Update library documentation

docs/api/Overview.md

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-### Nominatim API
-
 !!! Attention
     The current version of Nominatim implements two different search frontends:
     the old PHP frontend and the new Python frontend. They have a very similar

docs/extra.css

@@ -34,3 +34,8 @@ th {
 .md-footer__inner {
     display: none;
 }
+
+.headerlink {
+  filter: grayscale(100%);
+  font-size: 80%;
+}

docs/library/Configuration.md

@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 # Configuration
 
 When using Nominatim through the library, it can be configured in exactly
-the same way as when running as a service. This means that you should have
-created a [project directory](../admin/Import.md#creating-the-project-directory)
-which contains all files belonging to the Nominatim instance. It can also contain
-an `.env` file with configuration options. Setting configuration parameters
-via environment variables works as well.
+the same way as when running as a service. You may instantiate the library
+against the [project directory](../admin/Import.md#creating-the-project-directory)
+of your Nominatim installation. It contains all files belonging to the
+Nominatim instance. This may include an `.env` file with configuration options.
+Setting configuration parameters via environment variables works as well.
+Alternatively to using the operating system's environment, a set of
+configuration parameters may also be passed to the Nomiantim API object.
 
 Configuration options are resolved in the following order:
 

docs/library/Getting-Started.md

@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
 # Getting Started
 
-The Nominatim search frontend can directly be used as a Python library in
-scripts and applications. When you have imported your own Nominatim database,
-then it is no longer necessary to run a full web service for it and access
-the database through http requests. There are
-also less constraints on the kinds of data that can be accessed. The library
-allows to get access to more detailed information about the objects saved
-in the database.
-
-!!! danger
-    The library interface is currently in an experimental stage. There might
-    be some smaller adjustments to the public interface until the next version.
+The Nominatim search frontend is implemented as a Python library and can as
+such directly be used in Python scripts and applications. You don't need to
+set up a web frontend and access it through HTTP calls. The library gives
+direct access to the Nominatim database through similar search functions as
+offered by the web API. In addition, it will give you a more complete and
+detailed view on the search objects stored in the database.
+
+!!! warning
+
+    The Nominatim library is used for accessing a local Nominatim database.
+    It is not meant to be used against web services of Nominatim like the
+    one on https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org. If you need a Python library
+    to access these web services, have a look at
+    [GeoPy](https://geopy.readthedocs.io). Don't forget to consult the
+    usage policy of the service you want to use before accessing such
+    a web service.
 
 ## Installation
 
@@ -19,13 +24,17 @@ Follow the [installation](../admin/Installation.md) and
 [import](../admin/Import.md) instructions to set up your database.
 
 The Nominatim frontend library is contained in the Python package `nominatim-api`.
+You can install the latest released version directly from pip:
+
+    pip install nominatim-api
+
 To install the package from the source tree directly, run:
 
     pip install packaging/nominatim-api
 
 Usually you would want to run this in a virtual environment.
 
-### A simple search example
+## A simple search example
 
 To query the Nominatim database you need to first set up a connection. This
 is done by creating an Nominatim API object. This object exposes all the
@@ -36,15 +45,13 @@ This code snippet implements a simple search for the town of 'Brugge':
 !!! example
     === "NominatimAPIAsync"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
         import asyncio
 
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
         async def search(query):
-            api = napi.NominatimAPIAsync(Path('.'))
-
-            return await api.search(query)
+            async with napi.NominatimAPIAsync() as api:
+                return await api.search(query)
 
         results = asyncio.run(search('Brugge'))
         if not results:
@@ -55,13 +62,10 @@ This code snippet implements a simple search for the town of 'Brugge':
 
     === "NominatimAPI"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
-
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
-        api = napi.NominatimAPI(Path('.'))
-
-        results = api.search('Brugge')
+        with napi.NominatimAPI() as api:
+            results = api.search('Brugge')
 
         if not results:
             print('Cannot find Brugge')
@@ -84,7 +88,7 @@ implementations. The documentation itself will usually refer only to
 available only for the synchronous or asynchronous version, this will be
 explicitly mentioned.
 
-### Defining which database to use
+## Defining which database to use
 
 The [Configuration](../admin/Import.md#configuration-setup-in-env)
 section explains how Nominatim is configured using the
@@ -93,76 +97,120 @@ The same configuration mechanism is used with the
 Nominatim API library. You should therefore be sure you are familiar with
 the section.
 
-The constructor of the 'Nominatim API class' takes one mandatory parameter:
-the path to the [project directory](../admin/Import.md#creating-the-project-directory).
-You should have set up this directory as part of the Nominatim import.
-Any configuration found in the `.env` file in this directory will automatically
-used.
+There are three different ways, how configuration options can be set for
+a 'Nominatim API class'. When you have set up your Nominatim database, you
+have normally created a [project directory](../admin/Import.md#creating-the-project-directory)
+which stores the various configuration and customization files that Nominatim
+needs. You may pass the location of the project directory to your
+'Nominatim API class' constructor and it will read the .env file in the
+directory and set the configuration accordingly. Here is the simple search
+example, using the configuration from a pre-defined project directory in
+`/srv/nominatim-project`:
+
+!!! example
+    === "NominatimAPIAsync"
+        ``` python
+        import asyncio
+
+        import nominatim_api as napi
+
+        async def search(query):
+            async with napi.NominatimAPIAsync('/srv/nominatim-project') as api:
+                return await api.search(query)
+
+        results = asyncio.run(search('Brugge'))
+        if not results:
+            print('Cannot find Brugge')
+        else:
+            print(f'Found a place at {results[0].centroid.x},{results[0].centroid.y}')
+        ```
+
+    === "NominatimAPI"
+        ``` python
+        import nominatim_api as napi
+
+        with napi.NominatimAPI('/srv/nominatim-project') as api:
+            results = api.search('Brugge')
+
+        if not results:
+            print('Cannot find Brugge')
+        else:
+            print(f'Found a place at {results[0].centroid.x},{results[0].centroid.y}')
+        ```
+
 
