This document describes a command line interface (CLI) search tool that would allow users to post questions to and search the Bluemix forums without leaving the terminal. The tool is intended to increase efficiency, improve workflow, and reduce the learning curve for users of the CLI. It would integrate the existing Bluemix forum functionality into the command line. An example usage scenario is provided where a user named Jane searches for help with viewing logs and finds an existing post with the answer within the terminal.

1. Command Line Search Tool
RDSC PROJECT 5: IBM CHALLENGE
Team 4: Kudzai Chinyadza, Colson Rice, Joel Wisneski

2. Project Scope
Area of focus
For this project we wanted to bring a CLI forum search tool, which would
enable the user to post questions and receive responses to a forum without
leaving the command line. This tool would integrate the current Bluemix
forum into the command line.
Design Goals
Increase efficiency
Improve workflow
Reduce learning curve
Constraints
For this iteration, we constrained the search tool to be based question based.
Meaning the user has to submit the question. The tool is not an error based.

3. Exemplars
Twitter If this then that
Twitter uses a quick sentence to get
in touch with hundreds, even
thousands of people in an instant.
We looked specifically at the way
Twitter has made the hashtag, “#”, a
way to tag ideas for easy
categorization.
IFTTT uses a similar paradigm to Twitter
where a project can be tagged and searched
with the use of a #.

4. We wanted to integrate the search tips from
the Bluemix forum to help the user refine their
search.
Many forums today allow users to post code to
the website, this gives a viewer the ability to
see the code with color coding and formatting
intact. This is all done with the use of a simple
HTML <code> tag.
Exemplars
Bluemix

5. Jane Doe
“I feel powerful when using CLI”
Job: Application developer at Game
Castle
Age: 27
User Needs
• She wants to be efficient while using a CLI
• She wants seamless CLI workflow, where
she does not have to break her flow to find
answers
• She wants to reduce learning curve, when
working in a new program
Jane is building a new application for her
company Game Castle. She is using
Bluemix to help manage the back end. She
is comfortable using CLI, but she is new to
this specific program.
For Educational use only
http://www.wearehq.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Justice-Williams.jpg

6. Jane logs into Bluemix

7. When Jane connects to Bluemix through Terminal, she types
/help to see a list of their commands

8. She notices that she can search and post to the forums
directly from Terminal

9. Jane has a question about viewing her logs, so she decides
to search the Bluemix forums through Terminal

10. She sees that someone has already posted in the forums
About this, and types in “2” to view the post

11. Jane views the post, and finds the answer she needed

12. Jane decides to write up her own post to the forums

13. Collin, an administrator for the Bluemix forum, sees
Jane’s question she just posted through Terminal.

14. He posts his response, which Jane will see directly in her
Terminal window

15. Jane receives a notification that someone has
responded to her post She types “-view” to see the
response she got from the forum

16. Jane views her answer within Terminal

17. Side by Side display
To compare code, we can also use a top/bottom display where each is
independently manipulated to avoid switching between two terminal windows
Zooming in on a few lines of code to compare
-z or a similar function to compare a few lines of code without the
clutter of everything else on the screen
Pulling code from the web
We can envision a way to pull code (and citations) directly from websites like
Stack Overflow to minimize effort and clicks to get what you need.
Searching based on Error Codes
A useful way to use the power of computing and crowdsource problems with
little effort would be to search based on error codes. This could incorporate
contextual information about files and the way libraries are set up to build a
library of solutions that can be tied directly to problems and allow for minimal
searching.
Future Strategies

19. Commands Continued