Rhino WIP Feature: Improved Package Manager

[will (Will Pearson)]

Rhino WIP Feature: Improved Package Manager

The growing resource library in PackageManager makes it hard to find packages. Now, default popular packages, better search, and faster performance aim to improve your experience.

What has been improved?

In the Rhino WIP, the PackageManager has the following improvements:

• Sorting by popularity – when the PackageManager loads, it now shows the most popular packages.
• Enhanced search – in addition to package names and keywords, search now also includes matches in the authors and description fields.
• General performance – loading, searching, and checking for updates in PackageManager are now faster, so you spend less time waiting and more time working.

Why improve the Package Manager experience?

The goal is to make it quicker and easier to find the plug-ins and tools that you need.

Packages were previously displayed in alphabetical order, making popular, frequently downloaded packages harder to find. The PackageManager could also be slow to open, and searches did not always return relevant results.

With the package library growing, improvements to how PackageManager interacts with it were necessary.

More Information

Package popularity is determined by download statistics from the last 30 days and is updated daily. Using a rolling download count keeps things up to date.

The top 100 packages are shown when you load the PackageManager, making it easier to find widely used tools. Loading is also quicker thanks to database query optimizations and server-side caching, reducing your wait time.

If you don’t see what you’re looking for then you can search for it.

• Search by package name – start typing the name of a package that you want to install, and you’ll see it in the list.

• Search by keyword – matches any package that has the search term as a keyword.

• Search by author – if there’s something that you like, you can search for packages from the same author

• Search by description – search results will also include matches in a package’s description

Try it:

1. Download and open the Rhino WIP.
2. Run the PackageManager command.
3. You’ll see the most popular packages listed.
4. Try searching for terms like “dale”, “mesh” or “ifc”.

Download the Rhino WIP and Try It Out!