Searching library

03 May 2011

When searching for "stepper" on the site, it comes up with the following option:

Quote:

Narrow down your search to: Wiki pages, Programs, Libraries, Forum posts, Notebook pages, Blog posts or Users

When I click Libraries it I get taken to

http://mbed.org/search/?q=stepper&type=Library

and the results don't show all the Libraries with "stepper" in the title

Should it be http://mbed.org/search/?q=stepper&type=Code instead?

03 May 2011

Also, shouldn't the most recent libraries show up first? Or just the most recent version of each library?

Eg the first library when I search for "stepper" under Code is the second item -

http://mbed.org/users/okano/libraries/StepperMotor/lienwx

whereas the most recent version is the third item -

http://mbed.org/users/okano/libraries/StepperMotor/liifl7

05 May 2011

Thanks,

Youre right - it should only really show most recent versions of libraries. Will fix this.

05 Jun 2011

Could search items be categorised by their type?

At the moment searching the whole site yields forum results, cookbook, programs, notebooks, all jumbled up in a 19 page list.

http://mbed.org/search/?q=servo

I'd like to see:

Quote:

Cookbook entries (3):

  • Servo PWM
  • Servo
  • AX12 Servo

Libraries (5):

  • ServoLib
  • Servo (latest revision only)
  • ...

Programs (25):

  • ServoTest
  • ServoRanger
  • HelloServoWorld
  • (more)

Forum topics (3):

  • How do I use this servo?
  • Servo issue
  • Bug report servos

I think this would make it much easier to find what users are looking for

05 Jun 2011

Hi Alex,

Presumably you have noticed that search page does something similar in that it allows you to narrow your search to one of the above types?

For example: a search for 'library' returns:

1878 results found for "library"

Narrow down your search to: Wiki pages, Programs, Libraries, Forum posts, Notebook pages, Blog posts or Users

Dan

28 Jun 2011

It has been a while since I created a new program but I needed to do a couple yesterday. I got some example code and pasted that in as main.cpp. Then I hit Import and tried to select a library. None of the networking libraries were listed. Eventually I realised there was another way and went via the documentation pages for the libraries I wanted (in this case NetServices) and imported them from there. This seems counter-intuitive. If you know the name of the library you want it would be best to be able to select it from the list of libraries.

Secondly, most code examples reference lower-level libs such as EthernetIf. It would be useful to provide some way to remind people which library to use for this, especially where there are multiple options, some more current than others. Not sure how you could best achieve this but my point is that a lot of time could be saved for new or occasional users.

Paul

28 Jun 2011

Hi Paul,

If you'd like to try the Beta compiler (link at top of page), you should hopefully find the import dialog much improved.

Dan

28 Jun 2011

Thx Dan,

Yes, the beta compiler solves the first point. The second is a documentation issue mainly relating to new and occasional users. I suppose it could be handled by search or by doc within cookbook examples. (Just checked and searching for EthernetNetIf does not yield the needed result.)

Paul

28 Jun 2011

Paul,

As for the second point, a partial solution is in place - If a program which uses libraries is published, it will show exactly which libs have been used on the program page. Also when the program is imported, those libraries will be imported too. Unfortunately of course that can't work for random code snippets.

The general best practice when creating documentation which refers to some code, always publish a program and use a link to that program as part of the documentation, where possible.

Finally if you see something frustrating or unclear on the cookbook, remember that it is of course a community resource - feel free to improve or change it!

Thanks,

Dan