c5dec
Quick start
In order to launch the application, either type “c5dec” in the terminal or if you are using Windows, simply double-click the “run-c5dec” batch file found in the distribution folder.
Users can interact with C5-DEC CAD through three different interfaces, namely a native textual user interface (TUI) and command line interface (CLI) provided by C5-DEC CAD, along with various graphical user interfaces (GUI) such as VS Code, any web browser (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.) or Zettlr.
By design, C5-DEC CAD uses open data formats and specifications, thereby allowing the use of a wide range of already existing open-source tools. For instance, by building on top of open-source solutions such as doorstop and pandoc and non-proprietary data storage formats such as YAML, Markdown, LaTeX, PlantUML, JSON, csv, etc. project files maintained and processed using C5-DEC CAD can be also edited, formatted, exported and viewed using existing tools such as web browsers and VS Code.
TUI: Textual User Interface
Most of the features of C5-DEC CAD are currently exposed via its TUI. To launch the TUI, simply either run the c5dec command from the terminal or if you are using Windows, double-click the “run-c5dec” batch file.
This would launch the TUI front-end, shown below.
Navigating the TUI
You can navigate the TUI and move between menus and submenus using the mouse or the keyboard as follows:
- Arrow keys (left, down, up, right): to change the current selection, i.e., for menus, buttons, text fields, etc.
- Tab key: to hop from one widget or visual object to another, e.g., in the CCT browser, to move the focus from the explorer to other buttons
- Enter key: press enter/return to confirm the current selection
CLI: Command Line Interface
To run the CLI, simply append the command (and subcommands) to the C5-DEC launch command. You can access the help/manual of the CLI by using the -h parameter.
c5dec -h
This would print out a help menu similar to the one shown below.
GUI: Graphical User Interface
To run the GUI, simply use the -g flag as follows.
$ c5dec -g
This would then start a local web server and you can access the web application’s interface by pointing your browser of choice to the following localhost URL: 127.0.0.1:5432.
3rd-party GUIs
While there may be many GUI candidates, we recommend the following options:
Visual Studio Code
The popular, open-source and lightweight source code editor Visual Studio (VS) Code by Microsoft is a natural candidate when it comes to choosing a graphical front-end. This is largely motivated by the following observations:
- Highly extensible: The VS Code Extensions feature allows it to provide dedicated support for several features of C5-DEC CAD, e.g., Markdown and YAML editing, linters, diagramming plugins
- Built-in source control support for git
- Built-in Markdown viewers
- Official extension by Microsoft for containerized development, making further development of C5-DEC CAD quite straightforward given the already existing configuration files provided by the C5-DEC CAD repository
The screenshot below provides an example of how VS Code can be used to enhance the C5-DEC experience: the project files processed using C5-DEC CAD are easily accessible and can be navigated via the VS Code explorer, documentation in Markdown previewed by the viewer on the right and an instance of C5-DEC CAD itself executed and running through the VS Code terminal, allowing the user to make changes using VS Code tools and extensions together with C5-DEC CAD.
Zettlr
While there are many knowledge-base management and note taking tools using Markdown as the underlying storage format, we recommend Zettlr due to its being entirely open source and integration with other technologies and formats being central to C5-DEC, namely its integration of pandoc powering its import and export features and support for LaTeX and linking capabilities.
Thanks to its native usage of pandoc, Zettlr can provide a more accessible interface for converting and exporting to various formats such as LaTeX, docx,etc.
Firefox
While any web browser can be used to view the published outcomes of C5-DEC CAD, which in turn invokes the native publishing command of doorstop, we recommend Mozilla Firefox.