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https://github.com/uriel1998/showdocs-wombat

The only document-focused mailcap style utility with a wombat mascot.
https://github.com/uriel1998/showdocs-wombat

command-line csv documents mailcap tmux viewer

Last synced: about 1 month ago
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The only document-focused mailcap style utility with a wombat mascot.

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README 

          
# showdocs-wombat



The only cli document viewer with a wombat in a sombrero as a mascot.



![showdocs logo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/uriel1998/showdocs-wombat/master/showdocs-wombat-open-graph.png "logo")



![mascot](https://github.com/uriel1998/showdocs-wombat/raw/master/128_senor_wombat.png "mascot")



Demo on YouTube:  



[![Demo](https://img.youtube.com/vi/06JgZT1eP0E/0.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06JgZT1eP0E)



## Contents

 1. [About](#1-about)

 2. [Features](#2-features)

 2. [License](#2-license)

 3. [Prerequisites](#3-prerequisites)

 4. [Installation](#4-installation)

 5. [Usage](#6-usage)

 6. [TODO](#12-todo)



***



## 1. About



Very simply, this is a document viewer type version that plays a similar role 

as mailcap and other such utilities. Its focus is on displaying documents quickly 

in a terminal (or a popup terminal). 



Inspiration taken from `mutt.octet.filter` for how to best match mimetypes.



## 2. Features



Why should you use this instead of another mailcap type solution?



1. As written with the full helper list, it is set up to render Word (DOC & DOCX), 

Excel (XLS and XLSX), Open/LibreOffice (ODS/ODT), RTF, PDF, markdown, JSON, ANSI/ASCII art, 

HTML, and will pretty much gladly take any text file (XML, etc) and colorize it.



2. If it runs across an undefined filetype, it can pass it on to any *other* mailcap 

style program, and is set up to use my fork of gotbletu's [URLPortal](https://github.com/uriel1998/newsbeuter-dangerzone/blob/master/urlportal.sh) by default.



3. It can call and *decorate* its own xterm window if called from a GUI file manager.



4. With [TDAB](https://uriel1998.github.io/tdab/) installed, when called in TMUX it will automatically show the document in a new zoomed pane.



5. It has a wombat in a sombrero as a mascot.



Why should you **not** use this script?



1. While there's a few "fallback" checks if helpers aren't installed, if you want 

to use different helpers to render and display things, you'll have to edit the script 

directly.  Which is an issue with *any* mailcap style solution, so...



2. You're happy with what you have. Hey, that's cool! 



## 2. License



This project is licensed under the MIT License. For the full license, see `LICENSE`.



## 3. Prerequisites 



This includes all of the helpers as well; the "core" first four are for the 

script itself and are probably already installed on your system.  Installing all 

the helpers is obviously not necessary; however, doing so will result in everything 

working out of the box.



### Apt install



The following can be installed on Debian Buster or Bullseye (and probably Ubuntu) 

by typing 



`sudo apt update;sudo apt-get install fzf awk sed file mysql sqlite3 pandoc lynx wv unrtf pdftotext bat dtrx csvtool gnumeric w3m libfile-mimeinfo-perl ansilove chafa node-iconv`



* fzf  

* awk  

* sed  

* file  

* lynx  

* bat  

* mysql 

* sqlite3 

* pandoc 

* wvWare 

* unrtf 

* pdftotext 

* dtrx 

* csvtool

* gnumeric

* w3m

* ansilove

* chafa

* node-iconv (or another flavor of iconv)

* mimetype (in libfile-mimeinfo-perl)



### Install via Apt, but check the version.



* [pspg](https://github.com/okbob/pspg) - A tish more work needs to be done with pspg - you need version 3.1.4 or up, which is in [Debian Bullseye](https://packages.debian.org/source/bullseye/pspg).  



### Via pip



These can be installed (if you have [python and pip](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=how+to+install+python+and+pip&ia=web) installed, naturally) by typing:



`pip3 install -r requirements.txt` 



`pip3 install git+https://github.com/wustho/epy`



* csvkit (provides in2csv )

* xlsx2csv

* [tabview](https://github.com/TabViewer/gtabview)  

* [epy](https://github.com/wustho/epy)  

* [gif-for-cli](http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/26731/quickly-run-any-gif-as-a-ascii-animation-in-a-terminal-window)



### Via npm



This is *really* optional as an alternative to using `chafa`. 



