Edit Externally: implement for math insets?

[Lorenzo Bertini]

Il 12/05/21 16:32, Scott Kostyshak ha scritto:
> I'm surprised that this question about toggling between LyX math and
> LaTeX has received a lot of views:
> 
>    https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/45301/in-lyx-is-there-a-way-to-toggle-the-display-of-tex-code-in-math-expressions/46328#46328
> 
> I don't know anything about how LyX stores math in memory, but in the
> file format if I remember correctly we essentially store LaTeX. Does
> this mean we could allow "Edit externally" for math insets?
> 
> Scott

Up to my limited understanding of this, Lyx internally stores math in 
nested insets and the converts it on the fly for outputting or just 
copy-pasting the expression. The cool feature is that each inset class 
specifies how it should be output in each format: having the possibility 
to switch to raw LaTeX would do two things im not sure are good
1. it would hide this important mechanic and make the user think it's 
all LaTeX;
2. it would require conversion back and forth when writing expressions.

Also, you can type any expression you want on an exteral editor and just 
paste it in lyx or viceversa. I think if we want to add this we must 
make clear that latex is just another method of writing.