Guide to making dygraphs changes
So you've made a change to dygraphs and would like to contribute it back
to the open source project. Wonderful!
This is a step-by-step guide explaining how to do it.
dygraphs style
First of all, please try to follow the style of the existing dygraphs
code. This will make the review process go much more smoothly.
A few salient points:
- I try to adhere to Google's
JS style guide and would appreciate it if you try to as well. This
means:
- No tabs! Indent using two spaces.
- Use camelCase for variable and function names.
- Limit lines to 80 characters.
- Please run 'lint.sh' to see if you've introduced any new violations.
- If you've added a new feature, add a test for it (in the tests/
directory) or a gallery entry.
- If you've added an option, document it in
dygraph-options-reference.js. You'll get lots of warnings if you don't.
- If you've fixed a bug or added a feature, add an auto_test for
it.
This ensures that we won't inadvertently break your feature in the
future. To do this, either add to an existing auto_test in
auto_tests/tests or run
auto_tests/misc/new-test.sh your-test-name
to
create a new one. There are two easy ways to run tests:
- You can run your auto_test in any browser by visiting
auto_tests/misc/local.html
. This allows you to debug your
test, or test against a specific browser.
- You can run your auto_test on the command-line by running
./test.sh
. (It requires installing
phantomjs on your computer.)
Sending a Pull Request
dygraphs is hosted on github, which uses a "pull request" model. They
have a good writeup here. These
instructions discuss dygraphs more specifically.
The list of steps may look a bit daunting, but it's not too bad,
especially if you have any familiarity with git or github. If you run into
any problems while following the instructions, feel free to contact
dygraphs-users.
Why not just take patches? This process means less work for me (the
maintainer) and it also results in your name appearing in the list of
dygraphs commits. This lets you take credit for your work.
- Create an account on github. This is
free, painless and will let you claim credit for your changes.
- Install git. github has a good writeup here.
- Create a fork of the dygraphs repository on github by
clicking this link and
then the "Fork" button.
- You should see a URL along the lines of
git@github.com:yourname/dygraphs.git
Copy this, open up a
terminal and run
git clone git@github.com:yourname/dygraphs.git
This
pulls the dygraphs code down onto your local disk.
- cd into the dygraphs directory and make your changes.
If you've already got them somewhere else, just copy them over.
- Be a good citizen! Make sure your code follows the guidelines
above.
You'll have to do this before I accept your changes, so you may as well
do it now
- Commit your changes locally: run
git add .
git commit
Type in a description of your change. This will
eventually appear in the dygraphs commit list.
- Push your changes to github by running
git push
This will
send your changes to your forked repository on github.
- Go to your fork of dygraphs on github (i.e.
github.com/yourname/dygraphs).
Click the "Pull Request" button.
This will send me an email with a pointer to your changes.
- I'll review your changes and (unless your code is perfect!) give you
some feedback. Make these suggested changes in your local git client and
re-run "git commit" and "git push" so that I can see them.
- Once your change is ready, I'll pull it into the main dygraphs
repository and publish it to the web.