Note (Comment-Area)

A Note (comment-area in the radial menu, ) is Xenocept’s primary feedback unit. It’s a rectangular focus region with a written description anchored to one of its sides.

(The frontend calls this a comment in code and stores it under comments[] in session.json. The radial menu labels it “Note”. This page uses “Note” to match the user-facing term.)

What a Note Carries

In the submitted session.json, each Note is one entry in the top-level comments array:

{
  "index": 0,
  "text": "the dropdown is cut off",
  "side": "top", // top | bottom | left | right
  "focus_x": 240,
  "focus_y": 180,
  "focus_width": 320,
  "focus_height": 180,
  "focus_image": "focus-0.png"
}

The focus_image field references a per-comment PNG that the backend stores alongside session.json — at /sessions/{session-id}/focus-0.png, focus-1.png, and so on.

The frontend renders the focus crop with annotations baked in and uploads that single PNG. There is no separate “original capture” vs “annotated capture” pair per Note.

Making a Note

1. With the Note tool selected, click-drag a rectangle around the region you care about. That rectangle is the focus area.
2. Release. The overlay enters a side-pick phase.
3. Click on one of the four sides of the focus area (top / bottom / left / right) — that’s where the description textarea will sit.
4. Type your description.
5. Press Esc to commit the text or click the Confirm button hovering near the textarea. Enter inserts a newline; it does not commit.

The Note becomes a canvas object you can later select, move, edit, or delete with the Pointer tool.

Pixel Capture Timing

The focus crop is not captured at the moment you release the focus rectangle. It is captured at Submit time. Submit walks the Notes, renders each focus crop with its annotations baked in, and uploads the result.

The practical consequence: if you change the canvas background (e.g. take a fresh screenshot via a different flow before Submit), what gets saved into focus-{i}.png reflects the current background plus the Note’s annotations — not the background that was visible when you drew the focus rectangle.

In the normal flow this rarely matters (one capture per session, no background swaps), but it’s worth knowing if you’re poking at the system.

Editing a Note

While the overlay is open, double-clicking a Note’s focus rectangle re-opens its textarea for editing. You can also drag the focus rectangle to move it or use the Pointer tool to select and delete it.

After Submit, the session is written and immutable. The submitted Note doesn’t change unless you explicitly open the session again in edit-mode (via the Sessions list UI), which creates a new session on next Submit.