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Getting Started

This tutorial will walk you through the basic steps of installing Anvil and editing your first file. We'll use Anvil to write a simple html file.

By the end of the tutorial you will know:

  • how to launch Anvil
  • how to navigate between different columns and windows
  • how the mouse is used in Anvil
  • how to use multiple selections
  • how to launch external commands

This tutorial assumes you have access to the bash shell under Linux, and the command prompt in Windows.

Install Anvil

In this tutorial we'll install Anvil by downloading the executable. If you instead want to download the source and compile it, follow the instructions here.

Navigate to the Releases page. Download the latest executable by clicking on ?. Move this executable binary to a local directory and ensure that directory is in your path:

Assuming the anvil binary has been downloaded to /home/$USER/Downloads run the follow steps in bash:

[ -f ~/bin ] || mkdir ~/bin
cp /home/$USER/Downloads/anvil ~/bin
chmod +x ~/bin/anvil
export PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/bin

To make the change that adds Anvil to your path persistent in bash, edit your $HOME/.bashrc file and add the line: 

export PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/bin

Assuming the anvil executable has been downloaded to C:\Downloads perform the following steps:

  • Using Windows Explorer, make the directory C:\Program Files\Anvil.
  • Copy the Anvil executable from C:\Downloads to C:\Program Files\Anvil
  • Add the directory C:\Program Files\Anvil to the Windows path:
  • Launch the Control Panel.
  • Choose System→About→Advanced System Settings
  • Select ‘Environment Variables’
  • Edit the environment variable ‘Path’ and add the directory C:\Program Files\Anvil
  • You will need to restart any Power Shell or Command prompt instances to have the environment variable take effect

Launch Anvil

First make a new directory where we'll be working on the shell script. This can be any path, but for the purposes of this tutorial we'll assume it's /home/$USER/anvil-tut-script on Linux or C:\temp\anvil-tut-script on Windows.

Once created, launch Anvil from that directory:

cd /home/$USER/anvil-tut-script
anvil

cd C:\temp\anvil-tut-script
anvil

Browse to the direcory in Windows Explorer. Then in the address bar, type anvil and hit enter.

When Anvil first launches it will have two columns. The leftmost column will be empty, and the right column will have one window which displays the contents of the current directory. Since the directory is empty the window in the right column will be empty.

Paste in the Initial Text

We'll be using this text from the beginning of Queen of the Black Coast by Robert E. Howard to create our page:

HOOFS drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did not look back. He swept out onto the wharfs and jerked the plunging stallion back on its haunches at the very lip of the pier. Seamen gaped up at him, as they stood to the sweep and striped sail of a high-prowed, broadwaisted galley. The master, sturdy and black-bearded, stood in the bows, easing her away from the piles with a boat-hook. He yelled angrily as the horseman sprang from the saddle and with a long leap landed squarely on the mid-deck.

"Who invited you aboard?"

"Get under way!" roared the intruder with a fierce gesture that spattered red drops from his broadsword.

"But we're bound for the coasts of Kush!" expostulated the master.

"Then I'm for Kush! Push off, I tell you!" The other cast a quick glance up the street, along which a squad of horsemen were galloping; far behind them toiled a group of archers, crossbows on their shoulders.