Allow annotation creation without a prior selection

app/assets/javascripts/Annotations/html_annotations.js

@@ -31,20 +31,22 @@ function check_annotation_overlap(range) {
   );
 }
 
-function get_html_annotation_range() {
+function get_html_annotation_range(warn = true) {
   const iframe = document.getElementById("html-content");
   const target = iframe.contentDocument;
   const selection = target.getSelection();
   if (selection.rangeCount >= 1) {
     const range = selection.getRangeAt(0);
     if (check_annotation_overlap(range)) {
       alert(I18n.t("results.annotation.no_overlap"));
-      return {};
+      return null;
     }
     if (range.startOffset !== range.endOffset || range.startContainer !== range.endContainer) {
       return range;
     }
   }
-  alert(I18n.t("results.annotation.select_some_text"));
-  return {};
+  if (warn) {
+    alert(I18n.t("results.annotation.select_some_text"));
+  }
+  return null;
 }

app/assets/javascripts/Annotations/image_annotation_manager.js

@@ -313,6 +313,41 @@ class ImageAnnotationManager extends AnnotationManager {
     return box;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns a fallback 40×40 px selection centred at the last right-click position,
+   * for use when no area is currently selected.
+   * @returns {{x1, y1, x2, y2}|false}
+   */
+  getFallbackSelection() {
+    const img = this.image_preview; // the <img> DOM element
+    if (!img) return false;
+
+    const rect = img.getBoundingClientRect();
+    const displayWidth = rect.width;
+    const displayHeight = rect.height;
+    if (displayWidth === 0 || displayHeight === 0) return false;
+
+    // Convert page click position to position within the displayed image.
+    const e = this.last_click_event;
+    const clickX = e ? e.clientX - rect.left : displayWidth / 2;
+    const clickY = e ? e.clientY - rect.top : displayHeight / 2;
+
+    // Scale from display pixels to image natural pixels.
+    const scaleX = img.naturalWidth / displayWidth;
+    const scaleY = img.naturalHeight / displayHeight;
+    const imgX = Math.round(clickX * scaleX);
+    const imgY = Math.round(clickY * scaleY);
+
+    // 40x40 box centred at click, clamped to image bounds.
+    const half = 20;
+    return {
+      x1: Math.max(0, imgX - half),
+      y1: Math.max(0, imgY - half),
+      x2: Math.min(img.naturalWidth, imgX + half),
+      y2: Math.min(img.naturalHeight, imgY + half),
+    };
+  }
+
   get_selection_box_coordinates() {
     let img = this.image_preview;
     let zoomHeight = img.height;

app/assets/javascripts/Annotations/pdf_annotation_manager.js

@@ -251,6 +251,70 @@
       $page.append($control);
     };
 
+    /**
+     * Returns a fallback 40×40 selection centred at the last right-click position,
+     * for use when no area is currently selected.
+     * Applies the same inverse-rotation correction as getSelection() so that
+     * renderAnnotation()'s forward rotation produces the correct screen position.
+     * @returns {{x1, y1, x2, y2, page}|false}
+     */
+    getFallbackSelection() {
+      // Find which page element was right-clicked.
+      const e = this.last_click_event;
+      let pageEl = null;
+      let pageNumber = 1;
+
+      if (e) {
+        // Walk up from the event target to find the page container.
+        let el = document.elementFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
+        while (el && el !== document.body) {
+          if (el.dataset && el.dataset.pageNumber) {
+            pageEl = el;
+            pageNumber = parseInt(el.dataset.pageNumber, 10);
+            break;
+          }
+          el = el.parentElement;
+        }
+      }
+
+      if (!pageEl) {
+        // Fall back to first visible page.
+        const $firstPage = $(".page[data-page-number]").first();
+        if ($firstPage.length) {
+          pageEl = $firstPage[0];
+          pageNumber = $firstPage.data("page-number");
+        }
+      }
+
+      if (!pageEl) return false;
+
+      const rect = pageEl.getBoundingClientRect();
+      if (rect.width === 0 || rect.height === 0) return false;
+
+      // Click position as percentage of page dimensions, scaled by COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER.
+      const clickX = e ? e.clientX - rect.left : rect.width / 2;
+      const clickY = e ? e.clientY - rect.top : rect.height / 2;
+      const cx = Math.round((clickX / rect.width) * COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER);
+      const cy = Math.round((clickY / rect.height) * COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER);
+
+      // 40px in COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER units relative to page size.
+      const halfX = Math.round((20 / rect.width) * COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER);
+      const halfY = Math.round((20 / rect.height) * COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER);
+
+      // 40x40 box centred at click, clamped to page bounds.
+      const box = {
+        x1: Math.max(0, cx - halfX),
+        y1: Math.max(0, cy - halfY),
+        x2: Math.min(COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER, cx + halfX),
+        y2: Math.min(COORDINATE_MULTIPLIER, cy + halfY),
+      };
+
+      // Apply the same inverse-rotation correction that getSelection() applies,
+      // so renderAnnotation()'s forward rotation produces the correct screen position.
+      const rotated = getRotatedCoords(box, 360 - this.angle);
+      return {...rotated, page: pageNumber};
+    }
+
     /**
      * The following two functions are used to keep track of the orientation of
      * the PDF so we know how to render the annotations.

