Build in Blocks [Assistant]

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CONTRIBUTING DOC FOR BUILD IN BLOCKS ASSISTANT

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General Information about project

Build in Blocks [Assistant]

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Local development instructions

We've made recent changes to the repository location and local development instructions of this project. Therefore, this section may be outdated. For now and pending the time that this section will be updated, you can get guidance on where to find and how to run this project in our collabo community Discord channel.

Find the local development instructions for the different Blocks Assistant projects in the tabs below, depending on the one you want to develop locally.

CLI

Local development instructions:

• Head over to the GitHub repository: https://github.com/collabo-community/blocks-assistant

• Fork and clone the repository as shown in the SWE contribution workflow.

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Instructions for installing dependencies and linking CLI:

Once you have the repository on your local computer, ensure you are in the root of the project's directory. Then install globally and uninstall globally following the steps below.

Install dependencies:

npm install

Link after installing dependencies, so that you can access/use the Create Collabo App commands in the terminal:

npm link

Unlink (this is for when you are done developing):

npm unlink

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CLI commands and flags:

The way you operate/run the CLI is still largely the same as what is in the former Node Mongo user doc at the moment. The only difference (for now) is the main CLI command i.e. Instead of node-mongo, use collabo-be. Similarly for the shorter version of the commands - instead of nmgo, use c-be.

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Learning resources

• Twilio | Dominik Kundel: How to build a CLI with node.js - YouTube video.

• Twilio | Dominik Kundel: How to build a CLI with node.js - blog post.

Backend API Boilerplates

Local development instructions:

• Head over to the GitHub repository: https://github.com/collabo-community/nodejs-backend-api-boilerplates

• Fork and clone the repository as shown in the SWE contribution workflow.

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Instructions for installing dependencies and starting the development server:

Once you have the repository on your local computer, follow the steps below.

• Change directory into any of these folders in the repository, depending on the template you wish to work on: ts-esm-async-await folder, js-esm-async-await folder, js-cjs-async-await folder or js-cjs-then folder.

• Once in the chosen folder, follow steps 1 to 4 in the tabs under the Running the generated backend API application section of the former Node mongo user docs, depending on the connection setup type you prefer to use. Some slight modifications to the steps exist: We have removed the automated dev server for now. For step 4, just use npm run dev:atlas or npm run dev:local script commands accordingly.

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Handling .env files during development:

• Retain the .env.example file so that it doesn't get deleted from our repo when you submit your code fix.

• Create a copy of the .env.example file, rename this copy to .env , then change the PORT and add other environment variables to store your secrets as desired or as needed in your .env file.

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Learning resources

• TomDoesTech: REST API with Node.js, Express, TypeScript, MongoDB & Zod.

• TomDoesTech: Module '"mongoose"' has no exported member 'DocumentDefinition'.ts (tutorial fixes).

• Academind: Building a restful API with node.js.

• CodAffection: MEAN stack CRUD operations - 1st 33 minutes.

Frontend App Boilerplates

No instructions for now. Please ask about this project on our discord channel if you are interested in contributing.

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