[PHP-DOC] Idea: quickref.swf

[Gabor Hojtsy]

Hi!

I have this idea for quite a long time now, but have not had the time to 
actually propose it :) So read on...

Today if you would like to use the quickref functionality, you either 
use the URL shortcuts or use the form on the site. If you use the form 
on the site, you get to the search page, which looks for files named 
with a similar pattern to what you searched for (prefixing your input 
with common prefixes). You need to wait for the request to end, and if 
you mistyped something, you need to start over again (or click on one of 
the closest matches found, if any).

What if we would provide the quickref as a flash file available on all 
pages (at the top above the menu or just on manual pages at the top of 
the sidebar)? This flash file would have an internal list of functions 
(or better a list of those pages you can look up with the quickref 
search). Typing in would display a list of the closest matches as you 
type, so in case you make a typo, you can correct it right away. Once 
you found the function you are looking for you can get to its manual 
page with a press of the enter or a click.

This saves our servers at least one search request (though the quickrefs 
now run through some redirection, so cause more requests), and would be 
more convinient for those having the plugin installed. I would assume 
that the SWF will be cached on the user's machine.

The only trick is that the function list should be embeded in the SWF 
somehow, as if it would download a list_of_functions.txt or whatever 
from our server, then we would not gain anything. But that needs to be 
modifiable from time to time, so we need to generate the data part of 
the source of the SWF somehow, and compile it with PHP :)

If this seems to be a good proposal, and is implementable, then I have 
an idea to further enhance it in the future. We can put in the proto of 
the functions (for which many developers look for many times), so we can 
display the proto without any further request. This would ease the life 
of our users.

I have no time to allocate for this stuff, and I lack the know-how of 
SWF generation in PHP, so I would like to only propose the idea, in case 
someone have time to pick it up, and it seems to be acceptable for the 
PHP site.

Goba