The best tool to write TeX/LaTeX document & the best friend of academics
FEATURES
LawTeX provides an integrated environment to compose, compile LaTeX documents to DVI files, and view the DVI result.
* Much goodness of TeX: Like MiKTeX a.k.a. the standard TeX distribution for Windows PC, LawTeX can identify missing packages and offer to download missing ones. It supports many major engine-independent macro packages such as xypic, amsthm, babel, algorithmics, preprint, etc. on CTAN while packages for modern fonts such as true type, open type fonts or those depending on other engines (e.g. moderncv requires pdfTeX) are not available.
* Highly optimized editor: Our LaTeX editor features a highly optimized editor, implemented in C++ using Direct X (the native graphic engines for Windows featured in most video games). It supports typical editing tools such as Undo/Redo, Cut/Copy/Paste, Selection, Go to line, Find/Replace/Replace All using regular expression, Line numbering, etc.
* Productivity: support code completion.
* Exceptional performance: Unlike MiKTeX, the memory footprint of this app is minute. The app is roughly 2MB in download size, roughly 10MB when installed compared to 300-450MB basic MiKTeX installation, discounting the packages. In addition, the document and temporary files are kept entirely in RAM so it not only makes compilation faster but also avoids wasting precious write cycles of your SSD and SD card. Unlike typical TeX editor which compile documents by executing TeX engines in external processes, LawTeX processes the source document within the app so there is no delay due to reloading the TeX engines, resources, etc. between compilations. The memory (RAM) usage is smaller than typical editor such as TeX Maker.
* TeX on the go: available across your Windows 10 PC, tablet and Windows 10 mobile phones. The user interface is designed to make it easy to work on all these devices. For example: keyboard shortcuts on PC/tablet with physical keyboard; on-screen context menu to perform typical editing actions like Cut/Copy/Paste and text selection.
This app registers .tex file extension so you can pick it as default app to open your LaTeX documents.
The sample LawTeX introduction beamer slide (in the screenshot) can be obtained at https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhSl9YDS4Yt4hBOPO7DDGrqI0Vkd
IMPORTANT
* For long, we ABANDONED Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 versions. Unfortunately, Microsoft Store does not provide anyway to prevent purchases on those devices. Please take note of this fact before purchasing.
* As a good practice, make sure that you save your document frequently. There is no guarantee that this app does not crash or some unfortunate event does not happen.
* LawTeX does not aim to replace other TeX distributions. It works best for academic papers but not fancy TeX features: to write the document, not publishing them. For publication, one still needs traditional pdfTeX to generate high qualify printable output.
USAGE NOTES
* Keyboard shortcut:
- Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V for cut/copy/paste
- Ctrl+A to select the whole text
- Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y for undo/redo
- Ctrl+T to compile document
- Ctrl+S to save document
- Ctrl+F to open Find/replace panel, Ctrl+G to open Go to line panel
- Esc can be used to close a panel [but only when you focus on the editor]
* Should save frequently on 512MB RAM phones. The app might crash or hang especially when deleting text or inserting new lines. We believed that most bugs are bashed; but bugs due to concurrency are very hard to create and are device dependent.
* TIP: If you have a document produced using other editors but does not work on LawTeX, try commenting the whole document, uncomment it piece by piece to see what works and what does not.
* TIP: Try our samples at https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhSl9YDS4Yt4hFaGuZ8GqdGMv4gf
LIMITATIONS
* Cannot enter 'tab' character due to limitation of the platform (Tab key is reserved to move between UI elements)
HISTORY
Version 2.1.3.0
Improvements in the internal system to support context sensitive highlighting such as block/multiline comment with \iffalse ... \fi. The editor now render Windows line ending properly. Add setting to highlight the current line.
Version 2.1.2.0
Fix UTF-8 encoding handling; \usepackage[utf-8]{inputenc} should now work properly
Notify user to download necessary packages for missing fonts as well
Fix memory leak and other minor bugs
Version 2.1.1.0
Switch to new package server. Current app MUST update to install new packages: Starting from Aug, 31st 2016, the existing server will not work.
Version 2.1.0.0
Many bug fixes (such as weird incomplete copy/paste and French keyboard issue)
Option for desktop-like selection (click and move mouse to select a block of text) and perform Home/End visually
Options to control DVI extra margin
Option not to prompt when missing package is encountered
Handle DVI color special; can now render *beamer* slide and syntax highlight code *listings* nicely (NB: some beamer features such as round boxes relies heavily on PostScript which cannot be handled; hopefully the beamer developer can switch to SVG)
Support (simplistic/English-US only) spell checking (turn on in Settings)
Remove most embedded basic packages (latex, amsmath, ... should now be downloaded from our server instead) to reduce app size
Remove 1MB of characters text limit; more efficient memory usage
Use the file's name in the compiler instead of generic "document.tex"; MUST NOT name file with weird characters and also avoid spaces
Version 2.0.9.0
Fix minor annoyances in file name label; Make interaction independent between documents so that scrolling on one document do not scroll other; Enhance internal system with lazy package loading (packages are loaded as needed instead of all at once at start-up; should enhance the app experience especially on phone); Register DVI file (can now open DVI in file explorer for viewing); Add option to save generated fonts to local folder (we recommend to enable this option on phone to enhance DVI viewing experience)
This is the last release that we will make: Until Microsoft repents and makes Visual Studio portable, we will no longer release any app update.
2.0.8.0 Integrate with system input method (can now swipe through letters to input text on Windows 10 Mobile onscreen keyboard or use hand writing input panel on PC); Add natural touchscreen scrolling gesture; New app logo to integrate well with the Windows 10 Mobile tile start screen; Export DVI; Fix bug regarding keyboard popping up when it shouldn't be (for e.g. after pressing compile button or close the log); Fix crash when pasting without copy/cut; Fix other bugs
2.0.7.0 Support multiple documents; add option to auto-compile and auto-save periodically; First release for Windows 10 Mobile with customized user interface, back pressed handling, ...
2.0.6.0 Support non-US-English keyboard; implement literal (non-regex) search; fix editor font settings
2.0.5.0 Fix insertion of pipe | character, minor UI revamp such as displaying file name, and many other bug fixes such as crashing after resuming from lock screen and "Find next" not jumping to the location where the text is found
2.0.4.0 First universal app release for Windows 10
Features:
- Edit your TeX/LaTeX documents with a fully syntax highlight editor
- Compile TeX/LaTeX documents to DVI
- Preview and export the generated DVI file
- View compilation log and errors
- Automatically find missing package and hint user to download
- Continuum ready -- use the app on phone as well as the big screen