app/assets/javascripts/Annotations/text_annotation_manager.js

@@ -213,6 +213,27 @@ class TextAnnotationManager extends AnnotationManager {
     };
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns a fallback selection (first character of the first non-empty line)
+   * for use when no text is currently selected.
+   * @returns {{line_start, line_end, column_start, column_end}|false}
+   */
+  getFallbackSelection() {
+    // source_lines[0] is a null dummy; real lines start at index 1.
+    for (let i = 1; i < this.source_lines.length; i++) {
+      const lineContent = this.source_lines[i] ? this.source_lines[i].line_node.textContent : "";
+      if (lineContent.trim().length > 0) {
+        return {
+          line_start: i,
+          line_end: i,
+          column_start: 0,
+          column_end: 1,
+        };
+      }
+    }
+    return false; // empty file or all blank lines
+  }
+
   // Given some node, traverses upwards until it finds the span element that represents a line of code.
   // This is useful for figuring out what text is currently selected, using window.getSelection().anchorNode / focusNode
   getRootFromSelection(node) {

app/javascript/Components/Result/context_menu.js

@@ -136,15 +136,22 @@ export var annotation_context_menu = {
         menu_items.download,
       ],
       beforeOpen: function (event, ui) {
-        // Enable annotation menu items only if a selection has been made
-        var selection_exists = !!window.annotation_manager.getSelection(false);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "check_mark_annotation", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "thumbs_up_annotation", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "heart_annotation", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "smile_annotation", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "new_annotation", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "common_annotations", selection_exists);
-        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "copy", selection_exists);
+        // Store right-click event so annotation managers can use the click position for fallback
+        // selections. Note: on touch/long-press (taphold: true above), clientX/clientY may be
+        // zero on the jQuery synthetic event — this is a pre-existing quirk of the taphold path.
+        if (window.annotation_manager) {
+          window.annotation_manager.last_click_event = event;
+        }
+        // Annotation creation items are always enabled; fallback selection synthesized on use.
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "check_mark_annotation", true);
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "thumbs_up_annotation", true);
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "heart_annotation", true);
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "smile_annotation", true);
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "new_annotation", true);
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "common_annotations", true);
+        // copy requires an actual browser text selection, not an annotation region.
+        var text_selected = !!(window.getSelection && window.getSelection().type === "Range");
+        $(document).contextmenu("enableEntry", "copy", text_selected);
 
         var has_common_annot =
           $(document).contextmenu("getMenu").find(".has_common_annotations").length > 0;

app/javascript/Components/Result/result.jsx

@@ -337,18 +337,31 @@ class Result extends React.Component {
   extend_with_selection_data = annotation_data => {
     let box;
     if (annotation_type === ANNOTATION_TYPES.HTML) {
-      const range = get_html_annotation_range();
-      box = {
-        start_node: pathToNode(range.startContainer),
-        start_offset: range.startOffset,
-        end_node: pathToNode(range.endContainer),
-        end_offset: range.endOffset,
-      };
+      const range = get_html_annotation_range(false); // suppress alert
+      if (range && range.startContainer) {
+        box = {
+          start_node: pathToNode(range.startContainer),
+          start_offset: range.startOffset,
+          end_node: pathToNode(range.endContainer),
+          end_offset: range.endOffset,
+        };
+      } else {
+        box = synthesize_html_fallback_selection();
+      }
     } else {
-      box = window.annotation_manager.getSelection();
+      // annotation_manager is null only for HTML files, which are handled by the branch
+      // above. This guard is unreachable in production but kept as a defensive safety net.
+      if (!window.annotation_manager) return;
+      box = window.annotation_manager.getSelection(false);
+      if (!box) {
+        box = window.annotation_manager.getFallbackSelection();
+      }
     }
     if (box) {
       return Object.assign(annotation_data, box);
+    } else {
+      alert(I18n.t("results.annotation.cannot_annotate_empty"));
+      return undefined;
     }
   };
 
@@ -1091,3 +1104,48 @@ export function makeResult(elem, props) {
   root.render(<Result {...props} ref={component} />);
   return component;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Synthesize a fallback HTML annotation selection for when no text is currently selected
+ * in the HTML iframe. Finds the first text node in the iframe body and creates a
+ * single-character range at offset 0.
+ *
+ * Must live in result.jsx (not html_annotations.js) because it uses pathToNode,
+ * which is an ES module export and is not available in the legacy IIFE scripts.
+ *
+ * @returns {{start_node, start_offset, end_node, end_offset}|null}
+ */
+export function synthesize_html_fallback_selection() {
+  const iframe = document.getElementById("html-content");
+  if (!iframe) return null;
+  const target = iframe.contentDocument;
+  if (!target || !target.body) return null;
+
+  function findFirstTextNode(node) {
+    if (node.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE && node.nodeValue.trim().length > 0) {
+      return node;
+    }
+    for (const child of node.childNodes) {
+      const found = findFirstTextNode(child);
+      if (found) return found;
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const textNode = findFirstTextNode(target.body);
+  if (!textNode) return null;
+
+  const range = target.createRange();
+  range.setStart(textNode, 0);
+  range.setEnd(textNode, 1);
+
+  if (typeof check_annotation_overlap === "function" && check_annotation_overlap(range))
+    return null;
+
+  return {
+    start_node: pathToNode(textNode),
+    start_offset: 0,
+    end_node: pathToNode(textNode),
+    end_offset: 1,
+  };
+}