VisualGit is a visually-oriented desktop client for Git aimed at helping students learn the standard Git workflow.
Node.js and its package manager - npm (Node Package Manager) are used to manage VisualGit's dependencies. To run
this project,node v10.15.3 and npm v6.4.1 is required. Downgrading your node version can be done through nvm (Node
Version Manager). To setup node to have the correct version, see the
Project Setup.
You need to have python version 2.7 installed on your machine.
Note: If you used Homebrew to install node on macOS, you may need to reinstall node by uninstalling the brew
version first. See the Project Setup. to do so.
The repository can be cloned using either HTTPS or SSH, but SSH will be needed for making pull requests.
git clone git@github.com:uvicgse/project-seed.git
git clone https://github.com/uvicgse/project-seed.git
then... You need to have to find the directory where python 2.7 is. On mac you can run which python in your command line to find it.
cd project-seed
npm config set python {path to python2.7}
npm install
then if you get install errors and you have windows you may need to do some troubleshooting if you get an error for nodegyp
npm install --global --production windows-build-tools
As VisualGit utilises SSH for user authentication, ensure you generate an SSH key for your GitHub account. If you are not running Mac, you will also need to set up and run an ssh-agent to access your SSH key at run time without providing your credentials each time.
If you still need help setting up SSH, follow the GitHub guide to SSH.
Angular is a popular open-sourced web framework based on TypeScript. Angular is a complete
re-write from AngularJS (a.k.a Angular v1). This project runs a beta-version of Angular 2, so there are a few
compatibility issues with newer versions of npm and project structure of newer versions of Angular.
TypeScript is a statically-typed superset of JavaScript that compiles into JavaScript. Our source files are written in TypeScript (.ts files), and then compiled into JavaScript (.js files). You will need to run the TypeScript compiler to compile the source code. e.g. typescript-compiler for Node.
Style definitions for this project are done using CSS.
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:
- Green: Added file
- Orange: Modified file
- Red: Deleted file
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.
The user is able to stash changes in their working directory by staging files and clicking on the stash button on the navigation bar. When stashing, the user is able to add a message to the stash, keep the files being stashed in the working tree's index, or stash unstaged files as well. This allows the user to safely save their work without committing and checkout a seperate branch. The stash can then be reapplied to the working directory by selecting the stash from the stash list and clicking on the apply button. However, the stash may not be applied on files with unsafe merge conflicts. To remedy this, either stage the files with conflicts or resolve the modified files manually. If the user applies the stash using the pop button, the stash will be dropped from the stash list.
A user now can add tags to certain commits. Tags are usually used to denote a version or a release number. There are a few ways to add tags:
- A user now can associate a tag when they are making a new commit. From the tag text panel on the bottom left corner.
- A user can add or modify a tag on a preexisting commit. The user can navigate to the commit graph and when the user expand the graph, they will see each commit with a tag box associated with it. From there they can add a new tag or modify it if it already exist.
- Additionally, the user can browse and search existing tags from the branch list at the header.
VisualGit utilises a range of libraries and frameworks, more information on them can be found below: