[OS X TeX] TeXShop: Indexing support by command completion

[Florian Grammel]

I've been searching high and low (i.a. https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/278749/6819) for a macOS LaTeX-editor that supports indexing in a way similar to the way labels and bib-entries are supported by command completion.
emacs' RefTeX can do this, but I'd really prefer to stick with TeXShop or a similar editor.

I also once suggested such a feature for TeXstudio (https://sourceforge.net/p/texstudio/feature-requests/1222/):

> I was wondering whether it would be feasible to add auto-completion for creating indices.
> I'd image it should be possible to reuse the mechanism for auto-completion of cite-keys and get it to read the .idx (or .idn if that's easier) files...?
> As indices can get very long and one doesn't always remember how a particular entry starts, it would be a huge help if the auto-completion would search all parts of the existing index-entries (perhaps eligible as an option in Preferences)
> E.g.:
> Typing "\index{TeX…" in texstudio would then also list entries like:
> 	\index{CTAN (Comprehensive TEX Archive Network)}
> 	\index{LaTeX@\LaTeX}
> 	\index{macro languages!LaTeX@\LaTeX}
> perhaps even with highlighting the matching letters.
> An ideal solution for me would also be aware of multiple indices as offered by the index-package.

But there haven't been any reactions -- not really surprising considering the huge number of feature requests.



I still hope that some editor -- preferably TeXShop -- will support this out of the box one day. But for now I am trying to find an intermediate solution.

As TeXShop's command completion has been easily configurable for a while, I have taken a closer look at whether it could be abused for indexing.
A hacky solution could be to pre-process my .ind-file to a list of entries like "nCharlemagne:=\index[names]{Charlemagne (742--814), emperor}", inverse the list and append it to CommandCompletion.txt with every compilation. It is not ideal, as it will not be completely up to date, but it should serve reasonably well.

This process sort of works, but only if I restart TeXShop after adding the lines which obviously isn't really practical.

So my question is: Is there a way to make TeXShop re-load CommandCompletion.txt without relaunching?


Other ideas to achieve my goal would also be highly appreciated!


Thanks in advance and best regards,
Florian.



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Florian Grammel

Copenhagen, Denmark