CONTRIBUTIONS.md

Getting Started with Contributions

This is a specialized Guide only made for this project to follow along.

If you need a complete git tutorial, watch this video by Kunal.

Well, before starting this tutorial I would like to say that these are some tested methods by us and are intended to be followed by all of our contributors.

Step 0 : Set up Git with GitHub

• Follow this official guide from GitHub to properly Setup Git with GitHub. GitHub forces users to install their own GitHub CLI or GitHub Desktop Client, it is recommended to skip these steps and proceed with further steps in the guide.
• IMPORTANT: Install Node.js v16.6.0 or higher. Ensure it's v16.6.0 or higher. Follow this guide => Install/Upgrade Node.js to v16.6.0 or higher.

Step 1 : Fork the project

Go to the official repository and fork the project to your own account . Once you have forked it you must be able to see the fork of your own repo like username/discord-bot We'll talk more about those branches later.

Step 2 : Clone the Forked Repository

Click on the green Code button and copy the SSH URL.(FROM THE FORK) Open your desired location on your local computer and right click to open Git Bash Paste the SSH URL in it.

 git clone [email protected]:<user-name>/discord-bot.git && cd discord-bot

Step 3: Adding upstream as a remote to your repository

Add the upstream URL to your repo using this command

 git remote add upstream [email protected]:NGIT-Open-Source/discord-bot.git

You can check the existing remotes using git remote -v to verify if it has been added and origin + upstream exist independently and point to correct URL's

Step 4: Add the tracking branch develop to your repository

Well, git doesn't seem to properly clone the repo with all branches so we need to create develop branch and add tracking so run this command

 git checkout --track origin/develop

Step 5: Setting up your Local environment

1. Checkout to development branch git checkout develop

2. Make sure you've Node.js v16.6.0 or higher installed. Follow this to install/upgrade Node.js

3. Head to your project folder and run npm ci in the terminal. (This command installs all the required modules for the project mentioned in package-lock.json in the node_modules directory.

   • Don't use npm install or npm update to install/update modules. Doing so might land you in a situation called Dependendency Hell whereas using npm ci ensures you're working with exact versions of dependencies as other developers are. Know more about npm ci via this article or npm docs
   • npm install <module-name> can be used if you want to install an external npm module for a feature you're working on. Remember, As stated in npm-install docs npm install works entirely different as compared to npm install <module-name>
   • If you've used npm install/update unknowingly, Kindly refer this to fix conflicts

4. Finally, Follow the below steps if you want to run your own instance of bot for testing/development

   • We would also highly suggest you to create your own server to test your bot out if you are new as we don't want to spam the main server.

5. Let's store secrets/tokens. Create a file with name .env and copy/paste template from .env.example. Replace default values in .env with your secrets/tokens.

   • Default values in .env.example are self-explanable and will guide you to fill values, open an issue if you need help
   • For security, .env will not be committed since it is added to .gitignore
   • MAKE SURE NOT TO REVEAL YOUR TOKENS/SECRETS FROM .env ANYWHERE ELSE
   • Get the tokens/ids from Discord Dev portal. We recommend following official Discord.js docs to Setup Bot and adding it to your Server

6. Run node deploy-commands.js to register commands and then run npm run dev to start the bot. Refer Discord.js official guide if you run into errors.

   • Ensure to run node deploy-commands.js whenever a new slash command is added to the commands folder
   • Starting the bot with npm run dev will enable hot restart, which will auto restart the bot on each save. NOTE: Discord API blocks developers for a day if they start the bot 1000 times on a single day. Alternative[Only if you think you're going to re-start 1000 times]: Use node . or node index.js instead of npm run dev and forget about hot restart.
   • If you've followed the above steps successfully, You should see your Bot live in discord, else you can always get help!

7. Make a commit on the current branch (develop) to mark creating of environment variable git add . && git commit -m "Environment created"

Step 6: Getting work done finally

• To start working now that you are in the develop branch you need to create your own branch from develop , run :

  git checkout -b *branch -name*

• Once you are done implementing features or fixing bugs come down to Pushing Changes to show us your contributions✌

Making Non-Code Contributions

Non-code contributions include opening Issues regarding bugs/suggestions etc, Updating Docs through a PR and more.

Making Code Contributions

Before making any contributions, We recommend you to learn the basics of JavasScript, Node.js and refer to the official guide and docs before making any changes to maintain code quality.

NOTE: We recommend opening an Issue first and link it to your PullRequest while opening a PR. It's considered a good practice and makes maintaining the codebase a lot easier.

Getting Help

Ask for help in our official NGIT discord server. We can help you in many ways

Help in learning JS : This project is based on Node.js v16.6.0 or higher. Either you already know the basics of JS or are a complete beginner, this FREE course on Sololearn can help you learn essential JavaScript in the least possible time - In DOM & Events section in the course, we won't be using DOM concepts in this project, Events are important though. THIS BASIC COURSE DOESN'T TEACH ASYNCHRONOUS PROGRAMMING AND SOME OTHER IMPORTANT CONCEPTS, TO LEARN ADVANCED JS, REFER THIS TUTORIAL.

SOLOLEARN WARNING

The Sololearn course isn't practice-oriented, so make sure you also practice in your local setup while learning on Sololearn.