CODEWITHSUNDEEP
laravellaravel-4
Dariux
Dariux

Reputation: 4233

laravel 4 api documentation - how to quickly find functions?

I am having trouble in using documentation. Lets say I want to see the source of function

DB::transaction();

I go to http://laravel.com/api/index.html

and enter in the search form 'transaction'

Nothing is found.

I then try to go on the left to Namespaces/Database which makes sense.

And later I have no idea where to go. There is some namespaces, some classes, some interfaces. Later found out that this is in the connection class, which at first I did not even look at. Connection associates to connecting to the database, not making transaction.

And there often happens when I don't know how to quickly find things.

How do you deal with that?

I assume the documentation should be one of best developers friends, but I guess I found this function by using sublime massive search in all files.

Btw also - I lowed the Codeigniter documentation, so thats why also I am disapointed. In codeigniter everythign looked so simple and search worked very well. Typing same word 'transaction' finds like charm.

Ok, tried same way as CI does to serch:

transaction site:http://laravel.com/api/

then it finds. If there is no other way, maybe I should bookmark the search link and just change the keyword or something like that.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 923

Answers (2)

bgallagh3r
bgallagh3r

Reputation: 6086

This is why I strongly suggest using CTAGS! I use sublime text 2 with the CTAGS plugin. I just press CTRL+SHIFT+Click on the class method and it will bring up a list of classes that have that method, or if only one exists, take me directly to the file and method. It beats searching the API/docs in terms of speed. There is even a Sublime text 2 plugin for Laravel Facades !

https://github.com/stidges/Laravel-Facades-for-ST

Upvotes: 3

fideloper
fideloper

Reputation: 12293

CodeIgniter was definitely simpler, to the point that any larger project suffered greatly under the weight of (forcibly) badly misplaced code. Laravel raises the bar there a little bit, but it's to your benefit as a developer (I promise :D ).

Firstly, kudos for searching through the code. Many people do not. You learn a LOT by looking in there.

Laravel Code

For Laravel, you'll do best by knowing about Namespaces, and how they relate to autoloading files (Namespaces will relate to directories, essentially). You likely know this, but it relates to how you can find classes and their methods.

Now, this doesn't go towards knowing where anything is - that comes with some digging into the code yourself. I almost always have Github open to the laravel/framework repository to look at code.

Note: That API search looks for files, rather than methods within them (unfortunately).

Github

As mentioned, I use Github mercilessly for searching code, instead of the API documentation. The search in Github is quite good - it will search within the current repository.

For example, I searched "function transaction" in github and got good results.

It led me to see here that it accepts a closure, and surrounds the code run within the closure around a transaction. You can see that throwing any exception within that closure will get caught and cancel the transaction (and gives you a way to control it).

Facades

As @matit pointed out, Facades do in fact hide where code is. That's a tricky part. In general, you can call the getFacadeRoot() method on any facade to figure out what class it is:

// Figure out what underlying class the Auth facade actually is
echo get_class( Auth::getFacadeRoot() );

Eventually you'll discover patterns in the code. Most facades point towards certain types of classes within each package (For instance, a Manager class who's job it is to decide which underlying implementation is used).

I really suggest reading Taylor's book which goes into the general architecture of Laravel. It's a quick read which is highly worth it.

Where CodeIgniter excelled in simplicity, Laravel excels in teaching you better coding concepts. Give it some time :D (Or use CodeIgniter still, that's cool too - whatever gets your work done!)

Upvotes: 3

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