I have just posted the following Feature Request (FR) to
PDF-XChange forum. Those who are interested in such
functionality should participate in the discussion. The request
is much more likely to be taken seriously if there is some
interest in its implementation...

best regards,

alex

Req: Link between external sources and pdf doc (eg. synctex)

First, let me congratulate you on an excellent software. I have
installed PDF-XChange Viewer a couple of years ago and have
never looked back since...

I am writing as a TeX user on Windows. We edit our TeX sources
(usually math articles or books) with our choice of editor
(front-end environment) and then compile them into pdf format
using pdftex engine (supplied by MiKTeX or TeX Live).

Version 2.xx of your viewer is suitable for previewing such
documents because it allows us to "unlock" the pdf file before
it is recompiled (/close command line switch is perfect for
this purpose) and it can quickly reload the re-compiled
document at the previous position without any fuss (that's
great!).

In large documents some kind of ability to switch between
source and corresponding position in pdf file is essential.
Recent synctex extension makes matching position possible for
TeX users.

Your /A "page=<num>" command line option allows jumping to the
corresponding page from editor into PDF-XChange.

However, there is currently no ability to jump from pdf file
back to the source. The following suggestion would address the
problem (while leaving the "matching" to an external
application):

If you would allow specifying an executable with command line
parameters for that executable in your Preferences and
PDF-XChange would replace the following variables in command
line options before executing the command:

%% -> %
%f -> full name (path and all) of the current .pdf document
%p -> 1-based page number
%x -> horizontal coordinate of the mouse position
     (relative to the top left corner of the page) in some
     standard units (such as pt or mm).
     For example 212.00
%y -> vertical coordinate of the mouse position
     (relative to the top left corner of the page) in some
     standard units (such as pt or mm).
     For example 500.00

PDF-XChange should supply %f,%p and calculate %x and %y
(independently of current zoom) and then launch the specified
command line. The rest (linking page and position to the source
file and corresponding source line) is up to the specified
executable. The action could be triggered by double-click (or
perhaps an [optional] shortcut specified in your
Preferences)... Furthermore it would be nice if this
functionality is (optionally) enabled only if a "source map"
file with specified extension (such as .synctex -- customizable
in your Preferences) exists next to .pdf file.

Similarly, /A "page=<num>" command switch would be greatly
enhanced if it would also allow specification of a rectangle to
be brought in view and highlighted eg.
"select=left,top,width,height" (in the same units as above).

Finally, for this kind of work it would be great if there was
an option to prevent automatic closing of PDF-XChange when the
last document is closed by /close command switch. One often
tiles editor and previewer on a large screen and closing the
viewer (rather than just a document) during compilation can be
visually disturbing.

PDF-XChange would need a new set of options in its Preferences
(something like Source Sync) to allow users specifying the
command line and a few related options as discussed above. That
would make it by far the most suitable previewer for externally
compiled pdf documents. Currently, many TeX users are using
light-weight (open source) previewers like Sumatra or TeXworks
that support such functionality. Adobe Reader has become
increasingly unsuitable for such work because it cannot even
reopen recompiled document at the previous position. Having a
full featured PDF Viewer with the above ability would be really
great!

This functionality would not be specific to any editor or pdf
compiler (any decent editor with powerful enough macro language
would be able to take advantage of it as long as some kind of
map file linking sources to pdf file is produced during the
compilation as is the case with synctex option for TeX users).

-------------

If you decide that the above functionality is worth
consideration and it is feasible I would be more than glad to
discuss it further and help in any way I can (including testing
or providing a sample of a command line in question). I have
given this functionality a lot of thought lately and have a
good idea how it should be implemented in order to be "clean"
on your part and fully functional for interested users (without
affecting any existing properties of PDF-XChange -- just an
extension to synchronize position with a source file for those
that use external pdf compilers such as TeX).

best regards,

alex

Hello,
      I use Sumatra PDF viewer with which I can have forward and inverse searches with my TexLive 2008. It works fine. Is PDF-XChange Viewer a better alternative? Anyone been able to have forward and inverse searches with TexLive?

Thanks

Cheers
Y.Calleecharan 

-----Original Message-----
From: David Denton [mailto:ddenton <at> lino.com]
Sent: Mon 2009-11-02 19:07
To: winedt+list <at> wsg.net
Subject: [WinEdt] Problem with PDF-XChanger viewer

Hello,

I have had a difficult time with reloading documents using
PDF-XChange Viewer. It appeared that Acrobat CloseDoc.edt macro
was no longer working. I replaced the files with those from
www.winedt.org\temp  and that did not work. Finally, I dealt with
the only other thing that had changed in my installation,
the new version of PDF-XChange Viewer.

I went back to v. 2.0 build 42.5 from build 42.7, and now it
works again like a charm. Anyone else had problems with the
current build (42.7).

--
Best regards,
 David