Allow custom argument to compilation on the fly

[BertrandSim]

Good afternoon! I am enjoying vimtex so far (for several years now). It has been very helpful to my work.

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe it.
Currently I am posting problem sets, and thereafter, adding the solutions right after each question.
By using a tex macro (using xparse), the solutions can be shown or hidden, as defined by the \jobname.

• To generate the questions with the solutions, simply append -soln to the jobname, i.e.

  !latexmk % -jobname=%:r-soln

• To show only the questions, compile as per usual (using :VimtexCompile).

The tex macro in the preamble handles this:

\usepackage{xstring}
\IfEndWith*{\jobname}{-soln}{%
  % Solution environment 
  \NewDocumentEnvironment{solution}{O{\textit} +b}%
    {\par #1{Solution:} #2}{}
}{%
  % Empty Solution environment
  \NewDocumentEnvironment{solution}{+b}{}{} 
}

When compiled, this produces <file>.pdf, or <file>-soln.pdf, depending on the \jobname.

Describe the solution you'd like
Would there be a way to add an argument such as -jobname=%:soln on-the-fly? One possibility is to allow :VimtexCompile to take in arguments, ie. :VimtexCompile -jobname=%:r-soln, which would pass the jobname argument to g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• The option g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk could be modified, but the added argument becomes permanent, which is undesirable for a questions only output.
• Currently I am using the shell command
  !latexmk % -jobname=%:r-soln, but the shell output quickly clutters the vim window after this is run.

Additional context
Neovim 0.8, lualatex.

[lervag]

Good afternoon! I am enjoying vimtex so far (for several years now). It has been very helpful to my work.

Glad to hear it!

One possibility is to allow :VimtexCompile to take in arguments, ie. :VimtexCompile -jobname=%:r-soln, which would pass the jobname argument to g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk.

I think it seems like a good idea to allow an argument to :VimtexCompile. I propose the following "specification":

                                             *:VimtexCompile*
                                             *<plug>(vimtex-compile)*
:VimtexCompile [options]  If the compiler supports and is set to run in
                          continuous mode, then this command works as
                          a compiler toggle. If not, this command will run
                          a single shot compilation.

                          Arguments to the command will be passed on as options
                          when starting the compiler. This allows the user to
                          start the compiler with different options without
                          changing any configuration. That is, if the user uses
                          the latexmk backend, then adding any option argument
                          is equivalent to adding them to the `'options'` key
                          of |g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk|.

[lervag]

I've pushed a PR for this; it would be nice if you could test if it does what you want.

[BertrandSim]

Thank you for the changes; I've checked out the branch feat/vimtex-compile-options on my end. The compilation completed immediately, however no output was produced.

Running :VimtexCompile (without arguments) gave <file>.pdf, but running :VimtexCompile -jobname=%:r=soln gave no output.

[lervag]

but running :VimtexCompile -jobname=%:r=soln gave no output.

After running this, what do you see in :VimtexInfo under the compile command? And what's the output in :VimtexCompileOutput?

Notice that doing :VimtexCompile toggles compilation, so the first invocation starts compilation whereas the second will stop it.

[BertrandSim]

Output of :VimtexInfo, compiler

  compiler: latexmk
    engine: -lualatex
    options:
      -verbose
      -file-line-error
      -synctex=1
      -interaction=nonstopmode
    aux_dir: .auxfiles
    callback: 1
    continuous: 0
    executable: latexmk
    job: 
      jobid: 6
      output: /tmp/nvim.bertrand-sim/bU0WfQ/0
      cmd: max_print_line=2000 latexmk -verbose -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -jobname=%:r-soln -lualatex -emulate-aux-dir -auxdir=.auxfiles 'pset08.tex'

and :VimtexCompileOutput:

Rc files read:
  /etc/LatexMk
  /home/bertrand-sim/.latexmkrc
Latexmk: This is Latexmk, John Collins, 4 Apr. 2023. Version 4.80.

Latexmk: Jobname '%:r-soln' contains placeholder other than %A.
Use
   latexmk -help
to get usage information

[lervag]

Ah, so it seems that the %:r is not expanded here. Thus, for now, if you avoid using % it should work, I think.

I'll look into how I can make the %s available in the arguments.

[BertrandSim]

Agreed, and to confirm this, running VimtexCompile -jobname=pset08-soln (the file is called pset08.tex) gives the desired output.

[lervag]

Ok, I've tried to include expansion as well; please pull the latest version of the branch and test again.

[BertrandSim]

It works well, thank you!

[lervag]

Great; I've merged the PR. Let me know if you find any bugs :)