cbxv user manual

tl;dr - Quickstart

Open the cbxv archive (.tar.gz, .zip, .dmg), usually by dobule-clicking on it

Locate the executable (cbxv, cbxv.exe, cbxv.app), double-click on it

cbxv will start and you’ll see:

Hit the “o” key or click the “File Button” in the upper-right

The File Open Dialog will display, navigate to a cbx (.cbr, .cbz) file, double-click it

You’ll see something like:

_{Note: All comic images shown on these pages are believed to be in the public domain. If you feel that’s in error, please notify me and I will replace them with ones that are.}

In this case we’re seeing the cover on the left and the inside cover on the right. Hit the “r” key (Join Toggle || Button) and you’ll see:

The first page, the cover, has essentially been “Joined” or turned into a single-page with a span of 2, so that it displays by itself. All of the other pages have also been adjusted in the layout. Hit the “Right Arrow” key and you’ll see:

The inside front cover is now on the left and the first page on the right, just as it should be. If the book you’re reading has other pages that are out of place you can join them or hide them as necessary until the layout is correct. cbxv will remember the layout so the next time you open the book it will be correct.

Excelsior!

Dependencies

• Linux - You must have Gtk3 installed. This is very common on Linux. If you don’t have it already you must install the appropriate package for your distro.

  • Arch and Fedora - gtk3
  • Debian and Ubuntu - libgtk-3-0

• Mac - Like Linux you must have Gtk3 installed. This is less common than Linux but faily straightforward. Install Homebrew and run:

  brew install pkg-config gtk+3 adwaita-icon-theme

• Windows - Everything that you need is in the archive available under the releases section.

Installation

• Linux - Download the Linux build from the release area and unarchive it. On Linux cbxv is a single executable, put it wherever you like and run it. For your convenience a simple script is provided to put a desktop file and icon in the appropriate places for your user.

  • Arch - cbxv is also available from the AUR, so if you’re on Arch you could install cbxv from there if you prefer. Below is an example using the yay AUR helper:

    yay -S libunarr-git cbxv-git

• Windows - Download the Windows build from the release area and unarchive it. Copy the resulting directory to program files or wherever you like and run it.

• Mac - Download the Mac build from the release area and unarchive it. Copy the cbxv.app directory to Applications and double-click on it.

Interface Elements

Commands

File Commands

• openFile
  The openFile command when given no arguments will prompt you with the fileOpen dialog to provide a file path. After a path is provided any file open in the UI will be closed and the new file will be opened and loaded into the interface.

  The fileOpen dialog by default is configured to restrict choosing only files that end with an appropriate extension, but you can change it to all files. Whatever file you specify either with the fileDialog or from the command line cbxv will try to open it. If it’s a valid file with an inappropriate extension like .zip it may very well succeed. If it’s simply an invalid file it will fail.

  Keys: o
  Mouse: The File Button
  Drag and Drop: Drag a file over the window, and drop to open.
  CLI: If you start cbxv from the command line you can provide a path and it will be opened.

• closeFile
  The closeFile command will close any open file and unload it

  Keys: c

Navigation Commands

• Overview
  cbxv is a viewer, most of what you do is navigating around so you can read the comic you have loaded. Consequently there are quite a few keys dedicated to basic navigation. 3 “sets” in fact; “Standard Keys” - Arrow Cluster, “Gamer Keys” - “wasd”, and “Vi Keys” - “hjkl”.

• rightPage
  Always takes you one page to the right. If you have the reading Direction set to Left-To-Right, then it will take you to the next page. If you toggle the reading Direction to Right-To-Left, then going a page to the right will take you to the previous page.

  This key can also trigger next file or previous file when at the end or beggining of the comic.

  Keys: [RightArrow] or d or l
  Mouse: Click on the right side of the screen

• leftPage
  Always takes you one page to the left. If you have the reading Direction set to Left-To-Right, then it will take you to the previous page. If you toggle the reading Direction to Right-To-Left, then going a page to the left will take you to the next page.

  This key can also trigger next file or previous file when at the end or beggining of the comic.

  Keys: [LeftArrow] or w or h
  Mouse: Click on the left side of the screen

• firstPage
  Always takes you to the first page

  Keys: [UpArrow] or w or k

• lastPage
  Always takes you to the last page

  Keys: [DownArrow] or j or s

• nextFile
  Whenever you open a cbx file cbxv creates a sorted list of all the cbx files in the same directory and the position of the current file in that list. The nextFile command takes you to the next cbx file in the list.

  Keys: n

• previousFile
  Whenever you open a cbx file cbxv creates a sorted list of all the cbx files in the same directory and the position of the current file in that list. The previousFile command takes you to the previous cbx file in the list.

  Keys: p

Page Commands

• selectPage
  The selectPage command allows you to change the selectedPage. In a 2-page layout one of the two pages will have a highlighted border around it’s pageIndex button indicating that it’s selected.

  Keys: [Tab]
  Mouse: pageIndex Buttons

• exportPage
  The exportPage command will bring up the export dialog allowing you to save the currently selected page as an image file wherever you want independent of the cbx file you are viewing.

  Keys: e Mouse: exportPage Button

Bookmark Commands

• toggleBookmark
  The toggleBookmark command sets or unsets the bookmark on the currently selected page

  Keys: [Space]
  Mouse: Boomkark Buttons

• lastBookmark
  Use the lastBookmark command to move to the boomkark on the highest page

  Keys: L

Layout Commands

• toggleDirection
  The direction command sets either Left-To-Right or Right-To-Left reading direction.

  Keys: [BackTick]
  Mouse: Direction Button

• 1-Page Layout
  The 1-Page Layout command sets the layout to one page at a time.

  Keys: 1

• 2-Page Layout
  The 2-Page Layout command sets the layout to view up to two pages at a time.

  Keys: 2

• stripLayout
  Strip Layout arranges all pages in one long vertical strip. The strip layout is much simpler and removes many commands and controls that are not applicable.

  Keys: 3

• hidePage
  The hidePage command hides the currently selected page from view. You can see the list of hidden pages for the current cbx file with the HiddenPages control.

  Keys: -

• toggleJoin
  The toggleJoin command causes 1-page to be treated as two for the purposes of layout. The term “join” is borrowed from the scanning community where generally 2 images from adjacent pages are joined together to emulate a a double-page spread. In cbxv such pages are auto-joined. Other pages that you might want to join are covers. They will be treated as having a span of 2, causing them to occupy both spots of a spread in a two-page layout forcing any other page to the next spread. That means the cover will be displayed by itself while staying in 2-page layout mode. the command has no effect in either 1-page or strip modes.

  Keys: r

General Commands

• quit
  The quit command saves any accumulated state (layout changes, bookmarks, etc…) and exits the program.

  Keys: q

• help
  The help command brings up the help dialog, displaying summary information for all commands and providing a link to the manual.

  Keys: ? or [F1]

• toggleFullscreen
  toggleFullscreen command toggle fullscreen mode on and off

  Keys: f or [F11]

Supported File Formats

• .cbz - zip archive
• .cbr - rar archive
• .cb7 - 7zip archive
• .cbt - tar archive
• .pdf - portable document format file