Markup languages like Asciidoc are perfectly suited for fast note taking. Type your notes with your favourite editor, view and browse them with Chromium, Chrome or Firefox.

This project is discontinued. Please use tp-note instead. The code of tp-note is more generic and works with all markup languages.

All you need is the adoc-note script and Chromium, Chrome or Firefox with the Chrome Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension or the Firefox Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension.

adoc-note runs under Linux and Windows.[1] The script operates in four modes depending on it’s options (see Invoking the script):

Create a new note

Creates a new context depending asciidoc note file.

Edit notes

Launches an editor.

View notes

Launches a live-previewer (Firefox, Chrome of Chromium).

Sync filename

Renames the filename to be in sync with the document’s title.

The project is hosted on Github: getreu/asciidoctor-notetaking. The project’s webpage is on blog.getreu.net. There you also find a pdf rendition of this document.

Quickstart
  1. Read the installation guide for Linux or Windows.

  2. Read about the 2 most common use cases How students take notes.

1. How students take notes

A fellow student still uses paper and pen. I ask her why and she replied “I can better concentrate. My computer distracts me. I will do all other things, but not listening.”.

This is certainly true. As I am concerned I am not good at logistics. For me having all documents and notes in one little machine is a blessing.

To illustrate how to work with adoc-note here my most common workflows.

1.1. The lesson starts

workflow1 1
Figure 1. The folder in which the new note will be created.

Alternatively you can open the folder you want to create a new note in and right-click on some empty white space.

workflow1 2
Figure 2. The new file
workflow1 3
Figure 3. Editor and Browser windows with unmodified template
workflow1 4
Figure 4. Title change
workflow1 5
Figure 5. Some text added
workflow1 6
Figure 6. The new note file on disk after closing the editor
Before and after launching the editor adoc-note renames the file to be in sync with the asciidoc title. For more details see Asciidoc title-filename sync.

1.2. Taking notes about a file

workflow2 1
Figure 7. We want to take a note about a pdf
workflow2 2
Figure 8. Editor and Browser windows with unmodified template
workflow2 3
Figure 9. We add a note about the origin of the pdf
workflow2 4
Figure 10. The new note file on disk after closing the editor

2. Create a new note

There are several ways to launch adoc-note.

Linux
  • Launch the commands in shell as described the sections Syntax below.

  • Right click on a file or directory in your file-manger and choose adoc-note in the context menu. See Integration with file manager.

Windows
  • Drag and drop a file or directory on the shortcut adoc-note.bat on your desktop.

    This method also works in very restricted environments. The only rights you need is to be allowed to execute portable binaries and batch scripts. You also need the permission to install the Asciidoctor.js Live Preview plugin in Chromium, Chrome or Firefox.

  • Double-click the shortcut adoc-note.bat on your desktop. This will place a new note on your desktop.

  • Right click on a file or directory in file explorer and choose adoc-note in the context menu. See Integration with file manager.

2.1. Invoking the script

 adoc-note -h

shows a short help text with available command line options:

/usr/local/bin/adoc-note creates, edits or views an asciidoc note.

usage:

   /usr/local/bin/adoc-note [-h][-ro|-so|-eo] | [<File.adoc>|<Dir>|<File>]

<Dir>|<File>: directory where the new note file will be created
(current directory if none).
If <File> is given a new adoc note will be created next to that file.
If <File.adoc> is given the file is edited.
Filename of <File> is changed when not in sync with title.

Options:
-ro     Do not open editor, open viewer only.
-eo     Do not open viewer, only new note or, sync filename and edit.
-so     Do not open editor or viewer, only new note or sync filename.
Table 1. adoc-note options
Option Create a new note Launch editor Launch viewer Sync title-filename

without

-ro

-eo

-so

Lengend

= yes
= no
= If a note with the same filename exists on disk already, no new note is created.

