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Setting up

  1. git clone git@github.com:WorldBrain/Memex-Mobile --recursive
  2. Go to the app/ directory
  3. Run yarn

Android specific

  1. Add Firebase credentials in app/android/app/google-services.json
  2. Ensure JDK 11 is installed (newer JDKs will not work): brew install openjdk@11

iOS specific

  1. Add Firebase credentials:

    1.1. for main app: app/ios/app/GoogleService-Info.plist

    1.2. for share extension: app/ios/MemexShare/GoogleService-Info.plist

  2. Go to the app/ios directory

  3. Install Cocoapods if not already installed: https://cocoapods.org/

  4. Run pod install

Running in dev

  1. Build the Reader feature's content script: yarn content-script (yarn content-script:watch if working on it)

Android

  1. Ensure an emulator/device is connected via ADB.
  2. In one terminal, run yarn start to start React Native's Metro bundler
  3. In another terminal, run yarn android-device (ensure JAVA_HOME is set to JDK 11's home dir)

iOS (requires macOS)

  1. In one terminal, run yarn start to start React Native's Metro bundler

  2. In another terminal, run open app/ios/app.xcworkspace to open the XCode workspace (important that you don't open app/ios/app.xcodeproj)

  3. In the menu bar, go to Product > Destination

    3.1. Choose a connected iPhone or one of the Rosetta simulators. Note that native simulators currently won't work due to a bug with the MemexShare extension build

  4. Press the "Play" button in the top left

Set up app reload on source code change

Assumes the above steps have been followed and app is currently running in iOS simulator while yarn start is running in a terminal.

  1. In the iOS simulator, press cmd + D, or cmd/ctrl + M on Android emulator, to open the developer menu
  2. Press "Enable Live Reload"
  3. Change anything in the source code and save and the app should quickly reload with those new changes.

Troubleshooting

Updating React Native

Each time we're faced with this problem it proves itself to be significantly difficult and time consuming.

Here's some tips:

  1. Use the RN web upgrade helper to show what RN + native platform files change between versions, then add those changes manually: https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/
    • There is the npx react-native upgrade though it doesn't work properly half the time, leaving native platform files untouched (possibly to do with our older setup).
    • You generally don't need to manually update the the project.pbxproj file (a new app.xcworkspace file will be generated post pod install)
  2. After adding changes to the files, install deps in the following order:
    1. yarn (try to delete the yarn.lock file and let it generate a new one if faced with issues)
    2. pod install from the ios/ directory (likely you'll need to delete the existing Podfile.lock)
  3. Clear the XCode build folder before attempting build (cmd+shift+k)
  4. If you're facing difficulties attempting an upgrade over many RN versions, first try upgrading to an lower version, then upgrade to the latest version if that works.
  5. Misc. errors are likely on the way. Most I encountered could be found and solved through Googling. Though keep a list, as likely you'll mess up, need to do it again, and resolve the same errors next time.

Missing content script runtime error

Error: Unable to resolve module `../../../../dist/content_script_reader.js.txt` from `src/features/reader/utils/load-content-script.ts`

This just means the content script has not been built yet. This is a separate webpack build to the main React Native bundle created by Metro. Ensure yarn content-script is run at least once to build it, or use yarn content-script:watch to run it in watch mode if you intend to make changes in src/content-script/.

iOS build nvm PREFIX error

The error looks something like this, and occurs late in the build when some node scripts are run:

nvm is not compatible with the "PREFIX" environment variable: currently set to "/usr/local"
Run `unset PREFIX` to unset it.

If this happens, likely you've installed yarn via homebrew or some other means while node is installed via nvm. You'll need to uninstall yarn from homebrew (and node, unless you really need it alongside an nvm install) and then reinstall yarn via the nvm provided npm instance: npm install -g yarn.

More info: https://medium.com/@andrejkurocenko/fixing-react-native-build-error-nvm-is-not-compatible-with-the-prefix-environment-variable-3948e6e4da80

Build issues citing missing deps or libraries

Often I've encountered issues where things either crash on build or at runtime citing missing dependencies, mainly on iOS. If this happens, I would advise trying to re-install all the needed deps and trying again. You can copy and paste the following snippets, running them from the repo root:

Clean and reset your git repo + submodules

git clean -xfd
git submodule foreach --recursive git clean -xfd
git reset --hard
git submodule foreach --recursive git reset --hard
git submodule update --init --recursive

Note: Running the above should automatically remove your NPM deps and CocoaPods.

Clean and re-install your NPM deps

rm -rf node_modules/
yarn

Re-install all CocoaPods

cd ios/
pod install
cd ..

Clean XCode build caches

Choose Product > Clean in the XCode menu bar.

Haste module naming collision error throwing from yarn start

Sometimes you may see an error output from yarn start similar to the following, possibly with different submodules:

Loading dependency graph...jest-haste-map: Haste module naming collision: @worldbrain/storex-pattern-modules
  The following files share their name; please adjust your hasteImpl:
    * <rootDir>/external/@worldbrain/storex-pattern-modules/package.json
    * <rootDir>/external/@worldbrain/memex-storage/external/@worldbrain/storex-pattern-modules/package.json

If this happens, run the following to rmeove the duplicated submodules:

rm -rf app/external/@worldbrain/memex-storage/external

This indicates an issue with how that repo is currently set up with its own submodules, which needs to be fixed.

NOTE: If you run git submodule update again at any time, you may need to re-run the above command to re-remove the duplicated submodules

Share extension stops working on iOS after new package added

Sometimes, after adding and setting up a new package, the share extension will no longer work on iOS. Often this is because the yarn react-native link $PACKAGE_NAME command to auto-link needed libs does not perform the needed steps for the share ext's project. The linked libs are treated separately on both the main app and the share extension.

To fix this, after running the relevant react-native link command:

  1. open ios/app.xcodeproj in Xcode
  2. go to the MemexShare target
  3. go to Build Phases
  4. go to Link Binary With Libraries
  5. press the add button and find the relevant lib$PACKAGE_NAME.a library

For example, the @react-native-community/async-storage package did not get its needed libs automatically linked with the share extension. Read through their docs on how to manually link (most RN packages with such a requirement seem to contain these instructions) to get the relevant lib and follow the above steps.

Android build errors complaining about missing android.support.v4.util packages

Running yarn react-native run-android will sometimes result in errors during compilation, such as error: package android.support.v4.util does not exist. If this occurs, run node_modules/.bin/jetify to migrate all node_modules to AndroidX then try to run again.

Note: This should now automatically be run on postinstall when running yarn while setting up the repo.

The reason this happens (from my limited understanding) is because certain deps will be using native Java code that isn't updated to AndroidX yet while the main app assumes AndroidX. Running jetify updates those deps. This may need to be run each time you refresh your deps by running yarn. More info in the jetifier NPM package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/jetifier

No online devices found

If you get an error about no online devices found, the emulator is running too slowly. (Which it was even for me running 4 fast cores and 16GB RAM and a GPU beast with 8GB of video memory.) For me, enabling GPU accelleration worked, which can only be done on images NOT including the Play Store.

If the emulator somehow doesn't receive input from your physical keyboard, you can open the React developer menu with this command:

adb shell input keyevent 82