Contributing to browseMetadata • browseMetadata

We warmly welcome contributions to the browseMetadata project! This document provides guidelines for contributing to this repository.

How to Contribute

Reporting Issues

Bug Reports: If you find a bug, please open an issue with a clear description of the problem and steps to reproduce it.
Feature Requests: Suggestions for new features or improvements are always welcome. Please open an issue to discuss your ideas.

Making Changes

Fork the Repository: Start by forking the repository to your GitHub account.
Create a Feature Branch: Create a new branch for your feature or fix.
Make Your Changes: Implement your changes, adhering to the coding standards and practices outlined below.
Test Your Changes: Ensure your changes do not break any existing functionality.
Submit a Pull Request: Open a pull request from your feature branch to the main branch of the original repository.

Coding Standards

Follow the tidyverse style guide for R code.
Write clear, readable, and maintainable code.
Include comments and documentation as needed.

Documentation

Update the README or other documentation if necessary.
Clearly describe the changes you’ve made and their benefits.

Contributing to the R Package - as an author or reviewer of a PR

If your contribution involves changes to the R package itself (as an author or reviewer of a PR), here are some specific guidelines, assuming you are using RStudio as your editor:

Clone this GitHub repository locally and ensure all branches you need are up to date with remote. > In R Studio, you can clone it by clicking on File > New Project..., then select Version Control, and choose Git. Enter the repository URL (e.g., https://github.com/aim-rsf/browseMetadata), select the directory to clone the repository into, and click Create Project.
You should have a Git tab in your workspace.
In this Git tab, move to the branch you want to make changes in (or review and test the changes of someone else).
Ensure that your current working directory is the R package directory you cloned (getwd() to check and setwd() to change).
Run devtools::load_all() in the R console. You should see ℹ Loading browseMetadata returned.
Test the function runs by running domain_mapping() in the R console.
Make your changes (or review changes made by others), and commit these changes in the way you choose to interact with git locally!

If you run into issues with branches not seeming to be up to date in the R Studio workspace, consider running remove.packages("browseMetadata") and trying the above steps again, in case a previously installed package library is getting in the way somehow.

Working with Package Data

Creating .rda Files: To create .rda files in the data directory of the package, use the following command in R:
```
usethis::use_data(dataname)
```
Replace dataname with the actual name of your data.
Viewing Package Data: To view the data included in the browseMetadata package, execute:
```
data(package='browseMetadata')
```
Loading Package Data: To load specific data from the package, use:
```
data(dataname)
```
Again, replace dataname with the name of the data you wish to load.

Building Documentation

Generating Documentation Files: To build the documentation files for the package, use the roxygen2 package:
```
library(roxygen2)
roxygenise()
```
This will generate the necessary documentation based on your roxygen comments in the R code.

Testing Your Changes

Ensure that your changes do not break any existing functionality. Run any existing tests, and consider adding new tests to cover your changes.

Submitting Changes

After making your changes, test them thoroughly.
Update the documentation to reflect your changes, if applicable.
Submit a pull request with a clear description of your changes and the benefits they bring to the package.

Questions or Need Help?

If you have questions or need help, feel free to open an issue for discussion or reach out to the maintainers directly.

Thank you for contributing to browseMetadata!