2.2. Directory as parameter

2.2.1. Syntax

 adoc-note <path>/<dir>

creates the following document:

<path>/<dir>/YYYYMMDD-<dir>--Notes.adoc
Example 1. <path>/<dir>/YYYYMMDD-<dir>--Notes.adoc
= <dir> : Notes
<loginname>
v1.0, <date>
:numbered:
:toc!:
:pagenums:

2.2.2. Example

 adoc-note 'doc/Lecture 1'

creates the following document:

doc/Lecture 1/20151129-Lecture 1--Notes.adoc
Example 2. doc/Lecture 1/20151129-Lecture 1-- Notes.adoc
= Lecture 1 : Notes
johndoe
v1.0, 29.11.2015
:numbered:
:toc!:
:pagenums:

2.3. No parameter

2.3.1. Syntax

It is also possible to invoke the script without options:

 adoc-note

The result is the same as above but the current working directory is used for <path>/<dir>.

2.3.2. Example

 cd 'doc/Lecture 1'
 adoc-note

creates the following document:

doc/Lecture 1/20151129-Lecture 1--Notes.adoc
Example 3. doc/Lecture 1/20151129-Lecture 1—​Notes.adoc
= Lecture 1 : Notes
johndoe
v1.0, 29.11.2015
:numbered:
:toc!:
:pagenums:

== Notes

2.4. Filename as parameter

The filename should be some existing local file you want to annotate. For example I use this feature to note from where I have downloaded a .pdf.

2.4.1. Syntax

When invoke with a filename, no date stamp is prepended.

 adoc-note <path>/<dir>/<filename>

The new file will look like this:

<path>/<dir>/<filename>--Notes.adoc
Example 4. <path>/<dir>/<filename>-- Notes.adoc
= <filename> : Notes
<loginname>
v1.0, <date>
:numbered:
:toc!:
:pagenums:

Annotations on file: link:++<filename>++[]

2.4.2. Example

 adoc-note 'doc/Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf'

creates the following document:

doc/Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf--Notes.adoc
Example 5. doc/Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf—​Notes.adoc
= Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf : Notes
johndoe
v1.0, 29.11.2015
:numbered!:
:toc!:
:pagenums:


Annotations on file: link:++Implementing-the-NIST-Cybersecurity-Framework.pdf++[]

Before quitting the adoc-note script executes it’s editing-mode. This opens in your editor the completed template (see example above) and a live-previewr showing the rendered asciidoc file:

Example 6. Rendered note
example filename

3. Editing notes

3.1. Syntax

  adoc-note <path>/<filename>.adoc

launches the the gvim editor by default. Replace gvim by any editor of your choice. At the same time a chrome or chromium window will pop up showing the live rendition of your asciidoc file. You need to have the Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension installed.

You may want to use some autosave editor feature in order to observe changes immediately in the rendered preview live.

At the beginning and the end of the adoc-note script another helper function ChangeFilename is called. It guarantees that any change in the asciidoc title of the file you have been editing will replicate in the filename of that asciidoc file. This guarantees that the filenames of asciidoc notes always correspond to their asciidoc title allowing you to find your notes quickly in your directory structure. See Asciidoc title-filename sync for more details.

You can disable the title-filename-sync feature by adding a blank line at the beginning of the asciidoc document.

3.2. Example

  adoc-note 'Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf--Notes.adoc'
adoc edit
Figure 11. adoc-edit invokation example

The same result is obtained by repeating the same command you used to create this note [2]:

  adoc-note 'Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf'

4. Viewing notes

4.1. Syntax

  adoc-note -ro <path>/<filename>.adoc

launches firefox or chromium. You need to have the Firefox Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension or the Chrome Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension installed.

4.2. Example

  adoc-note -ro 'Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.pdf--Notes.adoc'
adoc view
Figure 12. adoc-view invokation example

All text in the above example was automatically generated by the adoc-note script only the last link download URL was added “by hand”. This is particularly useful for quickly writing down the source of a downloaded document.

5. Asciidoc title-filename sync

Consider the following note file:

20151208-Make this world a better place--Suggestions.adoc

The filename has 3 parts:

<sort tag>-<simplified-title>--<simplified-subtitle>.adoc

A <sort tag> can be a

  • chronological sort tag or

    Example 7. Chronological sort tags
    20140211-
    20151208-
  • a sequence number sort tag.

    Example 8. Sequence number sort tags
    02-
    08-
    09_02-

<sort tag> can be any combination of 0123456789-_.

