Re: Maven search that uses the online APIs instead of the local index

Hi, 

we looked into it some time ago and weren’t satisfied with how the api worked. Can’t remember out of the top of my head, but from a brief look right now it seems that all (or most) of the queries could be covered by the api

> Let me know what do you think so far and how could we get the existing maven.indexer APIs to a point where I can at least publish the plugin in the Plugin Portal for testing.
For the start, or if nothing else, i would suggest we change the api so that you can access the queries and RepositoryQueries.Result and see how far you get with other queries ... 
On the way we can get a better idea what other areas of the IDE it will impact. (as mentioned bellow)

> * the Add Dependency UI and logic is a bit 'heavy' compared to the online APIs. For example, it loads all the versions for a given artifact at once instead of lazy loading the versions only when a node is expanded (see MavenNodeFactory). Lazy loading would map better to a 2nd search using the online API.
a bit ‘heavy’ - do you see this as a principial problem or did you already run into particular performance problems?
feel free to file a task for this (patches are, of course, welcome)

> * existing code assumes a single GenericFindQuery service provider (I fixed this by adding a composite service on the 1st position)
on the long turn we would have to figure out a better solution. Also that there will be more problems we would have to resolve in the maven infrastructure and UI if this has to work properly. 
- the user should be able to make the choice if the online or offline index should be used
- not all repos provide the search service
- how to deal with cases when the network isn't available
- etc. 

regards
t.