noor 1.2

Overview

Noor is a small Quran viewer written in Python. It shows the translation of each aya, if specified, right after it. These are the interfaces that come with noor:

New Features

• copy current aya/translation to clipboard

• support for vi-like marks

Getting Started

noorhtmls.py output_folder

# Add noor to the python path if its not installed:
sys.path.append('/noor/extracted/folder/')

Noorgtk Tutorial

After starting noorgtk as described above, you’ll be asked to select a sura to view. (Use gtk.ask_sura_at_start config or give a command line argument to skip that).

Now you see the sura you’ve chosen. Use up and down keys to move the text. Press a key; you’ll be asked to enter an aya number. After pressing enter you’ll be moved to that aya.

Now press c. A dialog pops up in which you can select a sura.

Press s this time; Noor will ask you to insert a sura number to go to. Also J (that is capital j) moves you to the start of a juz.

Now press C-M-n or C-j (whichever you’re most comfortable with). Noor will show the next sura. Likewise C-M-p or C-k can be used for previous sura.

Some commands need an integer argument, such as goto aya, goto the page before aya, goto sura and goto juz. If you type a number before using these commands, that number will be assumed to be the argument and Noor won’t ask the number in a dialog.

Note that many of Noor commands can be done in more than one way and have more than one key-binding. See the noorgtk keys and try its commands.

Also you can tell noorgtk to start from a sura and aya using command line arguments. For instance noorgtk.pyw 100 3 goes to the third aya of the 100th sura.

Adding Translations

You can edit the ~/.noor file:

[common]
translation = /path/to/translation/file

The translation file can be in two formats. It can be either a zip file in the same format as Zekr translation files which can be obtained from http://siahe.com/zekr/resources.html or it can be a utf-8 text file with translation of each aya in one line.

Changing Font

You can change the GTK or html fonts in ~/.noor file:

[gtk]
font = me_quran 23
translation_font = Dejavu Sans Mono size:14 fgcolor:#001100 fgcolor:#DDDDFF

[html]
font = me_quran 6 fgcolor:554444
translation_font = Dejavu Sans Mono 4 fgcolor:444455

A font has face, size, fgcolor and bgcolor attributes. These attributes can be set using attr:value format where attr is attribute name. The old format still works; that is myfont 16 is the same as myfont size:16 and also the same as face:myfont size:16.

Notes

You can add notes to suras and ayas. You can use gtk.show_notes variable to enable this feature; add this to your ~/.noor:

[gtk]
show_notes = 1

When enabled, notes panel is shown right above the status bar.

Using A key (that is shift-a), moves the focus to notes panel (you can also use the mouse). You can use N to toggle note panel visibility.

Notes are saved in gtk.notes_dir directory (~/.noornotes, by default) when either the focus moves out of notes panel or when you press C-s. Notes are saved in:

• notes for kth sura will be written in k.txt

• notes for the kth aya of jth sura will be written in j-k.txt

Changing The Language

You can change the language of noorgtk dialogs and noorhtmls pages; for instance:

[common]
lang = en

will use English. The value of common.lang config should be a two letter symbol of a language. Currently Arabic (ar), English (en), Farsi (fa) and Pashto (ps) are supported. If you like, you can translate noor to other languages (ask the mailing list if you need help).

Playing Recitation

You can use gtk.play_aya and gtk.play_sura to play sura and aya recitation. For instance:

[gtk]
play_aya = mplayer -noconsolecontrols /path/to/folder/${sura}${aya}.mp3

${sura} and ${aya} are replaced with zero filled sura and aya number.

You can also ask noor to follow ayas; that is when the player finishes with zero return value noor goes to the next aya. For this to work you need to set the gtk.follow_ayas option:

[gtk]
follow_ayas = 1

You can use the K key to stop following ayas.

Hiding Noorgtk Parts

You can hide most GUI parts of noorgtk. For instance:

[gtk]
menu_bar = 0
status_bar = 0
toolbar = 0
scrollbar = 0
task_pane = 0
show_notes = 0
hide_buttons = 1

Will hide things like menu bar, status bar and toolbar.

Noorgtk Keys

These keys can be used in the GTK interface. Note that C- stands for control key, M- for alt key, S- for shift key and C-M for control and alt key pressed together. For instance C-n means pressing n key while holding the control key.

Note n here means the number typed so far. Actually by pressing digits you prefix commands. For instance pressing 2 followed by 1 and followed by C-M-return, you tell noor to go to the start of the 21st juz.

If no prefix is typed for prefixed commands, noor will ask it in a dialog.

Configuration File

You can specify configuration options in ~/.noor file. See the end of noor/uihelpers.py file for the default contents of ~/.noor file (the default ~/.noor will be created if it does not exist).

Note that html section of the config file is applied to both noorcgi and noorhtmls interfaces.

Bookmarks

Noor supports aya bookmarks. When you add a bookmark, the location and its name is saved so that you can jump to that location from the list bookmarks dialog.

Noor saves bookmarks in a ~/.noor.bmk by default. You can change that by using gtk.bookmark_file option. Each line of this file can contain a bookmark like:

sura_number:aya_number bookmark_name

You can edit this file manually to change them.