When adoc-note creates a new note based on a directory it prepends a chronological sort tag of today. The <simplified-title> part is derived from the parent directory name omitting its own sort tag.

Example 9. New note in a directory with sequence number sort tag
filing system1
  adoc-note '10-Mein Körper'

will result in a new file:

filing system2
10-Mein Körper/20151209-Mein Körper--Notes.adoc
The parent directory’s sort tag is never used to compose a filename for a new note.

When adoc-note creates a new note based on a filename no sort tag is prepended.

Before and after editing the adoc-note analyses the title and subtitle of the asciidoc file and simplifies them in a filesystem friendly form. If the result does not equal to <simplified-title>--<simplified-subtitle> the filename is changed on disk. Possible sort tags remain untouched.

You can disable this feature by inserting a blank line at the beginning of the asciidoc file.
adoc-note might change the note’s filename but never changes an sort tag!

For details about how an Asciidoc title line is simplified into a <simplified-title>--<simplified-subtitle> string refer to the SanitizeFilename() function in [_src_adoc_note].

6. Installation and configuration

adoc-note runs on Linux and Windows. For Windows installation and configuration see Windows below.

6.1. Linux

  1. Install chromium (alternatively you can use chrome or firefox).[3]

  2. Install the Chrome Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension. (Or Firefox Asciidoctor.js Live Preview )

  3. Download the note-taking-script bin/adoc-note from Github getreu/asciidoctor-notetaking. Alternatively you can copy and paste the listing at end of this document.

  4. Copy it in a location of your $PATH and make it executable for everyone.

      sudo cp adoc-note /usr/local/bin
      sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/adoc-note
  5. Install some helper packages (most should be already on your system) [4].

      sudo apt-get install sed uni2ascii vim-gtk

    Replace vim-gtk with an editor of your choice. Configure adoc-note accordingly.

  6. Configuration:
    At the beginning of adoc-note you will find a section enclosed in the commments CONFIGURATION SECTION START and CONFIGURATION SECTION END.

    The only file you edit to change the default choices for editor and viewer under Linux is adco-note. Not adoc-note.bak!

    Here you can specify what editor you want to use, if you choose firefox, chrome or chromium and you can specify the parameters these programs require. Make sure that your editor does not fork when launched. If it does fork, the script will still work but when you quit, no asciidoc-title-filename sync will occur. Outside the CONFIGURATION SECTION no changes should be necessary.

    The environment variables ADOC_EDITOR or ADOC_VIEWER -when defined- have precedence over settings in the CONFIGURATION SECTION and will override them.
  7. Test the installation: open a console window and type adoc-note. An editor and viewer window containing a note template should open.

  8. Optional: integrate the scripts with your file-manager (see Linux file manager configuration).

6.2. Windows

  1. Install chromium (alternatively you can use chrome or firefox).[5]

  2. Install the Chrome Asciidoctor.js Live Preview extension. (Or Firefox Asciidoctor.js Live Preview )

  3. Download the the files bin/adoc-note, bin/adoc-note.bat and bin/busybox.exe from Github getreu/asciidoctor-notetaking. Alternatively you can copy and paste the listings at end of this document. The version of busybox in the above repository is probably outdated. Please get a newer version from here: http://frippery.org/busybox/

  4. Copy the 3 files in a directory of your choice. In the following I call this directory BIN_DIR.

  5. Configuration:

    At the beginning of adoc-note.bak you will find a section enclosed in the commments CONFIGURATION SECTION START and CONFIGURATION SECTION END.

    The only file you edit to change the default choices for editor and viewer under Windows is adco-note.bat. Not adoc-note!
    New notes are created with an Unicode BOM indicating Unicode encoding. Do not use the notepad editor coming with Windows older then Vista. These old versions of notepad do not handle Unicode correctly. Use Wordpad or and other modern Unicode editor instead.

    Here you can specify what browser you want to use, e.g. if you choose firefox.exe or chromium.exe and you can specify the parameters these programs require. Do the same for the editor of your choice. Make sure that your editor does not fork when launched. If it does fork, the script will still work but when you quit, no asciidoc-title-filename sync will occur. Outside the CONFIGURATION SECTION no changes should be necessary.

