Clarion Markdown Editor v1.1.1 — open any Markdown URL inside the IDE

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Clarion Markdown Editor v1.1.1 — open any Markdown URL inside the IDE

CME picks up a new capability in v1.1.1: fetch and render Markdown directly from a URL. Paste a link to any .md document — a README, a CHANGELOG, online docs, a blog post written in Markdown, anything — and it opens as a tab in the editor with full rendering, syntax highlighting and Mermaid support, no browser detour required.

What’s new in CME

Three ways to open a URL:

  • Tools → Open Markdown from URL… — paste anything.
  • :globe_with_meridians: Open URL… on the Start Page, with a Recent URLs list alongside Recent Files.
  • A new public API, MarkdownEditorApi.OpenUrl(string url), so other addins can hand a URL to the editor without taking a hard reference on the DLL.

The URL handler is fairly forgiving — it accepts:

  • Raw URLs (raw.githubusercontent.com/...)
  • GitHub blob URLs (github.com/owner/repo/blob/main/some.md)
  • Bare repo URLs (github.com/owner/repo) — auto-resolves to README.md, trying main then master

URL-loaded documents open in a read-only tab with a :locked: badge and the preview expanded — you opened it to read it, so the format toolbar gets out of the way. Want to keep a copy? Ctrl+S saves it locally and the tab becomes a normal editable file. Relative images and links resolve correctly against the source URL; clicking a relative .md link inside a rendered README opens it as a new tab. External http(s) links open in your default browser so the WebView2 never navigates away from the editor.

Fetches are cached under %APPDATA%\ClarionMarkdownEditor\cache\ with conditional GETs, so reopens are instant and you get a stale-but-readable copy when you’re offline.

First addin to use the new API: Addin Finder v0.5.17

Addin Finder v0.5.17 (also out today) is the first consumer of the public API. The addin detail panel now has View README and routes Changelog through the same path — both render inline in CME when it’s installed, and fall back to opening the URL in your browser when it isn’t. Nice example of how the cross-addin integration is meant to work: one runtime reflection probe, graceful fallback, no hard dependency.

Addin Finder also gets a small bug fix in the same release — if the pad wasn’t visible at IDE startup, the list would be empty when you opened it later and you had to hit Refresh. That now populates deterministically regardless of visibility.

How to get it

If you already have Addin Finder installed: open it, both updates show as ↑ Update available. Click Update, restart Clarion, done. (Addin Finder will self-update its own pane with its usual banner.)

Fresh install:

Both MIT, both targeting Clarion 10/11/12 with .NET 4.8 + WebView2 runtime.

Release notes

If you’re building a Clarion IDE addin and want to hand a Markdown URL off to CME, the snippet is:

var t = Type.GetType("ClarionMarkdownEditor.MarkdownEditorApi, ClarionMarkdownEditor");
t?.GetMethod("OpenUrl")?.Invoke(null, new object[] { url });

Bug reports, suggestions, and PRs always welcome on either repo. Cheers, Mark.