 You may also configure Nominatim by setting environment variables.
-Normally, Nominatim will check the operating system environment. This can be
-overwritten by giving the constructor a dictionary of configuration parameters.
+Normally Nominatim will check the operating system environment. Lets
+say you want to look up 'Brugge' in the special database named 'belgium' instead of the
+standard 'nominatim' database. You can run the example script above like this:
+
+```
+NOMINATIM_DATABASE_DSN=pgsql:dbname=belgium python3 example.py
+```
 
-Let us look up 'Brugge' in the special database named 'belgium' instead of the
-standard 'nominatim' database:
+The third option to configure the library is to hand in the configuration
+parameters into the 'Nominatim API class'. Changing the database would look
+like this:
 
 !!! example
     === "NominatimAPIAsync"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
         import asyncio
-
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
         config_params = {
             'NOMINATIM_DATABASE_DSN': 'pgsql:dbname=belgium'
         }
 
         async def search(query):
-            api = napi.NominatimAPIAsync(Path('.'), environ=config_params)
-
-            return await api.search(query)
+            async with napi.NominatimAPIAsync(environ=config_params) as api:
+                return await api.search(query)
 
         results = asyncio.run(search('Brugge'))
         ```
 
     === "NominatimAPI"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
-
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
         config_params = {
             'NOMINATIM_DATABASE_DSN': 'pgsql:dbname=belgium'
         }
 
-        api = napi.NominatimAPI(Path('.'), environ=config_params)
-
-        results = api.search('Brugge')
+        with napi.NominatimAPI(environ=config_params) as api:
+            results = api.search('Brugge')
         ```
 
-### Presenting results to humans
+When the `environ` parameter is given, then only configuration variables
+from this dictionary will be used. The operating system's environment
+variables will be ignored.
 
-All search functions return the raw results from the database. There is no
-full human-readable label. To create such a label, you need two things:
+## Presenting results to humans
+
+All search functions return full result objects from the database. Such a
+result object contains lots of details: names, address information, OSM tags etc.
+This gives you lots of flexibility what to do with the results.
+
+One of the most common things to get is some kind of human-readable label
+that describes the result in a compact form. Usually this would be the name
+of the object and some parts of the address to explain where in the world
+it is. To create such a label, you need two things:
 
 * the address details of the place
-* adapt the result to the language you wish to use for display
+* all names for the label adapted to the language you wish to use for display
 
 Again searching for 'Brugge', this time with a nicely formatted result:
 
 !!! example
     === "NominatimAPIAsync"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
         import asyncio
 
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
         async def search(query):
-            api = napi.NominatimAPIAsync(Path('.'))
-
-            return await api.search(query, address_details=True)
+            async with napi.NominatimAPIAsync() as api:
+                return await api.search(query, address_details=True)
 
         results = asyncio.run(search('Brugge'))
 
@@ -174,13 +222,10 @@ Again searching for 'Brugge', this time with a nicely formatted result:
 
     === "NominatimAPI"
         ``` python
-        from pathlib import Path
-
         import nominatim_api as napi
 
-        api = napi.NominatimAPI(Path('.'))
-
-        results = api.search('Brugge', address_details=True)
+        with napi.NominatimAPI() as api:
+            results = api.search('Brugge', address_details=True)
 
         locale = napi.Locales(['fr', 'en'])
         for i, result in enumerate(results):
@@ -236,7 +281,7 @@ Bruges, Flandre-Occidentale, Flandre, Belgique
 
 This is a fairly simple way to create a human-readable description. The
 place information in `address_rows` contains further information about each
-place. For example, which OSM `adlin_level` was used, what category the place
+place. For example, which OSM `admin_level` was used, what category the place
 belongs to or what rank Nominatim has assigned. Use this to adapt the output
 to local address formats.
 

docs/library/Low-Level-DB-Access.md

@@ -24,12 +24,11 @@ the placex table:
 
 ```
 import asyncio
-from pathlib import Path
 import sqlalchemy as sa
 from nominatim_api import NominatimAPIAsync
 
 async def print_table_size():
-    api = NominatimAPIAsync(Path('.'))
+    api = NominatimAPIAsync()
 
     async with api.begin() as conn:
         cnt = await conn.scalar(sa.select(sa.func.count()).select_from(conn.t.placex))

mkdocs.yml

@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 site_name: Nominatim Manual
 theme:
+  font: false
   name: material
   features:
     - navigation.tabs
+    - toc.integrate
+  plugins:
+    - privacy
 copyright: Copyright © Nominatim developer community
 docs_dir: docs
 site_url: https://nominatim.org
@@ -68,7 +72,8 @@ markdown_extensions:
         alternate_style: true
     - def_list
     - toc:
-        permalink: 
+        toc_depth: 4
+        permalink: 🔗
 extra_css: [extra.css, styles.css]
 exclude_docs: |
     mk_install_instructions.py