  6. Create a shortcut to adoc-note.bat on your desktop, click on properties and change the shortcut to run minimized. Let the start in path empty.

    shortcut properties
  7. Test the installation: drag a file or directory on the adoc-note Shortcut on your desktop. An editor and viewer window should open.

  8. Optional: integrate the scripts with your file-manager (see Windows file explorer configuration).

6.3. Integration with file manager

adoc-note integrates easily with your favorite file-manager under Linux and Explorer under Windows.

6.3.1. Linux file manager configuration

The example below shows the Thunar filebrowser’s custom actions.

file manager
Figure 13. Integration with file-manager

Most file-manager allow extending the context menu. As an example the following images show the configuration of the Thunar-file-manger.

custom actions
Figure 14. Thunar custom action configuration
edit action
Figure 15. Edit custom action
appearance condition
Figure 16. Appearance Condition

6.3.2. Windows file explorer configuration

  1. Open a folder containing an .adoc file.

  2. Right-click the .adoc file and point to Open with and then click Choose default program.

    explorer1
  3. Select the Always use the selected program and then click Browse…​.

    explorer2
  4. Click Browse…​ then browse to your BIN_DIR directory, select adoc-note.bak and click Open and later Ok.

    explorer3

7. Source code

7.1. src/adoc-note

Source code: adoc-note
#!/bin/sh
# Author: Jens Getreu
# 16.2.2016
# license: MIT

### CONFIGURATION SECTION START

LaunchViewer () {
	# WARNING: if the environment variable ADOC_VIEWER is defined
	# the following code is never executed!

	# Note: we need & at the end of the line!
	# Uncomment one line only!
	# Chromium Asciidoctor-plugin follows your changes without "reload".
	#chromium "file:///$1" &
	# Alternative:
	#chrome "file:///$1" &
	# Extra package needed for this example: apt-get install uni2ascii
	#chromium "--app=file:$(echo "$1"|uni2ascii -aJ)" &
	# Press "reload current page" in firefox to see your changes.
	firefox  "file:///$1" &
	# If your editor has an integrated viewer (like Atom)
	# do not uncomment any line above, but we need this:
	return 0
}

LaunchEditor () {
	# WARNING: if the environment variable ADOC_EDITOR is defined
	# the following code is never executed!

	# Note there is no & in this function. The editor should not fork!
	# Uncomment one line only!

	# Very simple Linux editor.
	leafpad "$1"
	# Linux geany. Optional: enable autosave in geany's save plugin.
	#geany "$1"
	# Alternatively run gvim.
	#gvim --nofork "$1"
	return 0
}

### CONFIGURATION SECTION END



Readlink () {
	# Path=$(readlink -f "$1") # not available in busybox
	# We actually only need absolute paths so the following will do.
	local Path
	Path="$(echo "$(cd "$(dirname "$1")" && pwd -P)"/"$(basename "$1")")"
	# return global variable
	Readlink="$Path"
}




Main () {
	if  [ "-h" = "$1" ]; then
		echo "\n${0} creates, edits or views an asciidoc note."
		echo "\nusage:"
		echo "\n   $_ [-h][-ro|-so|-eo] | [<File.adoc>|<Dir>|<File>]"
		echo "\n<Dir>|<File>: directory where the new note file will be created"
		echo "(current directory if none)."
		echo "If <File> is given a new adoc note will be created next to that file."
		echo "If <File.adoc> is given the file is edited."
		echo "Filename of <File> is changed when not in sync with title."
		echo "\nOptions:"
		echo "-ro\tDo not open editor, open viewer only."
		echo "-eo\tDo not open viewer, only new note or, sync filename and edit."
		echo "-so\tDo not open editor or viewer, only new note or sync filename."
		exit 0
	fi

	local Path
	local Option
	if  [ "-ro" = "$1" ] || [ "-so" = "$1" ] || [ "-eo" = "$1" ] ; then
		Option="$1"
		Readlink "$2"
	else
		Option=""
		Readlink "$1"
	fi
	Path="$Readlink"


