axelson
I’ve been working on some code using macros today and I’ve come across a few searches on the elixir hexdocs that feel like they really should have results instead of their current no results pages.
Here are the searches and what I think they should point to:
“__using__”
- search results: Search — Elixir v1.20.2
- should return (or eventually link to): Kernel — Elixir v1.20.2
“after_compile”
- search results: Search — Elixir v1.20.2
- should return: Module — Elixir v1.20.2
I searched on the current 1.17.1 docs. Here are the screenshots:
It’s pretty frustrating knowing these concepts exist but not being able to find the specifics in the docs. Are there any previous examples of updating the docs to make specific searches like these possible?
Where Next?
Trending in Questions
Other Trending Topics
Latest on Elixir Forum
Sponsor Spotlight
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #deployment
- #library
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ecto-query
- #blog-post
- #elixirconf-us
- #elixir-ls
- #ai
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #api
- #forms
- #hex
- #security
- #metaprogramming
Our Sponsors
Build Elixir applications with speed and confidence.
Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Error tracking, logs, uptime, and Just Enough APM. Built for developers.
Elixir, Erlang & BEAM conferences from Code Sync - join us in 2026!
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges.
Bringing learning, work and compliance together since 1987.
**Building the future of software with AI, trust, and human connection.**
The team behind Membrane, Popcorn, LiveDebugger. Available for hire.
Courses that'll move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"
Showing Posts 1 to 4- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
D4no0
Topics related to metaprogramming in general are divided into different sections and are hard to find even to this day.
I would personally recommend reading the book Metaprogramming Elixir by Chris McCord, you will find there a lot of things you were missing before, I always find myself returning to it because honestly I cannot find stuff on hexdocs just as you pointed out.
A simple example of hidden things is the
@external_resourceattribute that can recompile the source file based on an external file change, quite useful even for some generic use-cases that are not leaning heavily into metaprogramming.Nicd
Now that you opened the discussion, there’s one issue that I just haven’t bothered filing a bug for yet. If you access a search URL directly or just press enter when writing a
Module.functiontype search, likehttps://hexdocs.pm/elixir/search.html?q=Process.monitor(clickable link), it will show you no results. But if you click on the search bar, the autocomplete will show the results you wanted. It seems the autocomplete is smarter than the actual search engine.Edit: Well, decided to file that issue: Search page shows no results even though autocomplete finds them · Issue #1930 · elixir-lang/ex_doc · GitHub
josevalim
@axelson all of those issues are related to the search engine. The search engine would tokenize by splitting on
_and-, which means__using__is simplyusing. I have fixed that issue and the one by @Nicd.After compile works if you search it as
@after_compile, I will try to see if we can make it work asafter_compileonly.axelson
Thanks Jose! That’s a great improvement!