Ruby on Rails dictionary for Mac OS X Feb 06

Priit Haamer · Comments: 46

There are several great Ruby and Ruby on Rails API documentation browsing sites available on the web. But if you try to find that third argument for a method whose name you have forgotten from web it can really slow you down. So i finally took some time to generate Mac OS X dictionary out of Rails API docs which is ultra-fast and doesn't get in the way while you're coding.

With Rails API documentation inside Mac OS X dictionary you have system wide access to it. So, in addition to Dictionary.app it is also possible find definition through "Look up in Dictionary" context menu shortcut (works in Safari, Mail.app and any other application that supports it) or from a Dashboard widget for Dictionary.

Rails documentation in your spotlight!

Ruby on Rails documentation in spotlight

One of the coolest things is to have access to documentation through Spotlight. While coding, just hit ⌘ + Space and start typing the name of the function or class name that you're looking for.

Since Spotlight supports finding definitions only from one dictionary at once, you have to move Rails documentation dictionary as the first one in Dictionary.app preferences.

Notice that dictionary search for Spotlight was introduced in Mac OS X Leopard.

What about Ruby documentation?

Don't worry, i'm already working on it. Probably there will be also a combo-dictionary to contain both Ruby and Ruby on Rails documentation together because of the limitations in Spotlight.

If you're impatient and want to speed up the process, you can consider to donate a buck or two :)

Download

Download Ruby on Rails.dictionary.zip file (1.5MB, works only with 10.5 Leopard) and proceed to installation instructions. Windows and Linux versions are available here.

Installation instructions

Unzip downloaded file into ~/Library/Dictionaries folder if you want to keep this dictionary only for yourself. You may need to create this folder if you haven't installed any dictionaries before.

To make it available for all users, drop the Ruby on Rails.Dictionary folder into /Library/Dictionaries folder.

To make the searching with Spotlight work, open Dictionary.app preferences pane and drag "Ruby on Rails" from the dictionaries list from bottom to the top because only the first one in this list will be searched from Spotlight.

Donate!

I'm confident that using API documentation this way will save you a lot of time but generating and maintaining it will take a lot of mine. If you feel like donating, you can do this right here. If not, i could not be happier when you find it useful.

Feedback

Please post your feedback in the comments or contact me via e-mail or Skype.

Comments: 46

Harry

I tried installing it on 10.4, no luck. Any tips?

Priit Haamer

Oops, i forgot to mention that this is a Leopard-only. Sorry.

Harry

Awh. It's probably about time I get that upgrade anyways. It looks awesome, anyways!

Jordi Bunster

Damn, we gotta find a way to convert all installed RI documents into this.

Peter Cooper

What version of Rails is this for?

Terry Schmidt

This is probably the most exciting thing that I have come across all week. Thank you for this and the Ruby dictionary as well. This is just awesome. Great work!

Anil Wadghule

Thanks Priit!

Priit Haamer

Peter, it is generated from Rails 2.2 documentation.

Jeremy Larkin

This is fantastic, thanks Priit! But I've noticed some entries that get matched, but have not content. For example "link_to" or "form_for". These get found, but the pages for them appear blank. Is that because of something I am missing or did wrong?

Jeremy Larkin

To clarify a little more when I search for "link_to" or "form_for" in Spotlight, they don't come up. They only show up when searching in Dictionary.

Morgan Roderick

I am seeing the same behaviour as Jeremy.

Priit Haamer

Yes, there are some blank pages in dictionary. It is caused by invalid html in generated documentation, which Dictionary.app doesn't seem to like a bit. I'll fix these issues soon and post an update in next couple of days.

Amy

This sounds really useful. Though, there might be more problems afoot than blank pages. Typing in ActionController brings up: ActionController FIXME: helper { ... } is broken on Ruby 1.9

Priit Haamer

I've updated Rails dictionary -- most of the blank pages should be gone by now. Use the download link above.

Rein Henrichs

Tere! Excellent work, fellow Estonian!

François

Thanks, Priit. This is great!

Sahand

this is very useful. thank you.

Matteo

When you copy the folder I had to pay attention to the name of the top directory. If you write "Ruby on Rails.Dictionary" it won't work. Dictionary has to be downcase. "Ruby on Rails.dictionary" Thanks for the excellent work :-)

Alex Gregianin

Excellent implementation!

Ryan Davis

Priit... I've finished a version that does core + all installed gems and I've jumped through a lot of hoops to get valid data (no blank pages, etc)... I'll work with Eric to get it integrated into rdoc and released soon. thanks for your help!

ROR developer

ROR web development

Vetal4eg

Nice! It's a very productivity.

John Munsch

This is a really good idea. Thank you. I look forward to seeing other ways you hook it into the system and for the Ruby-Rails combo dictionary.

Joachim

Brilliant idea ! Works like a charm. Thank you so much.

Andrew Skegg

Fantastic idea!

Alexander Greim

This helps a lot. Thank you!!!

Raimond Garcia

Awesome, really fast searches, thanks!

Julian Schrader

This is brilliant—thanks a lot!

Chris Tingley

Fantastic! I hope you are able to release information on converting any RDoc into OS X Dictionary format - this would be excellent for our developers!

Chad Bearden

Thanks a donation is on its way! Very handy. I love spotlight.

Daddy Cooking

I don't have a Dictionary preference pane. What am I missing? I have loaded the folder into the /Library/Dictionaries.

Alberto Ngai

Thanks a lot! I hope you release an Ruby version anytime soon!

maya

how did you do this? I would like to convert the PHP manual as wel.

Priit Haamer

Maya, check out the dictionary services programming guide from Apple (http://shrt.st/3ht). And ping me when you're done with PHP manual. That would be great.

ste

very nice. thanks a lot. what about a task to keep the doc up to date?

Peter Hickman

What tools did you use? This would be nice for the Ruby standard library too.

James J

Awesome job - thank you

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Ruby on Rails dictionary for Mac OS X Feb 06

Rails documentation in your spotlight!

What about Ruby documentation?

Download

Installation instructions

Donate!

Feedback

Comments: 46

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