Webtools/DXR User Research
Questions Asked
- Which of the following two interfaces do you currently prefer and why? http://dxr.mozilla.org/ or http://dxr.allizom.org/*
"A mix... allizom is better in that there's no jarring shift-to-the-right as the menu goes in. It has the various boxes so I don't have to remember syntax (but see above on merging identifiers). It loads _slightly_ faster (I tried ""Jump to definition"" for NS_DECL_ISUPPORTS from both, via the definition of nsRunnable.)
mozilla is better in that it can show macro expansions without going to a new page. This is mitigated though if I can quickly middle-click the link. Also, it does get points for actually letting me middle click... allizom just gets confused, because it wants me to left-click to bring up the menu, then middle-click the link instead. (Letting left-click cancel the link navigation and pop the menu would be better)."
Neither is a clear winner; DMO has clearer styling for the results and a menu that follows the view, DAO has find-as-you-type and nicer clickable identifiers.
- When using either of the services what is your main end goal?*
"I use dxr to generate the sqlite database. Then I pull in comments an link them to the sqlite database.
I then use custom templates to do the following generate python ctype wrappers for basic c++ generate sections of my user manual. generate a sqlite database capable of storing c++ objects. generate code to put ctype objects into the sqlite c++ object database. "
Most of the time, find what's available on an interface (yes, that means *.idl, not *.h/*.cpp/*.mm/whatever, since I deal a lot with scripting languages). Typically I know what interface I'm looking for (e.g. "nsIWindowMediator") and just need to look up the method names and such.
Exploring code that I don't know well; finding all uses of code that I am modifying.