Resources

Development

To develop the site, you'll need to first clone the repository on to your computer. For new Git users, see the Using Git section below.

Developing via Docker

Docker is the recommended approach to quickly getting started with local development.

There are two pre-requisites: Docker and Docker Compose. The recommended installation method is Docker Desktop for Windows 10 64-bit, Mac, and Linux users. Users of unsupported operating systems may check out Docker Toolbox instead.

More on using Docker and the concepts of containerization:

• Get started with Docker
• Get started with Docker Compose

Ensure you run the docker commands below from a shell inside the local directory containing your clone of this repository.

Build and serve the website locally

This command starts the server locally. The server watches for changes to the source files and rebuilds and refreshes the site automatically in your browser.

docker-compose up

Now browse to http://localhost:3000

Tear down

To stop and completely remove the server (i.e. the running Docker container(s)):

(do this anytime Docker other repository settings change)

docker-compose down

To stop the server, but not destroy it (often sufficient for day-to-day work):

docker-compose stop

Bring the same server back up later with:

docker-compose up

Using Git

This section discusses some tips and best practices for working with Git.

Making changes, committing and pushing

1. Generally changes start on your local clone of your fork of this repository, in your own branch.

2. Commit your changes with a comment related to the issue it addresses to your local repository.

3. Push that commit(s) to your online GitHub fork.

4. From the vrms repository, create a Pull Request which asks vrms to pull changes from your fork into the main repository.

5. After the owner of the vrms repository approves and merges your Pull Request, your changes will be live on the website.

Forking and cloning the repository with proper security

Step 1: Become a member of the repository Team

In the vrms slack channel, send your GitHub name to the project manager (or on the slack channel thread) and we'll add you as a member to the GitHub repository Team.

Once you have accepted the GitHub invite (comes via email or in your GitHub notifications), please do the following:

1. Mark your own membership public https://help.github.com/en/articles/publicizing-or-hiding-organization-membership#changing-the-visibility-of-your-organization-membership

2. Setup two factor authentication on your account https://github.com/hackforla/governance/issues/20

Step 2: Fork the repository

In https://github.com/hackforla/vrms, look for the fork icon in the top right. Click it and create a fork of the repository.

For git beginners, a fork is a copy of the repository that will be placed on your GitHub account url.

It should create a copy here: https://github.com/your_GitHub_user_name/vrms, where your_GitHub_user_name is replaced with exactly that.

Note that this copy is on a remote server on the GitHub website and not on your computer yet.

If you click the icon again, it will not create a new fork but instead give you the URL associated with your fork.

Step 3: Clone your online repository to your local computer

For git beginners, this process will create a third copy of the repository on your local desktop.

First create a new folder on your desktop that will contain hackforla projects.

In your shell, navigate there then run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/your_GitHub_user_name/vrms.git

You should now have a new folder in your hackforla folder called vrms.

Verify which URL your origin remote is pointing to:

git remote show origin

If you accidentally cloned the hackforla/vrms.git then you can change your local copy to upload to your fork with the following:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/your_user_name/vrms.git

Add another remote called upstream that points to the hackforla version of the repository. This will allow you to incorporate changes later:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/hackforla/vrms.git

Step 4: Change to a new branch

For each issue, create a new branch to work in.

This command will let you know available branches and which branch you're on.

Star (*) indicates which branch you're on

git branch

By default you should start on the master branch.

This command will (create and) change to a new branch:

git checkout -b 140-fix-logo-width

We prefer that you work on a branch name that relates to the issue you're working on.

The format should look like the scheme above where 140 is the issue number in GitHub, and the words are a brief description of the issue.

No law of physics will break if you don't adhere to this scheme but laws of git will break if you add spaces.

Incorporating changes from upstream

Your fork of this repository on GitHub, and your local clone of that fork, will get out of sync with this (upstream) repository from time to time.

Assuming you have a local clone with remotes upstream (this repo) and origin (your GitHub fork of this repo):

# WARNING: this will erase local pending changes!
# commit them to a different branch or use git stash
git checkout master
git fetch upstream
git reset --hard upstream/master

Creating a new branch for a feature/bug fix from this reset master will lead to a clean, easy merge down the line.

---

Back to Home