Developing
If you want to contribute to Squidex or write custom extensions for it, this page will give you an introduction how to setup your development environment.
Required Tools
To work with the source code you need the following tools.
Docker
We generally recommend to install Docker on your Developer machine. It makes your live much easier.
Personally I was not able to setup the newer Docker Versions on Windows 10 Home. If you do not have a Windows 10 license, I recommend not to invest the Money. Get a cheap build server for a few bucks per month or just install MongoDB manually. It takes only around 15 minutes.
For the backend
Setup
Just execute the following commands to get a MongoDB installation for development:
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git clone https://github.com/squidex/squidex-docker
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cd squidex-docker/development
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docker-compose up -d
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For the frontend
Usually newer versions are better but we have the experience that newer versions of NodeJS are more memory hungry in some situations. You can also use node through nvm - this will allow to work with multiple versions at the same time.
IDE and editors
You can use any editor you want, but our recommendation is to use:
How to run Squidex
You have to run both, frontend and backend, independently. The first time it feels redundant and annoying and we also had some code to run the webpack dev server automatically when the application is started. But you will recognize that it takes a minute for the webpack dev server to start. Therefore we decoupled the commands, so that you can keep the webpack dev server running, even when you have to restart the backend application.
Before you start you should also ensure that the certificates for the test environment are installed. They can be found under
/dev in the squidex folder.Frontend
The frontend is written with Angular and webpack. Therefore you have to run the webpack web dev server. It is a server application that builds the website and watches the file system. Whenever you make a change to a file, the server will run the build process and reload the website automatically. It tries to compile only the files that have changed and can even reload the style sheets without reloading the site in some cases.
How to run the Webpack Dev Server?
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cd frontend # Go to the frontend
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npm i # Install all dependencies, only needed the first time
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npm start
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Installing the dependencies is only needed once or when the project.json file has changed.
Optionally:
- 1.
npm rebuild node-sass --force(Only if you have issues with node-sass) - 2.
npm test(Runs the unit tests and listens for changes) - 3.
npm run test:coverage(Runs the unit tests and calculates the test coverage).
Btw: As the name webpack dev server indicates, it is only used for development. For production we bundle and minimize all typescript, html and sass files and add the bundles to the deployment package. So don't be worried when the frontend downloads hundred of files during development.
Backend
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cd backend
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cd src/Squidex
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dotnet restore # Install all dependencies
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dotnet run
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Ensure that the
ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT environment variable is set to Development, either through a launchSettings.json or through your IDE's settings.You can also run and debug the backend with Visual Studio 2019. But here are some things you should do before you start your debug session:
- 1.Recommended: Ensure that you run the
Squidexproject, which means that you use the integrated Kestrel web server, which starts faster than IIS Express. - 2.Recommended: Uncheck the
Launch browsersetting. You just want to keep Squidex open during development and not close and open the window all the time to make debugging the frontend with your browser easier.
Last modified 3mo ago