[terminal-image-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/terminal-image-cli) can be installed to use instead of chafa (if you have [node and npm installed](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm), naturally) by typing:



`npm install --global terminal-image-cli`



These are *really* optional, but are nice:



* wmctrl - `sudo apt install wmctrl`  

* [xseticon](https://sourceforge.net/projects/xseticon/)  

* [devour - from TDAB](https://uriel1998.github.io/tdab/)  

* [URLPortal - from newsbeuter-dangerzone](https://github.com/uriel1998/newsbeuter-dangerzone/blob/master/urlportal.sh) - note, this is now included in this repository as well.



## 4. Installation



Clone or download the repo. If you downloaded it, unarchive it into a 

directory, then make a symlink into your path.  Place `lynx.lss` in `$HOME/.lynx



Examine `showdocs.sh` to determine if the "helpers" I use are the ones you wish 

to use. 



## 5. Usage



The most basic usage is to invoke 



`showdocs.sh [FILENAME]`



The program can handle *most* unescaped filenames - see the demo - but some special 

characters (such as #) must still be escaped, like so:



`showdocs.sh "[FILENAME]"`



Occasionally a different viewer is invoked - such as when the `devour` function 

is used inside `tmux`.  That is usually for aesthetic reasons (such as line wrapping).



### Viewing MySQL



To invoke the MySQL viewer, the command should be:



`showdocs.sh mysql [MYSQL USERNAME] [MYSQL PASSWORD]`



### From TMUX



If you invoke it under tmux and have [TDAB](https://uriel1998.github.io/tdab) 

installed, the `devour` script will automatically be invoked, creating a new 

maximized pane with your document in it.



### From a GUI File Manager



The old way of calling this script from a GUI viewer (such as [Double Commander](https://doublecmd.sourceforge.io/)

which spawned a new window was something like: 



`xfce4-terminal --hide-menubar --geometry=80x43 -e "/home/steven/bin/showdocs %f"`



That will still work, but you can simplify (and enhance) the experience by using 

the -g switch, making the command something like this:



`/home/steven/bin/showdocs -g %f`



Not only will it launch a new xterm, but if you have `wmctrl` and `xseticon` set, 

it will decorate the window with the script's icon and name.



### Drop-in with URLPortal



If you would like to streamline and consolidate your mailcap style experience, 

you can use `showdocs` in place of your regular mailcap file. 



If offered an URL, `showdocs` will follow any redirection (if [muna](https://uriel1998.github.io/muna/) 

is installed and in your $PATH). If there's a filename with extension already there, 

it will grab it and process the file locally (using URLPortal if needed).  If there is *not* a 

file extension specified on the URL, it will download the file, then use `mimeinfo` to 

try to figure out what it is, rename it appropriately, and process it locally (using 

URLPortal if needed).



This means that you can pass filenames *or* URLs straight to showdocs and use the 

same flow.  



I'm sure I've missed some major mimetypes that are odd (like how "vnd.ms-asf" is a 

mimetype for WMV files), please let me know what I've missed!



### Colorizing Output



If you wish to colorize your output - particularly of sourcecode - you should 

use `.lessfilter`.  There's a good tutorial at [Miskatonic.org](https://www.miskatonic.org/2020/06/24/lessfilter/).



### Other File Types



If it cannot find a match, and you have the URLPortal script from [newsbeuter-dangerzone](https://uriel1998.github.io/newsbeuter-dangerzone/) in $PATH - 

see [this file](https://github.com/uriel1998/newsbeuter-dangerzone/blob/master/urlportal.sh) if you don't 

care about the rest of the repository - it will then hand everything off to that 

program.  In that way, it can handle a lot of other datatypes as well without 

getting too complicated.  Feel free to substitute your own "mailcap" style 

solution instead.



## 6. TODO



* View the files in the archive, not just the list of the files IN the archive

* Further set up database viewing for postgres

* installation example for midnight commander



dtrx

sqlite3

pandoc

wvWare

sed

pspg

bat

unrtf

pandoc

pdfimages

convert

pdftotext

ssconvert

soffice

tabview

in2csv

csvtool

xlsx2csv

gnumeric

epy

cat

ansilove

feh

iconv

chafa

ffmpeg

fzf

xseticon

wmctrl

gif-for-cli 



In Midnight Commander go to Options menu / Configuration... command / Use internal edit checkbox and uncheck it. (Don't forget to execute the Save setup command if the Auto save setup option is off.)



Then set the EDITOR environment variable to Sublime. You may prefer to add one of these to your shell's resource file:



    Global setting for all programs that use EDITOR (not recommended):



    EDITOR=sublime

    export EDITOR



    Temporary setting for the given Midnight Commander session only:



    alias mc='EDITOR=sublime mc'



Same for the viewer, just you uncheck the Use internal view option and set the VIEWER environment variable instead.



Okay, previewing is NOT working at all like I want it to with lf or mc. grumble.