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Item Search "Jargon"

Filip Sufitchi edited this page Apr 30, 2018 · 3 revisions

Eve has some extremely complex item names, and quickly bringing up those items while using Pyfa can involve way too much typing or scrolling through search results. I'm looking at you, Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II.

This feature (new to Pyfa 2.0) adds a set of "jargon" terms that Pyfa is able to substitute in searches to make them less painful. These terms are based on actual community jargon, both spoken (e.g. "enam" = Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane) and written (e.g. "dcu" = Damage Control). Here are some sample searches that are made much easier by this enhancement:

What you need Without jargon With jargon
T2 HAM launchers hea ass miss lau ii (or a lot of scrolling) haml 2
T2 HM launchers hea miss lau ii (but you get the assault version too) hml 2
Medium shield RR med remote shield boost med shield rr
"X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster" x-l anc xlasb
"Micro Jump Field Generator" micro jump field mjfg or boosh
Ammo for your Rifter Lots of typing/clicking/scrolling rf emp s, rf pp s, rf fusion s
Tracking link (doesn't exist anymore) Googling to realize it's called a "Remote Tracking Computer" now tl

How it works

Pyfa consults a long list of "jargon" terms (defined in a special configuration file) and expands them into a longer phrase. It then searches both using the original search terms and using the new expanded ones, and combines the result.

For example, searching for cpu 2:

  • Realizes that cpu is jargon for Co-Processor and 2 is jargon for II
  • Searches for cpu 2, resulting in some CPU management/efficiency implants
  • Searches for Co-Processor II, resulting in actual T2 co-processors
  • Combines the results into this set of results

Configuration

The jargon table that Pyfa consults is stored at %USERPROFILE%\.pyfa\jargon.yaml (Windows), or ~/.pyfa/jargon.yaml (Mac/Linux). It is a simple 1-to-1 mapping of jargon terms to expanded searches. The order does not matter, but is alphabetical by default. Both jargon terms and their expansions are case-insensitive.

To add your own jargon, simply add new lines to the file. For example, if you wanted ogb to get expanded into command burst, you can add the following line to the file using an editor such as Notepad++:

ogb: command burst

Pyfa reloads this file automatically when it is changed (no restart required), and the jargon should be immediately available.

Note: due to the way the search is done, jargon does not work narrowing for broad terms; for example, cap: capacitor does nothing since anything returned by searching capacitor is already returned anyway by cap.

The default jargon file that Pyfa ships with can be found in Pyfa source at /service/jargon/defaults.yaml.

To-do

This feature is relatively new, and has a variety of possible future possible improvements:

  • A GUI for viewing/adding/removing jargon entries
  • Multi-meaning jargon (e.g. dcu meaning "damage control" and "drone control unit")
  • Better error handling for invalid formatting/data in the jargon file
  • Magic unicorns