the XSLT
1288 C library for GNOME.
1294 %\subsubsection{Menus}
1295 %\subsubsection{Keyboard shortcuts}
1296 %Where does vym save its settings? -> ~/.qt/vymrc