	# If file extension is not .adoc then create a new note.
	if [ ! -n "$Path" ] || \
	 [ !  "$(echo "$Path"|awk -F . '{print $NF}')" = "adoc" ]  ; then
		AdocNewNote "$Path"  || exit 1
		Path="$AdocNewNote"
	fi

	if [ -f "$Path" ] ; then
		if  [ ! "-ro" = "$Option" ] ; then
			SyncFilename "$Path"
			Path="$SyncFilename"
		fi
		if  [ ! "-eo" = "$Option" ] && \
			[ ! "-so" = "$Option" ] ; then
			AdocView "$Path"
		fi
		if  [ ! "-ro" = "$Option" ] && \
			[ ! "-so" = "$Option" ] ; then
			AdocEdit "$Path"
			SyncFilename "$AdocEdit"
			Path="$SyncFilename"
		fi
		echo "$Path"
		exit 0
	else
		echo "Error: Can not open '$Path'." >&2
		exit 1
	fi
}

SanitizeFilename () {
	# line 1:   tab -> space
	# line 2:   Delete control characters.
	# line 3:   :\\/|?~,;=   ->  _
	# line 4:
	#   Exclude NTFS critical characters:       <>:"\\/|?*
	#   https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
	#   Exclude restricted in fat32:        +,;=[]
	#   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename#Reserved_characters_and_words
	#   These are considered unsafe in URLs:    <>#%{}|\^~[]`
	#   https://perishablepress.com/stop-using-unsafe-characters-in-urls/
	# line 5:   Strip all until the first alpha char at the beginning
	#       and all spaces and _ at the end of the line.
	# line 6:   Remove spaces and _ before and after --.
	# Return global variable
	SanitizeFilename="$(echo "$1"| \
		tr -s '[:blank:]'   ' '| \
		tr -d '[:cntrl:]' | \
		tr -s ':\\/|?~,;='   '_'| \
		tr -s '<>:"\\/|?*<>#%{}|\^~[]+,;=[]`[:blank:]'    ' '| \
		sed -e 's/[[:blank:]_]*\(.*\)/\1/g; s/[[:blank:]_]*$//g' \
			-e 's/[[:blank:]_]*--[[:blank:]_]*/--/g'
		)"
}


SyncFilename () {
	# Pathname of the asciidoc-file
	local Path
	Path="$1"

	# Change filename according to the title in the
	# first line of the .adoc file.

	# Extract title from the first line of the .adoc file
	local FirstLine
	FirstLine="$(head -n 1 "$Path")" || exit 1
	local Title
	# line 1: stream string
	# line 2: omit BOM and =
	# line 3: splitt title and subtitle, then concat with -- in between
	Title="$(echo "$FirstLine" | \
			sed -e 's/[^=]*=[[:blank:]]*\(.*\)/\1/' \
				-e 's/:[[:blank:]]*$//g; s/\(.*\):\(.*\)/\1--\2/g' )"
	# A title was found when Title <> FirstLine
	if [ ! "$FirstLine" = "$Title" ] ; then

		# extract leading numbers including "-" and "_"
		# example  "20150912-hallo.adoc" -> "20150912-"
		# example  "01-abstract.adoc" -> "01-"
		# example  "04-01_03-abstract.adoc" -> "04-01_03-"
		# example  "hallo02-abstract.adoc" -> ""
		local BaseName
		BaseName="$(basename "$Path")"
		local LeadingNumbers
		LeadingNumbers="$(echo "$BaseName" | \
			sed -e 's/\([[:digit:]_-]*\)\(.*\)/\1/')"
		# if no leading numbers found the following equals
		if [ "$BaseName" = "$LeadingNumbers" ] ; then
			LeadingNumbers="" #no leading no. found
		fi

		# Substitute special chars with _
		SanitizeFilename "$Title"
		local FileTitle
		FileTitle="$(echo "$SanitizeFilename"|
				sed -e 's/\([[:digit:]_-]*\)\(.*\)/\2/')"

		# Construct new name
		local DirName
		DirName="$(dirname "$Path")"
		local NewPath="${DirName}/${LeadingNumbers}${FileTitle}.adoc"
		mv -n "$Path" "$NewPath" >/dev/null 2>&1
		Path="$NewPath"
	fi

