Kirigami NoteApp

A minimal text editor for KDE built with Kirigami and Qt 6, featuring professional syntax highlighting for 300+ languages. Inspired by Windows 7 Notepad with modern KDE integration.

Quick Links

📘 New to the docs? See the Documentation Guide for help navigating all available documentation.

📖 Getting Started:

• Quick Start Guide - Get up and running in 5 minutes
• Building & Installation - Build from source or install locally

📚 Feature Documentation:

• MIME Type Support - Comprehensive list of supported file formats
• Unsaved Changes Protection - How the auto-save protection works

🔧 Developer Resources:

• Refactoring Summary - MIME type implementation details
• Project Index - Complete project overview and history

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Features

• Syntax Highlighting - Professional code highlighting for 300+ languages:
  • Automatic detection from file extension and MIME type
  • Same highlighting engine as Kate, KWrite, and KDevelop
  • Supports all major programming languages (Python, C++, JavaScript, Java, Rust, Go, etc.)
  • Markup languages (HTML, XML, Markdown, JSON, YAML, etc.)
  • Shell scripts, configuration files, and more
  • Manual syntax selection via Syntax menu
  • Theme-aware (adapts to system dark/light mode)
  • Readable text colors for plain text files
• Simple Text Editing - Clean, distraction-free text editing interface
• File Operations - New, Open, Save, Save As functionality
• Unsaved Changes Protection - Prevents accidental data loss:
  • Prompts before quitting with unsaved changes
  • Prompts before opening a new file with unsaved changes
  • Prompts before creating a new document with unsaved changes
  • Three options: Save, Discard, or Cancel
  • Works with window close button and keyboard shortcuts
  • See Unsaved Changes Protection for details
• Comprehensive MIME Type Support - Intelligently detects and opens all standard text-based file formats:
  • Plain text files (text/plain, README, logs, etc.)
  • Programming languages (C/C++, Python, Java, JavaScript, QML, etc.)
  • Data formats (JSON, YAML, XML, TOML)
  • Build systems (CMake, Makefiles)
  • Documentation (Markdown, DocBook XML)
  • Configuration files (.desktop, .ini, .conf)
  • Web technologies (HTML, CSS)
  • Shell scripts (Bash, Zsh, etc.)
  • See MIME Type Support for the complete list
• Smart File Type Detection - Uses Qt's QMimeDatabase for accurate MIME type detection
• Drag and Drop - Drop any supported text file directly into the editor:
  • Empty editor: opens the file in the current window
  • Editor with content: opens the file in a new window
  • Automatic validation of text-based files
• Desktop Integration - Full integration with KDE/freedesktop.org:
  • Appears in "Open With" dialogs for supported file types
  • Can be set as default application for text files
  • Handles files from file manager and command line
• Status Bar - Shows line count, character count, and file status
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Standard shortcuts (Ctrl+N, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+S, etc.)
• Auto-save Indicator - Visual feedback for unsaved changes
• Modern KDE Design - Uses Kirigami components for a native KDE look
• Command-Line Support - Open files directly: kirigami-noteapp file.txt

Requirements

• Qt 6.5 or later
• KDE Frameworks 6:
  • KF6CoreAddons
  • KF6I18n
  • KF6SyntaxHighlighting
• Kirigami 6
• CMake 3.20 or later
• C++17 compatible compiler

Building

📘 New to the project? Start with the Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Quick Build

# Build and run
make run

# Or use the build script
./build.sh

Manual Build

# Create build directory
mkdir build
cd build

# Configure and build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

# Run
./kirigami-noteapp

Installation

Local Installation (Recommended)

Install for the current user only (no sudo required):

./install-local.sh

This will:

• Build the application
• Install to ~/.local/share/kirigami-noteapp/
• Create a desktop entry as "NoteApp"
• Make it available in your application launcher

Uninstall

./uninstall-local.sh

System-Wide Installation

make install

Requires sudo. Installs for all users.

Usage

Opening Files

From Command Line:

# Open a specific file
kirigami-noteapp /path/to/file.txt

# Or after local installation
~/.local/share/kirigami-noteapp/kirigami-noteapp file.txt

Drag and Drop:

• Drag any text-based file from your file manager onto the editor window
• If the editor is empty, the file opens in the current window
• If the editor has content, a new window opens with the dropped file
• Smart Detection: Uses MIME type detection to identify text files
• Supports 50+ text file formats including:
  • Source code (.cpp, .py, .js, .java, etc.)
  • Data files (.json, .yaml, .xml, .toml)
  • Build files (CMakeLists.txt, Makefile)
  • Documentation (.md, README, .docbook)
  • Configuration files (.desktop, .conf, .ini)
  • And many more - see MIME Type Support

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl+N - New file
• Ctrl+O - Open file
• Ctrl+S - Save file
• Ctrl+Shift+S - Save as
• Ctrl+Q - Quit

Menu Bar

Standard menu bar at the top with:

File Menu:

• New - Create a new blank document
• Open - Open an existing text file
• Save - Save the current file
• Save As - Save with a new name
• Quit - Exit the application

Syntax Menu:

• Auto-detect from File - Automatically detect syntax from file extension/type
• Plain Text - Disable syntax highlighting
• Select Syntax... - Manual syntax selection from 300+ available languages

Help Menu:

• About - Application information

Status Bar

• Left side - Line and character count
• Center - Current syntax highlighting mode (e.g., "Syntax: Python")
• Right side - File modification status (Modified/Saved)

Syntax Highlighting

The app automatically detects and applies syntax highlighting based on file type:

Automatic Detection:

• Opens .py files → Python highlighting
• Opens .cpp, .h files → C++ highlighting
• Opens .json files → JSON highlighting
• Opens .md files → Markdown highlighting
• And 300+ more file types!

Manual Selection:

1. Open the Syntax menu
2. Choose Select Syntax...
3. Browse by category (e.g., "Sources / Python")
4. Click to apply

Plain Text Mode:

• Select Syntax → Plain Text to disable highlighting
• Useful for viewing raw text or logs
• Text remains readable in both dark and light themes

Supported Languages Include:

• Programming: C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Rust, Go, Kotlin, Swift, PHP, Perl, Lua, R, Julia, Haskell, Scala, and more
• Markup: HTML, XML, Markdown, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, LaTeX
• Data: JSON, YAML, TOML, CSV, XML, INI
• Scripting: Bash, PowerShell, Fish, Zsh, Batch, VBScript
• Configuration: Nginx, Apache, Docker, CMake, Makefile
• And many more... - See the Syntax menu for the complete list!

Project Structure

kirigami-noteapp/
├── assets/
│   ├── docs/                         - 📚 Documentation
│   │   ├── DOCUMENTATION_GUIDE.md    - Navigation guide for all docs
│   │   ├── INDEX.md                  - Project index and overview
│   │   ├── QUICKSTART.md             - Quick start guide
│   │   ├── MIME_TYPES.md             - Supported file formats reference
│   │   ├── UNSAVED_CHANGES_FEATURE.md - Unsaved changes feature details
│   │   └── REFACTORING_SUMMARY.md    - Technical refactoring notes
│   └── hello-world.png               - Screenshot
├── build/                            - Build output (generated)
├── main.cpp                          - C++ application entry point
├── main.qml                          - QML UI definition
├── CMakeLists.txt                    - Build configuration
├── NoteApp.desktop                   - Desktop entry with MIME type associations
├── Makefile                          - Convenience build commands
├── build.sh                          - Build and run script
├── run.sh                            - Quick run script
├── install-local.sh                  - Local installation script
├── uninstall-local.sh                - Uninstall script
├── test-mime-detection.sh            - MIME type detection testing script
└── README.md                         - This file (you are here)

Development

Based on the Kirigami Hello World template. The application uses:

• Qt Quick for the UI framework
• Kirigami for KDE-style components
• Qt Quick Controls for standard UI elements
• Qt Quick Dialogs for file dialogs
• KSyntaxHighlighting for professional code highlighting (same engine as Kate)
  • Uses Sublime Text .sublime-syntax format
  • Supports 300+ programming and markup languages
  • Provides QML bindings for easy integration

MIME Type Support

The application uses Qt's QMimeDatabase for intelligent file type detection. This ensures compatibility with all standard text-based MIME types in KDE and other freedesktop.org-compliant environments.

Supported MIME type categories:

• text/* - All text MIME types (plain text, markdown, source code, etc.)
• application/json, application/x-yaml, application/xml - Data formats
• application/x-docbook+xml - DocBook documentation
• application/x-shellscript - Shell scripts
• And many more - see MIME Type Support for details

Testing MIME detection:

./test-mime-detection.sh

Documentation

📚 All documentation is organized in the assets/docs/ directory. See the Documentation Guide for navigation help.

Available Documentation:

• Documentation Guide - How to navigate all docs (start here!)
• Quick Start Guide - Get started in 5 minutes
• MIME Type Support - Complete list of 50+ supported text file formats
• Unsaved Changes Protection - How the save prompt feature works
• Refactoring Summary - Technical details of MIME type implementation
• Project Index - Full project overview and development history

Notes

• Text files are saved with UTF-8 encoding
• File I/O is handled by a C++ backend (FileIO class)
• Syntax highlighting powered by KSyntaxHighlighting framework:
  • Automatic detection from file extension and MIME type
  • Same highlighting engine and definitions as Kate editor
  • Theme-aware (adapts to system dark/light mode)
  • Readable text colors in both plain text and code modes
• MIME type detection uses Qt's QMimeDatabase for accuracy
• Drag and drop supports 50+ text file formats with automatic validation
• Multiple instances can be opened simultaneously via drag and drop or command line
• Visual feedback (highlight border) when dragging files over the editor
• Proper error handling and file permissions
• Desktop integration for "Open With" functionality

License

This is a sample application for educational purposes.

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Created: 2025-10-13 | Platform: KDE 6