Getting started with writing plugins

Overview

The first step to writing any piece of software is setting up your work environment. Knowing how to use the appropriate tools correctly will make writing plugins for Do a significantly more enjoyable process for all parties involved, and will allow your work to be merged into either the main or community repository without unnecessary fuss.

Tools you will need

• bzr version control (VCS)
• Monodevelop C#/Mono Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Branching

Perhaps one of the most important parts of the entire process is version control, or VCS. Our version control system is Bazaar, which focuses on usability and can be very enjoyable to use. Learning how to use it effectively will help you coordinate your development efforts with the rest of the project. I'm not going to give an in-depth Bazaar tutorial (for that please see [1]) but I will show you how to use Bazaar to effectively work on Do.

Initial checkout

$ bzr branch lp:do-plugins

This will create your working branch on your hard drive. You should now open up the DoPlugins.mds with Monodevelop, and look at the solution structure.

Creating your project

I know it is tempting to start a brand new Monodevelop solution without those nasty other projects cluttering up the solution tree, but we must resist this urge. Leaving the other projects alone will make it so that your code can get into the main tree much faster. Don't worry, the code writing is coming soon. To create your project, you should now right click on the solution, and select Add new project. Once your plugin has its space created inside of the Monodevelop solution, you are ready to start coding. For help with writing your plugin, please see Writing_Plugins. You will most likely want to make your code available to contributers, and the Do developers. To do this, you should register a branch on Launchpad that is associated with the appropriate Do or Do Plugins branch. After your plugin is ready for general use, come back here and learn how to get it included in the GNOME Do plugin repository.

Merging into Do plugins

Once you have tested your code, and your new amazing plugin is ready for use, you can request your branch be merged into the main tree. The procedure for requesting is as follows. On your launchpad branch's home page (code.launchpad.net/~<your-lp-name>/do-plugins/<your-branch>), there is a link to "Propose for merging into another branch". Click this link and submit your branch for review. After submitting your branch, you should email the mailing list (gnome-do@googlegroups.com) with a link to your branch and merge proposal. The Do developers will inspect your code, test your plugin, suggest improvements or changes, and if all goes well, queue your branch for merging into the main branch.