MDN Browser Compatibility Data on the command line

mdncomp nx

A Web Developer's friend that shows MDN Browser Compatibility Data on the command line.

$ mdncomp html*toblob

cygwin/xterm snapshot ( English, Spanish, Norwegian, ... )

[ cmd high contrast output ] [ cmder output ] [ macOS High Sierra ] [ Linux/Ubuntu 18 ]

Features

Refactored core code with improved search algorithm to get you faster and more flexible to the compatibility data.

• Browser Compatibility Data (BCD from Mozilla Developer Network)

  • Search APIs , CSS , HTML , HTTP , JavaScript , MathML , SVG , WebDriver , WebExtensions , XPath and XSLT .
  • Search and list features using keywords, paths, wildcards, fuzzy terms or regular expressions.
  • Search case (in)sensitive.
  • Deep Search option (search in notes, flags, alternative names, prefixes etc.).
  • Navigate and show information using path and branches.
  • Filter result lists using additional search terms.
  • Show result using custom defined browser list.
  • Show data on the command line as ANSI colored tables.
  • Include children features in table results.
  • Get feature status (standard, experimental or deprecated).
  • Show notes, flags, vendor prefixes, history and security issues.
  • Show additional links for information in notes.
  • Show optional detailed API specific support for a sub-feature (Worker support, SharedArrayBuffer support, CORS support, blob data, service workers etc.).
  • Sectioned tables for desktop, mobile and other browsers.
  • Show information for Node.js where relevant.
  • Works offline

• Browser status

  • List current browser versions
  • List current, esr, beta, nightly, planned and retired versions per browser .
  • List current, esr, beta, nightly, planned and retired versions per status .
  • List status and release dates per browser, including release notes (if any).

• Additional included documentation:

  • Show a optional summary description per feature (only in the mdncomp dataset) .
  • Includes a verified URL to the feature's documentation page on MDN (only in the mdncomp dataset) .
  • Show standards/specification references, status and links (W3C, WHATWG, KHRONOS, ECMA, IETF etc.) (only in the mdncomp dataset) .

• Integrated update mechanism for dataset

  • Fast update using "precompiled" compatibility data with additional data (summary description, specs)
  • Compressed data transfers

• Define permanent/often used options in a config file (can be suspended when needed via option).

• Copied text from terminal is easy to paste to Q&A sites, forums etc. to document feature support.

• Localized user interface.

• Built-in help per mdncomp option.

• Cross-platform (where node and npm is available).

• Usage documentation included as wiki pages

Note: If you're an user of version 1.23 or earlier, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the new changes as some options has been added, removed and changed.

Installation

Make sure to have Node.js and npm installed (included with node).

Then install latest version globally:

$ npm i -g mdncomp

Update weekly or so using the built-in --update option. The data should be updated automatically when installed via NPM (may not apply to Linux/Darwin users due to permission restrictions). If for some reason update failed via NPM post-installation, you can run this manually:

$ mdncomp --update 
$ sudo mdncomp --update   # Linux/Darwin first run

If you prefer the old version 1.23 you can install it using its tag:

$ npm i -g [email protected]

To try out current development version:

$ npm i -g https://github.com/epistemex/mdncomp.git

Examples

Using wildcard:

$ mdncomp j*let.

(the stop-dot " . " above indicates that the resulting path line should end with this search term.)

Tip: from version 2.1 you can also use the shorter "bcd" alias instead of "mdncomp":

$ bcd ...

or using the absolute feature path:

$ mdncomp javascript.statements.let

or as an regular expression, for example word-bound searches (\b):

$ mdncomp /\blet\b/

or as a fuzzy-expression (here for api.HTMLCanvasElement.toBlob ):

$ mdncomp -z ahcb.
$ mdncomp ahcb.

Note: From version 2 you can run without the --fuzzy option: if the term has no results a second search search pass is performed using the same expression but as a fuzzy term (unless the term contains wildcards or starts with forward-slash for RegExp).

Show data in a compact shorthand format using option `-s, --shorthand`:

$ mdncomp html*toblob -s

cygwin/xterm snapshot

You can from version 2 do filtering of the result by simply adding one or several keywords (or search-terms) to the argument list. For example: this will only list child features containing "stroke" or "fill" in the CanvasRenderingContext2D API (using only the last part of the name, here " t2d "):

$ mdncomp t2d stroke fill

The check-mark "✓" here is from using the config setting unicode , e.g. bcd --set unicode=true .