	# Return global variable
	SyncFilename="$Path"
}




AdocNewNote () {
	local Suffix="Notes"
	local TitleSuffix=" : $Suffix"
	local FileSuffix="--$Suffix"
	local Dir
	local Basename
	local DocRef
	local NewFileName
	if [ -n "$1" ] && [ -f "$1" ] ; then
		Dir="$(dirname "$1")"
		Basename="$(basename "$1")"
		DocRef="Annotations on file: link:++$Basename++[]"
		SanitizeFilename "$Basename"
		NewFileName="$Dir/${SanitizeFilename}${FileSuffix}.adoc"
	elif [ -n "$1" ] && [ -d "$1" ] ; then
		Dir="$1"
		Basename="$(basename "$1")"
		DocRef=""
		# omit leading numbers, "-" and "_"
		Basename="$(echo "$Basename"| \
			sed -e 's/\([[:digit:]_-]*\)\(.*\)/\2/')"
		SanitizeFilename "$Basename"
		NewFileName="$Dir/$(date +%Y%m%d)-${SanitizeFilename}${FileSuffix}.adoc"
	else
		Dir="$(pwd)"
		Basename="$(basename "$Dir")"
		DocRef=""
		# omit leading numbers, "-" and "_"
		Basename="$(echo "$Basename"| \
			sed -e 's/\([[:digit:]_-]*\)\(.*\)/\2/')"
		SanitizeFilename "$Basename"
		NewFileName="$Dir/$(date +%Y%m%d)-${SanitizeFilename}${FileSuffix}.adoc"
	fi
	local Datestr
	Datestr="$(date +%x)"

	if  [ ! -e "$NewFileName" ] ; then

		# Create new file according to template (with unicode BOM)
		printf  "\357\273\277= ${Basename}${TitleSuffix}
$USER
v1.0, $Datestr
:numbered!:
:toc!:
:pagenums:

$DocRef

" > "$NewFileName"

	else
		echo "$NewFileName already exists. No new document created.">&2
	fi
	# return global variable
	AdocNewNote="$NewFileName"
}




AdocEdit () {
	AdocEdit="$1"
	if [ -n "$ADOC_EDITOR" ]; then
		"$ADOC_EDITOR" "$AdocEdit"
	else
		LaunchEditor "$AdocEdit"
	fi
	# Return global variable AdocEdit
}




AdocView () {
	AdocView="$1"
	if [ -n "$ADOC_VIEWER" ]; then
		"$ADOC_VIEWER" "$ADOC_VIEWER_OPT$AdocView" &
	else
		LaunchViewer "$AdocView"
	fi
	# Return global variable AdocView
}



Main "$1" "$2"

7.2. src/adoc-note.bat

Source code: adoc-note.bat
@echo off > NUL

rem  CONFIGURATION SECTION START (WINDOWS ONLY)

rem uncomment TWO lines only
set "ADOC_VIEWER=C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
set "ADOC_VIEWER_OPT=file:///"
rem set "ADOC_VIEWER=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
rem set "ADOC_VIEWER_OPT=file:///"
rem set "ADOC_VIEWER=C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\Chrome.exe"
rem set "ADOC_VIEWER_OPT=file:///"

rem uncomment one line only
set "ADOC_EDITOR=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\Accessories\Wordpad.exe"
rem set "ADOC_EDITOR=C:\windows\system32\wordpad.exe"
rem set "ADOC_EDITOR=C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim\vim74\gvim.exe"
rem set "ADOC_EDITOR=D:\99-Tools\gVimPortable\gVimPortable.exe"

rem  CONFIGURATION SECTION END (WINDOWS ONLY)


"%~dp0\busybox" ash "%~dp0\adoc-note" "%~1"

1. For Mac follow Linux instructions (not tested).
2. This only works if you have not changed the original title in the meantime!
3. At the time of this writing only chromium and chrome refresh automatically and can be launched in application interface mode. My preferred choice.
4. uni2ascii is only needed for chrome and chromium
5. At the time of this writing only chromium and chrome refresh automatically and can be launched in application interface mode. My preferred choice.