How can I search for Delphi documentation? [closed]

Question

It can be hard to find Delphi documentation using web search. Often the documentation is buried far from the top of the list of hits. For instance a Google search for delphi setlength yields this result:

The first hit that points to the official Embarcadero documentation is in 8th place, the bottom of the list as shown above. But it's a link to the documentation for Delphi 2009. Ideally I would like to find documentation for the latest version.

Edelstein

Answer 1

You can navigate to the front page of the Embarcadero documentation and search from there. The link is: http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/Main_Page

Note that no version is included in the link. If you navigate to that link then the site will re-direct you to a version specific URL for the latest release. In this case, as I write this today, you would be re-directed to: http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE5/en/Main_Page

If you wish to search documentation for a specific version, then you can supply that version in the URL.

You can type the search term into the search box at the top-left of the page, as shown in this screen capture:

However, the results are disappointing. Here they are:

Gah! Where's the documentation for the SetLength function?

Better results are obtained if you use the Libraries section of the documentation as your portal. That is found here: http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/en/Main_Page

Navigate there are search for SetLength and the results are:

And this is exactly what we are looking for.

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Sometimes I still start with a web search because in my experience a good web search engine can produce more relevant results. So, using Google as an example, you might try these search terms:

• site:docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/XE5 SetLength
• site:docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries SetLength
• site:docwiki.embarcadero.com SetLength

As a short cut you can usually get away with typing your search term and adding docwiki and delphi. That's usually enough to persuade the search engine to only return Embarcadero hits. So you might search for: docwiki delphi SetLength and get this result:

One final point. If you find yourself writing an answer here on Stack Overflow, and want to link to the documentation, you can also use the trick of removing the version from the URL. Such a URL gets re-directed to the latest version. So, continuing with SetLength, you might replace:

http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/XE5/en/System.SetLength

with

http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/en/System.SetLength

Using this approach could make your answer more future-proof.

Edelstein

actually, just adding "docwiki" to google search terms usually is enough. Unless the term is very general, when Cisco pops up with its wiki instead. Then full form "site:docwiki" works better ;) – Orlando

@Arioch'The Ah, it looks like I am not alone! ;-) – Edelstein

David, how can you ever be alone on StackOverflow??? :-D – Orlando

EMBT site search worked fine until someone broke it few months ago. – Atkinson

I usually find just adding "XE5" (or 4, etc) is enough to show relevant results, and will show the entry in the XE5 version of the documentation. – Keratogenous

It's actually somewhat amusing to me that the internet has made our first instinct to massage Google or some other search engine in a bid to find the information we're after. I pretty much search exactly in the same way you've described above myself. Ironically, all of this information is directly and painfully conveniently available in Delphi itself under the Help -> Delphi Help menu. – Bullwhip

@Bullwhip There is no menu item of that name in my Delphi ..... – Edelstein

@DavidHeffernan For the first time ever, I don't believe you. – Bullwhip

@Bullwhip My Delphi RAD Studio XE3 doesn't have that item – Edelstein

@DavidHeffernan At least we can fall back on the methods described above... docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE3/en/Help_Menu – Bullwhip

@Bullwhip Apparently I am blind!!! – Edelstein

@DavidHeffernan Of how our Google instincts have produced a mental block in the area previously occupied by the Help menu. I don't know about you, but for myself it used to be the first point of call in the days of dial-up, sneaker-net, and before. Now I barely even consider whether a local documentation or help system exists and, generally, completely forget that it's even there. – Bullwhip

@Bullwhip My experience is that it is slow to start and often lands in the wrong place. I guess it is better lately but around D2010 it was dire. So we all learned to stop using it. I tend to use web a lot because I am forever writing answers here that need doc links so I'm not the average user. – Edelstein

@DavidHeffernan I still use D2010 for some projects and it's not so bad, really. I likewise never use the help system and prefer an online search, but in at least the example of your opening post a naive search for SetLength returns much better results than the same in Google. I take your post to be breadcrumbs for readers who may not know how to effectively google search for answers to general questions - for said users, I think the built-in help system can probably be a useful point-of-entry to the same. Certainly, I remember making extensive use of it when I was first learning Delphi. – Bullwhip

@Bullwhip D2010 was fine. The local help sucked. Yes, this post is something I can refer to in the future – Edelstein