List results using Custom Columns

From version 2 you can define custom columns using the new option "-u, --columns". Simply specify a comma separated (or space, semi-column, column) list. For example, a custom column result using search term (" t2d ") and a result filter (" path "):

mdncomp t2d path -u "chrome,edge,firefox"

To get a list of valid browser IDs use the option -b, --browser .

Tip: See config file section below for how you can store custom columns permanently.

List feature branches and status

You can navigate using branches and dot notation to find where a feature resides.

To list root simply add the option --list (or shorthand -l ) with no argument:

mdncomp --list

List using one of the root branches:

mdncomp -l webext

You can go to next branch by adding the name of the branch, fully or partly (if unique):

mdncomp -l api.audiobu

or simply by adding the index number in one of the following ways:

mdncomp --list api --index 7
mdncomp --list api -i 7
mdncomp -l api 7

(this usage of shorthand index also applies to the regular search).

One can further filter the result list:

mdncomp -l api window

List per status, for example: list all features with "experimental" status:

mdncomp -l experimental

List current browser versions:

mdncomp --browser current

Tip: You can combine the option with -N, --no-notes to hide the links at the end.

List release history for a single browser:

mdncomp -Nb edge

Rich output with additional options

mdncomp sharedarraybuffer --desc --specs --ext

cygwin snapshot

Or as minimal, turning off extra information

Here with options -NRF :

-R = no-children, -N = no-notes, -F = no-flags (also see -h, --help )

mdncomp sharedbuffer -RNF

cygwin snapshot

Markdown enabled tables

The ASCII tables can be pasted directly into a markdown document and will show as rendered HTML tables in markdown-flavors which support tables - live preview:

DESKTOP > Chrome Edge Firefox IE Opera Safari HTMLCanvasElement 4 ✓ 3.6 9 9° 3.1 captureStream ! 51 ? 43 ˟ 36 ? getContext ✓ 12 3.6 9 9 3.1 height 4 12 3.6 9 9 3.1 mozFetchAsStream x? ˟ ˟ 13-43 ˟ ˟ ˟ mozGetAsFile x? ˟ ˟ 4 ˟ ˟ ˟ mozOpaque ? ˟ ˟ 3.5 ˟ ˟ ˟ toBlob 50 ˟ 19 10¹ 37 ✓² toDataURL 4 12 3.6 9 9 4 transferControlToOffscreen ! ˟ ˟ 44§ ˟ ˟ ˟ width 4 12 3.6 9 9 3.1 And in compact shorthand format: BROWSERS > C E F IE O S C/a E/m F/a O/a S/i W/a toBlob 50 - 19 10* 37 Y* 50 - 4 37 - 50 Image quality parameter 50 - 25 - Y - - - 25 - ? 50

Exploration

Feel like exploring? Find new features and APIs using the --random options:

$ mdncomp --random

combine it with a summary description:

$ mdncomp --random --desc

You can create a limiting scope by providing a keyword or search term. Here, find a random feature that contains "audio" in its path:

$ mdncomp --random audio

Global Configuration

Often used options can be permanently stored in a config file in the user's home directory in JSON format (see option --configpath to see where it's located).

The use of config file can be suspended at any time with the -G, --no-config option.

To set or clear an option you can do:

mdncomp --set lang=es
mdncomp --set lang=en-us

A config file is created automatically if none exist.

To clear a setting from the config file use an empty value:

mdncomp --set lang=
mdncomp --set lang

So for example, if you always want a description to be shown:

mdncomp --set desc=true

or if you don't want to see neither hints nor legends:

mdncomp --set expert=2

Using 1 here will disabled hints, but not legends.

To see a list of valid keys that can be used:

mdncomp --set ?

Tip: You can as an alternative, define alias commands in some terminals with specific options set for different purposes.

Note: On macOS/Linux you'll likely have to use sudo to set options as it writes to a config file stored in the user area.

sudo mdncomp --set unicode=1

Requirements

• Node.js version 8.3 or newer (for older Node version use mdncomp version 1.23).
• NPM to install npm i -g mdncomp
• Internet connection when updating (via the --*update options)

Developer Environment

Development IDE: JetBrains WebStorm .

Test environments: Windows 8.1+, Linux (Ubuntu), Darwin (macOS High Sierra)

The pre-compiled data and patch repositories can be found here (primary atm) and here (redundancy repo).

Support

This product is provided AS-IS and comes with no support nor warranty. You use it at your own risk. It's continued development depends largely on user interest and feedback.

The main git repository can be found at GitLab where you also can report issues:

• GitLab repo
• GitLab report issues

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2018 Epistemex

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.