feature.md

How to Add a Feature

This document explains how to add a new feature to the project "the Right Way."

Make a new git branch

git checkout -b new_feature

Describe the feature in plain English

In the dashboard/dash/features/ folder, add a feature file (e.g., new_feature.feature). Describe the feature in plain English according to the format specified by lettuce.

Describe each step in Python

This step can be done automatically by simply running the lettuce tests:

python manage.py harvest

This will provide the boilerplate code for you, which should be copied and pasted into a new_feature.py file, also in the features/ folder.

Make sure the tests fail

Run the tests. You can specify a particular test (so you can avoid running the whole test suite) as follows:

python manage.py harvest dash/features/new_feature.feature

and ensure the tests do not pass. If they pass, your tests suck.

Write the code, pass tests

Add client-side code to the dash/static/ folder or the dash/templates/ folder. Server-side code usually falls under the dash/views.py file.

See code layout for more details.

Make individual tests pass until all the tests you have written pass.

Run all tests

Run all tests, for all features. Just in case you broke something.

Make sure it looks good

This is the part where you open the browser and do some sanity checking. Design can't really be automatically tested.

Merge git branch or put up a pull request

Cool, now we're ready to merge it in. Or if you're working in a team, send a pull request.

To send a pull request, push the branch:

git push origin new_feature

And then go to the Github page and create a pull request.

Alternatively, merge the branch into master:

git checkout master
git merge new_feature

You can now push master and delete the old branch:

git push origin master
git branch -d new_feature