Effortless LaTeX Rendering in Editor: A Workaround for Accidental Pop-Ups

  • Context: LaTeX 
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a bug related to LaTeX rendering in the forum's editor, specifically how accidental pop-ups can cause LaTeX code to render unexpectedly. Participants explore potential workarounds for this issue, focusing on the behavior of different editor modes and the conditions under which the bug occurs.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes a bug where hovering over a related thread causes LaTeX in the editor to render, suggesting this occurs on demand.
  • Another participant reports an inability to reproduce the issue using the same steps, indicating a potential inconsistency in the bug's occurrence across different setups.
  • A different participant confirms they can reproduce the problem and the proposed workaround, but notes it fails if no draft has been saved prior to the rendering issue.
  • Further testing reveals that typing something in the editor is necessary to enable the undo option after the LaTeX renders, challenging the assumption that saving a draft is required.
  • Participants note that the workaround only functions in the WYSIWYG editor and only once per pop-up, suggesting limitations based on the editor type and previous interactions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing experiences with the bug, with some able to reproduce it and others unable to do so. There is no consensus on the conditions under which the bug occurs or the effectiveness of the workaround.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention that the behavior may depend on the editor mode (WYSIWYG vs. plain text) and the necessity of having typed something before the undo option becomes available. The discussion highlights unresolved aspects of the bug's reproducibility and the workaround's reliability.

Ibix
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This is a bug people have complained about before, but I've just found a way to make it happen on demand. I was typing a response in this thread and accidentally hovered over the first "related thread", which is titled "Is Second rank tensor always tensor product of two vectors?". The OP in that thread turned out to have a lot of LaTeX, and when the pop-up with the beginning of the post appeared the LaTeX in the edit box rendered itself as well.

Incidentally, I also discovered a possible workaround for us users. At least in this case, pressing "undo" and then "redo" in the editor reverted it to LaTeX source. I guess you'd have to undo to the point where you were when the unwanted rendering happened, so this might not work if you don't notice the rendering soon after it happens.
 
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I can't reproduce the problem with the steps you described. Firefox. I tried both the regular and the pseudo-WYSIWYG editor option.
 
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I could reproduce both the problem and the workaround, but the latter doesn't work if no draft has been saved before the rendering problem occurred.
 
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mfb said:
I can't reproduce the problem with the steps you described. Firefox. I tried both the regular and the pseudo-WYSIWYG editor option.
It only works in the WYSIWYG editor, and it only works once per popup (presumably it remembers the rendered popup) - so if you tried with the plain text editor then the WYSIWYG you won't have got it. Try refreshing the page, switch to WYSIWYG, enter some LaTeX and hover over the related thread again.
 
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I did some further testing, and it turns out that it has nothing to do with saving a draft. After quoting a post, I have to type something (even a letter will do) to enable the undo option. Then, if the LaTeX renders in the editor, I can simply click on the Undo option. A quick video of the process is available here.
 
Ibix said:
It only works in the WYSIWYG editor, and it only works once per popup (presumably it remembers the rendered popup) - so if you tried with the plain text editor then the WYSIWYG you won't have got it. Try refreshing the page, switch to WYSIWYG, enter some LaTeX and hover over the related thread again.
With these steps I can reproduce the bug, too.
 

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