An easy-to-use, visually-oriented desktop client for Git aimed at helping students learn the standard Git workflow. You can get a summary of our project by reading our cool poster :)
npm (Node Package Manager) is used to manage VisualGit's dependencies, therefore it is required to install and run VisualGit.
Note:
As of 12/04/2019, VisualGit currently works with Node version 6.2.1 (and possibly most of Node version 6). It is likely that your machine will be running a much newer version of Node, and you may need to downgrade.
To downgrade your version, you can use nvm (Node Version Manager) to manage what version your system is using.
Follow the instructions below to install nvm and Node version 6.2.1:
Run the following command in terminal to install nvm:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bashIf you have homebrew installed, use the command:
brew install nvmOtherwise download and install nvm with:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bashAn alternate version of nvm windows was made for Windows. You can download it here.
To install node version 6.2.1, use:
nvm install 6.2.1then run the following command to switch to the installed package:
nvm use 6.2.1Clone with either HTTPS or SSH:
git clone git@github.com:kblincoe/VisualGit_SE701_2019_4.gitgit clone https://github.com/kblincoe/VisualGit_SE701_2019_4.gitthen run the following commands:
cd VisualGit_SE701_2019_4
npm install
npm run compile
npm startPlease see the Issues section if you encounter any issues.
To run tests for this project, run either npm t or npm test.
This will run all the tests found in the ./tests folder.
Note: there are a few manual tests that are documented within some of the PR's.
Custom tests should have .test added to the end of it's name.
i.e. a test for user.service.ts should be named user.service.test.ts
Any additional tests that you want to add to the project should go in the ./tests folder. This folder should mimic the structure of the ./app folder.
For example, if you want to add tests for the ./app/services/repository.service.ts file, you should place your tests in ./tests/services/repository.service.test.ts
To package the app, run the npm run compile command, and then the following commands depending on your OS:
npm run package-mac
npm run package-linux
npm run package-win
These commands should generate a package under the ./releases/ folder.
While compiling the project, you may come across a lot of errors in the console.
When you run the project with the npm start command, you may come across a blank white screen. This is caused by an issue with nodegit and electron. To fix this, create a new .npmrc file in the project's root directory and add in the following lines:
runtime = electron
target = 1.2.8
target_arch = x64
disturl = https://atom.io/download/atom-shell
progress = trueOnce that is added, delete the node_modules folder and rerun the setup commands.
TypeScript is a statically-typed superset of JavaScript that compiles into JavaScript. Most of our source files are written in TypeScript (.ts files), therefore you will need to run a TypeScript compiler to compile the source code to JavaScript (.js files) as you make changes, e.g. typescript-compiler for Node.
Repositories can be added by two methods; either by cloning the remotely hosted repository or opening it from the local file system. This is achieved using the add repository button in the top left which will update the screen to the add repository view.
Cloning with SSH is recommended as there is not yet any method for entering user credentials in VisualGit. This means that if you clone using HTTPS, you will still be able to see local changes and commit locally but not push.
Currently, when you clone a repository, it is saved to a directory under ./VisualGit/. This means that when you open a repository which is saved locally, you can simply enter the name of the directory relative to the VisualGit directory. Other save locations are not currently supported but it is planned in future work.
When changes are made in a repository which is open, the interface will update by showing each file which has uncommitted changes. These changes will be displayed as a traffic light scheme:
This is used to allow users to see the different types of changes easily and once they click on the files, the file differences will be shown. The file differences are shown line by line with green lines representing added lines and red representing deleted lines. Any other parts of the file are unchanged.
The pulling and pushing currently works for changes which are made on master and origin/master by syncing these up. When the pull button is clicked, any changes on the remote repository will be added to the local repository and the graph will be updated. When pushing, the same process applies. The changes on master will be pushed to the remote repository.
Git init functionality has been added to VisualGit. New repositories will be created and saved locally to a specified path.
Users are able to view the current remotes in the repository they have open. They can also add new remotes to the repository easily.
Users are able to fetch from all the remotes added to the repository. Currently, there is no functionality to fetch from a single remote at the moment. A popup will appear to notify the user whether their fetch was successful or not.
A webpack was added to the project to improve the build process of the project.
An in-built text editor was added to the project. This allows users to edit files in the repo within VisualGit. Along with the in-built text-editor, line numbers, expanding diffs, and side-by-side code comparisons were added.
A help screen was added in to aid new users with how the app works.
VisualGit now supports theming. Users can now change the app's colour scheme from the toolbar.
The previous popup modals were uninformative and not visually appealing. The new popup modals are now more informative, and do not require the user to close them.
The old header icons were outdated, and not visually appealing. The new icons are now more modern and crisp.
Users are now able to see their profile picture appear next to their username when they log in.
Please refer to the repository wiki documentation here for screenshots of the application.
We are open to pull requests with new features or improvements.
VisualGit utilises a range of libraries and frameworks, more information on them can be found below: