Dash docset?

[stam]

Hi all and Merry Christmas!

I've had grumbling issues with the built in documentation browser and the web browser version isn't quite the same (for example i've not been able to search 'data grid' with the web version).
My issues in particular are the the built in documentation browser is sluggishness when there is a lot of documentation on a handler/subject, i always want to hit 'enter' after entering text in the search field but this just resets the search and there is no way to keep bookmarks, annotations etc. I did come across some user attempts to create sqlite based LC apps to replace this, but they really didn't work well.

I recently stumbled upon a Dash docset for LCS/LCB documentation (maintained by James Hale on Github). This docset is is being kept relatively up-to-date, last complied from L C 9.5.1 RC1, so it's not the latest version.

The benefit of Dash is that it's super quick, bookmarks/annotates, etc. Of course Dash is a paid application (i get it with a Setapp subscription, well worth the price of admission). It's mac-only but there are Dash-like apps for all platforms (eg. Velocity on Windows 10, which can apparently use Dash docsets)

Does anyone else use Dash (or Velocity) for browsing/searching documentation?

Should the mothership be maintaining an official Dash docset?
It would be nice to have an officially endorsed and maintained version of this...

[stam]

Just an addendum - James has created a nifty utility called Make Docset which in does what it says on the tin... takes a couple of minutes to create an up-to-date dash/velocity compatible documentation docset.
Still, would be nice if LiveCode would make it an official rather than user-contributed docset...

[FourthWorld]

LC Ltd maintains the docs in markdown for GitHub compatibility.

If GitHub has an option to author natively in DASH perhaps that could change.

In the meantime, the utility to automate conversion to DASH seems a good solution.

[jameshale]

The DASH docset maker needs updating I think. It seems to have lost the script colorisation (again!)
A bit of a mystery as it seems to break with each new release of LC. [Reminds me of the mysteries of SCSI.]
Anyway I will get on to it soon and then update the docset on the DASH site.
I agree that DASH is really quite good. I also posted a docset reader for someone to hack/modify to run on Android. I don’t have a suitable device nor the experience in compiling for mobile.
I zoned in on DASH because it has a free iPad app and I spend a lot of time on my iPad, especially reading mail etc, so having the documentation on the iPad it a real treat.
Of course if the online docs drew their content from the github repository this would all be moot.

[jacque]

I tried to adapt it for Android but didn't get very far. We work the same way, I read and answer a lot of mail on my Android tablet and would love to have a LC reference there. If you have it working on iOS I suspect it would also work on Android, so if you want a tester let me know.

Edit : The Android app seems to have disappeared so there's no easy way to use the files. I'm sad.

[jameshale]

For those interested in converting this to an android app the Docset Reader stack can be obtained...
http://livecodeshare.runrev.com/stack/913/Docset-Reader