CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to OpenChart

Thanks for your interest in contributing to OpenChart. This guide aims to outline some of the standards we've set for contributions to the project.

Coding standards

In order to keep everything consistent and readable, we ask that any code you write adheres to the the C# Coding Conventions.

Documentation

We require that all public entities be documented with XMLdocs. Please include a summary for all public methods/classes/interfaces/properties/arguments/etc.

Things that don't need to be documented:

• Built in methods like Equals() and GetHashCode()
• Self-explanatory method arguments, for example: AddBPM(BPM bpm)

Click here for a VSCode extension for writing XMLdocs.

Formatting

To keep the formatting consistent, it might be helpful for you to use the automatic formatting tools built into your IDE or text editor of choice.

Naming

All public entities should be in PascalCase, i.e. the first letter is capitalized. Private and protected methods and properties should be in camelCase, i.e. the first letter is lowercase.

If a property needs special getter/setter logic, and hence a private field is needed, the private field should be in camelCase and begin with a single underscore.

Example:

public int MyNumber { get; set; }

private double _myDouble;
public double MyDouble { get => _myDouble; set { _myDouble = value; } }

public event EventHandler SomethingHappened;

public void MyPublicMethod() {
    onSomethingHappened();
}

protected virtual void onSomethingHappened() { }

Unit testing

We ask that where possible, any code you write is covered with clear, concise unit tests. This really helps us to ensure that any regressions are caught in the future, and gives us a fighting chance at not releasing buggy code.

Pull requests and issues

When raising pull requests and issues, please provide a brief description of the proposed changes and why you think they are justified. Moreover, when reporting bugs as issues, please provide any steps you take to reproduce the bug, as well as any other information you think might be useful (system specs, operating system, etc.).

This comes in extremely useful when project maintainers come to review any proposed changes or bugfixes, and helps us push things through without having to ask too many questions.

Please base any pull requests on the develop branch.

Any questions?

We're here to help you make a success out of any contributions to OpenChart. If you need help or have any questions, please join our Discord server.