Testing feature branches on readthedocs

Testing on readthedocs

Sometimes a branch / feature can build fine locally but fail in production on readthedocs. Therefore it is always a good idea to test the implementation before it goes into production. Here is how to do that.

0. push your branch to origin, if you haven't already.
1. Log in to our readthedocs page at readthedocs.com (for business). The login info was shared in a separate message.
2. Navigate to "tidy3d-docs", typically the 3rd repo down on the list.

3. Navigate to "versions"

4. scroll down to the "activate a version" list and find the version associated with your branch name, eg. for feature/custom_sitemap it looks like

click "activate"

5. change to "active", "hidden" and "public". This means that the site will be built and anyone can view it with the right URL, but it will be only accessible via the direct link.

click "save"

6. The version should now be on the "active versions" list just above.

7. Navigate to "builds", select this new version and build it.

8. After about 15 minutes, the build should complete and you can view it through "view docs" link. If it errors, we need to look into the issue.

9. Look over the build and verify that some of the pages look correct, especially the "examples"

10. After this branch is merged into develop, either delete the branch or remove it from 'active' versions on readthedocs (to avoid too many active branches being present over time)