Separate link handlers and expand selection

Add a mousedown handler to intercept link hits early (preventDefault/stopPropagation) and move cursor-placement logic to click only when the selection is empty, avoiding interference with drag-selection and focus behavior. Introduce expandSelectionOverHiddenSyntax which uses the syntax tree to grow non-empty selection ranges to include hidden link/wiki markers before deferred decoration rebuilds, and wire it into the queued rebuild flow. Also add an early-return in note-editor click handling when a selection exists. These changes fix cursor placement and selection mapping issues around collapsed link syntax.

Author: ChristianChiarulli

app/src/features/editor/extensions/markdown-decorations/builders/links.ts

@@ -655,10 +655,29 @@ async function openWikiLink(
 export function linkInteractions(noteId: string | null): Extension {
   return EditorView.domEventHandlers({
     mousedown(event, view) {
+      if (!shouldOpenLink(event)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
+      const hit = getLinkHitFromEvent(view, event);
+      if (!hit) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
+      event.preventDefault();
+      event.stopPropagation();
+      return true;
+    },
+    click(event, view) {
       // When clicking to the right of a collapsed link, CM would place
-      // the cursor before the hidden closing syntax. Intercept and place it
-      // after the full link token instead.
-      if (event.button === 0 && !event.shiftKey) {
+      // the cursor before the hidden closing syntax. Correct it to after
+      // the full link token. Handled on click (not mousedown) so that
+      // drag-select starting at a link boundary still works.
+      if (
+        event.button === 0 &&
+        !event.shiftKey &&
+        view.state.selection.main.empty
+      ) {
         const contentRect = view.contentDOM.getBoundingClientRect();
         if (
           event.clientX >= contentRect.left &&
@@ -671,32 +690,16 @@ export function linkInteractions(noteId: string | null): Extension {
           if (pos != null) {
             const linkEnd = getLinkEndAtCursor(view.state, pos);
             if (linkEnd != null) {
-              event.preventDefault();
               view.dispatch({
                 selection: EditorSelection.cursor(linkEnd),
                 scrollIntoView: false,
               });
-              view.focus();
               return true;
             }
           }
         }
       }
 
-      if (!shouldOpenLink(event)) {
-        return false;
-      }
-
-      const hit = getLinkHitFromEvent(view, event);
-      if (!hit) {
-        return false;
-      }
-
-      event.preventDefault();
-      event.stopPropagation();
-      return true;
-    },
-    click(event, view) {
       if (!shouldOpenLink(event) || !view.state.selection.main.empty) {
         return false;
       }

app/src/features/editor/extensions/markdown-decorations/plugin.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import { RangeSetBuilder } from "@codemirror/state";
+import { EditorSelection, RangeSetBuilder } from "@codemirror/state";
 import { syntaxTree } from "@codemirror/language";
+import type { SyntaxNode } from "@lezer/common";
 import {
   type DecorationSet,
   Decoration,
@@ -212,14 +213,91 @@ function buildDecorations(
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * After a mouse-drag with frozen decorations, the selection was mapped
+ * using the collapsed layout. Hidden syntax (the `[` of `[text](url)`,
+ * `[[`/`]]` of wikilinks) had zero visual width so the selection
+ * boundary landed just inside the visible content. Expand each range
+ * to include the hidden syntax at its edges before the deferred
+ * decoration rebuild reveals them.
+ */
+function expandSelectionOverHiddenSyntax(
+  view: EditorView,
+): EditorSelection | null {
+  const { state } = view;
+  const tree = syntaxTree(state);
+  let changed = false;
+
+  const ranges = state.selection.ranges.map((range) => {
+    if (range.empty) return range;
+
+    let { from, to } = range;
+
+    // Expand 'from' to include hidden opening syntax
+    for (
+      let n: SyntaxNode | null = tree.resolveInner(from, 1);
+      n;
+      n = n.parent
+    ) {
+      if (n.name === "Link") {
+        const marks = n.getChildren("LinkMark");
+        if (marks.length >= 2 && from > n.from && from <= marks[0].to) {
+          from = n.from;
+          changed = true;
+        }
+        break;
+      }
+      if (n.name === "WikiLink" && from > n.from && from <= n.from + 2) {
+        from = n.from;
+        changed = true;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Expand 'to' to include hidden closing syntax
+    for (
+      let n: SyntaxNode | null = tree.resolveInner(to, -1);
+      n;
+      n = n.parent
+    ) {
+      if (n.name === "Link") {
+        const marks = n.getChildren("LinkMark");
+        if (marks.length >= 2 && to < n.to && to >= marks[1].from) {
+          to = n.to;
+          changed = true;
+        }
+        break;
+      }
+      if (n.name === "WikiLink" && to < n.to && to >= n.to - 2) {
+        to = n.to;
+        changed = true;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (from !== range.from || to !== range.to) {
+      return range.anchor <= range.head
+        ? EditorSelection.range(from, to)
+        : EditorSelection.range(to, from);
+    }
+
+    return range;
+  });
+
+  return changed
+    ? EditorSelection.create(ranges, state.selection.mainIndex)
+    : null;
+}
+
 function queueDeferredSelectionRebuild(
   view: EditorView,
   pluginState: { pendingSelectionRebuild: boolean },
 ) {
   setTimeout(() => {
     requestAnimationFrame(() => {
       if (pluginState.pendingSelectionRebuild) {
-        view.dispatch({});
+        const adjusted = expandSelectionOverHiddenSyntax(view);
+        view.dispatch(adjusted ? { selection: adjusted } : {});
       }
     });
   }, 0);

app/src/features/editor/note-editor.tsx

@@ -481,6 +481,10 @@ export const NoteEditor = forwardRef<NoteEditorHandle, NoteEditorProps>(
               return false;
             },
             click(event, view) {
+              if (!view.state.selection.main.empty) {
+                return false;
+              }
+
               const lineStart = getLeadingPaddingClickLineStart(view, event);
               if (lineStart == null) {
                 return false;