Chapter 24. Full-text Search in Documentation

The installer of MeVisLab is shipped with index files of all available HTML pages, so that users can perform a full-text search in the documentation.

Index files for user-editable packages can be generated with the module IndexUserPackagesHTMLFiles. These files can be regenerated with that module as often as necessary, for example, after each update of the user's documentation.

Selecting Full-text Search In Documentation... or pressing CTRL+SHIFT+F opens a panel that provides a full-text search in MeVisLab's documentation and module help pages.

Figure 24.1. Full-text Search in Documentation Window

Query

The full-text search supports boolean and compound search queries. If single words separated by SPACE are given, the search concatenates the words implicitly with AND. If multiple words are given enclosed in quotes, the search will look for the exact phrase. Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used, as well as brackets.

Compound and boolean operators can be mixed:

"region growing" AND value
compute AND NOT (time OR space)

Scope

The search scope can be limited by selecting a suitable scope. By default, the following scopes are available:

All: All HTML documentation of all packages is searched
MDL: The MDL reference is searched
Module Help: The module help pages of all packages are searched
Python: The Python scripting reference is searched
C++ Toolbox: The MeVisLab C++ toolbox reference is searched

Custom Scope

Custom documentation can also define its own scope by adding

    [html]
    searchInDocumentationScope = <scope string>

to the documentation's .mldoc file. If any of the default scope strings mdl, python, or toolbox is used, the corresponding scope is applied.

	Note
	A custom module's help HTML file is automatically assigned to the Module Help scope.

	Tip
	If searching for a document in a user package is not correctly limited by its scope, reindex the documentation of that user package using the module `IndexUserPackagesHTMLFiles`.

Options

Clicking the cog icon opens a modal dialog where the suggestions feature and the maximum number of results can be adjusted.

The settings are saved per user when changed.

Figure 24.2. Full-text Search Settings

Enable suggestions: On typing a minimum number of characters, a list of suggestions is shown.
Min. length query to start suggestions: Sets the minimum number of characters that must be typed in before the search suggests a query.
Max. number of results: Sets the maximum number of displayed search results.

	Tip
	When using a compound phrase, it is recommended to turn off suggestions.

Results

If the query term is found, a number of results are displayed. Each result includes a score, a package group, a package, and a title. Click on any header to sort the list of results by that criterion.

Hovering over a result displays a tooltip with context.

Double-clicking a result opens a simple HTML browser with the corresponding HTML page. The search term is highlighted where possible on that page, and all previously folded sections are expanded.

Figure 24.3. Full-text Search Results Browser


Chapter 23. Search in Documentation		Chapter 25. Snippets List