Dash 3.4

Dash 3.4 is now available.

What’s New


  • Apple API Reference Improvements:
    • The Apple API Reference docset now reads the docs from within Xcode 8. This reduces disk space usage while also allowing me to modify & improve the docs at display-time. Thanks a lot to the Xcode team at Apple for helping me understand the new documentation format!
    • The doc pages of classes will now display full method/property docs inline (i.e. how the old docs used to be)
    • The parent class will now be shown at the top
    • For any other improvement ideas, please contact me
  • Angular for TypeScript Docset. An “AngularTS” docset is now available in Preferences > Downloads.
  • Lots of minor improvements and bug fixes.

That’s all. Thanks for using Dash!

Dash 3.3

Dash 3.3 is now available.

What’s New


  • macOS Sierra Support. Dash should work fine with macOS Sierra. If you notice any bugs, let me know.
  • Apple API Reference Support. Apple has new API docs. You can use them in Dash by installing the Apple API Reference docset.
  • GitHub Docsets Repo. You can now generate docsets from any GitHub repo’s markdown files and wiki pages. Check out Preferences > Downloads > GitHub Docsets.
  • Lots of minor improvements and bug fixes.

That’s all. Thanks for using Dash!

Dash, Xcode 8 and macOS Sierra

Apple released previews of Xcode 8 and macOS Sierra yesterday and some changes need to be made to get Dash up to speed:

  • New Apple docs and new doc format. Xcode 8 doesn’t come with docsets anymore and that means Dash won’t automatically support the iOS 10, macOS 10.12, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10 docs. I’m working on a version of Dash that supports the new docs and will release an update as soon as possible.
  • New Xcode 8 extensions. The current Dash Xcode extension doesn’t work in Xcode 8. I’m working on a Xcode 8 extension and will release it as soon as possible.
  • macOS Sierra. I’ve briefly tested Dash in macOS Sierra and everything seems to be working fine. If you notice any bugs please contact me.

Dash 3: Now Available!

TL;DR: Download Dash 3 for macOS and try it out!

Dash 3 for macOS is the biggest update I’ve ever worked on and I’m happy to announce it’s finally available. It comes with a lot of features that you, the users, have requested and some features which I’ve always wanted to add but never had the time until now.

Dash 3 is a paid upgrade. To upgrade, download Dash 3 and follow the instructions in Preferences > Purchase.

New: Archived Docsets

Dash will now use a lot less disk space by keeping docsets archived. Files will only be unarchived on-the-fly when they’re needed. Docsets take up to 10x less disk space while archived.

This feature has no significant performance impact. Most of the page load time is spent during rendering and the time it takes to load the files either from archives or directly from disk is insignificant.

Reinstall your docsets from Preferences > Downloads to benefit from this feature.

New: Tab Restoration

Dash will now restore all your open tabs between launches, so that you can continue from where you left off.

New: Settings Sync

Dash can now sync your settings across Macs, including installed docsets, search profiles and bookmarks.

New: Open Online Page

The “Open in Browser” feature now lets you choose between opening the local or online page.

New: Annotations

Use Annotations to extend any documentation page by adding comments, examples, warnings or bug reports. Annotations are stored online and can be public or private. You can also set up teams to share annotations with your coworkers or friends.

The Annotations Server is open-source so you can set up your own server if you want, for ultimate privacy.

New: iOS Remotes

Dash can now connect to Dash for iOS and display documentation pages on your iOS device. Keep your iPad or iPhone next to you while coding and use them as a second display just for docs.

Clipboard syncing makes sure that when you copy something in Dash for iOS it gets synced to macOS. iOS Remotes also support integration plugin redirection, so that you can initiate searches from your favorite integration plugin directly to iOS.

New: Dark Mode

Documentation pages can now be set to dark mode.

Download Dash 3

Dash 3 is a paid upgrade, but it’s free to download and try out. If you encounter any issues or need any help, contact me.

Sneak Peek: Dash for iOS

For the past few months I’ve been working on bringing Dash to iOS. I’ve finally reached a point where I can share what Dash will and won’t be like on iOS.

If all goes well, a beta of Dash for iOS will be released sometime in November, followed by an App Store release in December, hopefully 2014.

The boring news

  • It’s going to be an universal app and will support both iPhone and iPad.
  • It will probably cost around $9.99.
  • No snippets at all. Only documentation. I might add snippets later on depending on demand.

The good news

  • Searching will be the same as on macOS. Same instant speed, same results.
  • Docsets that are downloaded by the app will be kept archived and documentation pages will be unarchived in-memory only when they need to be displayed. This means 4-10x less disk space usage compared to Dash for macOS.

The bad news

  • There are a lot of limitations when dealing with WebViews in iOS. This means that some docsets might not be as awesome as they are on macOS, but I’ll do my best to fix any issues.
  • You’ll only be able to install the main 150+ documentation sets and nothing else (i.e. no support for Ruby Gems, CocoaPods and others). However, you’ll be able to transfer docsets from your Mac/PC using iTunes File Sharing.

Screenshots

Note: This is a work in progress. Some things (e.g. icons) will be changed.