Class Reference in old style...

Archives Feature Requests
1

Hello,

I would like to request an alternative layout for the class reference. Some time ago (i guess it was somewhat around the 1.1 release) the layout of the class reference has been changed. The old layout displayed all classes on the left side, sorted by there lexicographical order while the new layout now groups them by packages.

I personally prefer the old layout over the new one in terms of usability, since i cannot remember which class is located in which package. Now if I need the reference to a specific class I change the URL in my Browser.

The AJAX searching turned out useless because it sometimes does not correctly recognize what I’ve entered or it is overwritten by the suggestions or simply takes to long to response to my input.

I used to press Strg + F, typed some characters which identified the class ("CWebA" for example) and clicked the highlighted link. This is now only possible on the homepage of the class reference which lists every class in a table.

I would be very pleased an option to expand all packages by default or even better to see the old layout.

Feel free to throw in further suggestions.

2

From what I can see, all the classes are spelled out on the api front page. Not in the tree, but on the page itself.

Which means that you can use your browsers page search.

Unless I misunderstood you?

3

@jacmoe: Yeah, but thats a time consuming process - As well as expanding a package on the left to click a specific class within it. Thats why i prefer the old style: It has a higher usability.

4

We changed the display style because most of users requested the way it is now…

And to find the class you need… you can just use the autocomplete search on top of all api pages…

5

I am not sure if you can do that with the tree you’re using, but with a bit of jQuery it’s probably possible to collapse the tree into a sorted list?

That would be very unobtrusive and catering for everyone’s needs.

6

I also do not request to remove the current layout but to give the users the choice between the old and the new style.

// Edit:

Dont get me wrong, the Autocomplete Search works pretty well when searching for a method name or property - But not quite fast enough for me to simply open a specific class reference.

7

Problem is on how to add the “switch” for the order so that it’s intuitive as there is already version chooser and the search class reference…

if you have some good solution for this let me know (PM)

One advanced “hack”… that I use constantly as sometime is the fastest for me ;)

if you know the class you need you can just type the browser the URL…

the class does not need to be in proper case… for example for the CGridView you can type


yiiframework.com/doc/api/cgridview
8

Yeah, how I stated in my startpost this is what I am doing currently. But as you say - you use this constantly because its faster for you (as well as i do).

But I did not used this "hack" with the old layout because Strg+F -> "SearchTerm" turned out the be faster than Strg+L -> End -> Strg+Backspace -> "CompleteClassName".

And to be honest i never used the "Search class reference".

However i will think about a good solution and will write you a PM if i come up with one. Thanks.

9

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that the tree is slower…

While I code I don’t have the yiisite open… so when I need the doc… it’s faster for me to type the complete URL than to go to the first page and then search for the class… once I’m on the site… I use the autocomplete search…

10

Ah I see. That differs from my coding environment. I’ve setup a quicksearch for yii so that i can type “yii CWebApplication” to get to http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/CWebApplication . But once there i want to use Strg+F to navigate even faster through the reference.

Sometimes (especially when writing new components/widgets/modules or whatever) I even open the class reference on a deticated monitor to switch seamlessly between my editor and the reference.