What is the fastest way to get the information I need from MSDN?

Question

In PHP, if I need information about a function, I can simply type http://php.net/function-name . If the function does not exist, it searches for all functions. The documentation for each function usually has a length of 1 page and contains all the necessary information (parameters, return types, code example, comments, special cases).

When I look for something on MSDN, it usually takes 2-3 clicks before I can even get to what I was looking for.

Since I spend a lot of time extracting very simple information from MSDN, is there a website or service that condenses this information for faster access?

For example, for Java there is http://javadocs.org/ , which makes it easier to find documentation ( http://javadocs.org/Color redirects to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/ java / awt / Color.html )

Is there something similar already? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use Google and specify the site: msdn.microsoft.com

http://www.google.com/search?q=system.net.mail+site%3Amsdn.microsoft.com

Note. I also use this method to search for SO - Google using the site: stackoverflow.com

Answer 2

I am using Visual Studio. Therefore, if you want to learn something about ClassX, just place the cursor on it and press F1.

If I do this in the FileInfo class in Visual Studio, I get http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.fileinfo.aspx .

Answer 3

I find it much easier to use Google and just type something like "msdn [what I'm look]". It tends to produce better results than trying to mess with me through the MSDN website.

Answer 4

google ==> website: msdn.microsoft.com + keyword :)

there’s even a regular Google search engine: MSDN Search

Answer 5

• Ask Stackoverflow
• Use google

Please note that using the search box on MSDN is not supported by most people.

Answer 6

Use the Open Search plugin for your browser. Like these . IE7, Fire Fox (and I think) Chrome use them. The Chrome implementation integrates with the address field, while Fire Fox and IE have a special search dialog in the upper corner.

Answer 7

The MSDN Developer Library is extensive; I agree that it can be cumbersome to find things manually, so I'm not worried.

In fact, usually if you just provide a function name, Google will list the MSDN for the first two or three parameters.

Answer 8

As others have said, MSDN belongs to the category of sites about which you can say: "Google searches for X better than X searches for X." Notable peers include Wikipedia and StackOverflow.

To simplify the use of Google, Google will allow you to create custom search engines that are not limited to searching only a specific site, but also allow you to set other requirements. For example, if you click my name to see my SO user profile, you will see that I have MSDN and StackOverflow search links in the box in the upper right. I don't have a job yet, but in the end I will have the StackOverflow search setting only to return question pages and exclude user pages or tags.

However, one thing you are missing is that when you use the Microsoft language, you are probably also using Visual Studio. And if so, intellisense hints contain the information you need in 90% of cases. So in this sense it is even better than php because you don’t even need to open a web browser.

Answer 9

MSDN uses the following URL format for the latest documentation:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/[Namespace.Class.Etc.BIZ.aspx

In Firefox, you can bookmark the form:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/%s.aspx

Give it a keyword, that is, "msdn", and then enter your location bar:

msdn system.web.ui.webcontrols

And FF will lead you to:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.aspx

Chrome will also allow you to customize this search, and you can also create your own search provider for Internet Explorer using the test URL:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/TEST.aspx

Answer 10

There is also a little-known ...

http://www.google.com/microsoft.html

... not MSDN, but it works. :)