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Contributing to SpecFlow

This contributing guide is based on the contributing for ElixirScript (which was based on the guide for contributing to Elixir), with changes suitable for this project.

Using the issue tracker

Use the issues tracker for:

Bug reports

A bug is a demonstrable problem that is caused by the code in the repository. Good bug reports are extremely helpful - thank you!

Guidelines for bug reports:

  1. Use the GitHub issue search — check if the issue has already been reported.

  2. Check if the issue has been fixed — try to reproduce it using the master branch in the repository.

  3. Isolate and report the problem — ideally create a reduced test case.

  4. Provide a screenshot or example code — you might in a situation that is very tied to your specific use-case, so provide as much information as possible.

Please try to be as detailed as possible in your report. Please provide steps to reproduce the issue as well as the outcome you were expecting! All these details will help developers to fix any potential bugs.

Example:

Short and descriptive example bug report title

A summary of the issue and the environment in which it occurs. If suitable, include the steps required to reproduce the bug.

  1. This is the first step
  2. This is the second step
  3. Further steps, etc.

<url> - a link to the reduced test case (e.g. a GitHub Gist)

Used SpecFlow Version: (1.9, 2.0, 2.1, ...) Used Test Runner: (NUnit, XUnit, SpecFlow+Runner, MsTest, ...)

Any other information you want to share that is relevant to the issue being reported. This might include the lines of code that you have identified as causing the bug, and potential solutions (and your opinions on their merits).

We move issues that need help, but may not be of a criticial nature or require intensive SpecFlow knowledge, to Up For Grabs. This is a list of easier tasks that anybody who wants to get into SpecFlow development can try. Thank you!

Feature requests

Feature requests are welcome. But please take a moment to find out whether your idea fits with the scope and aims of the project. It's up to you to make a strong case to convince the community of the merits of this feature. Since much of the work is done be volunteers, someone who believes in the idea will have to write the code. Please provide as much detail and context as possible.

If active work is not made on your feature request within 2-3 months, we may close your feature request. Anybody is free to pick up on the idea, and we welcome the work! But in the interest of keeping the issue list down to a maintainable level, we have to do some pruning from time-to-time.

Contributing

Contributions to SpecFlow are welcomed, appreciated, and loved! These contributions can be in the form or code changes, documentation, or ideas of how to implement features.

SpecFlow is broken up into the following parts:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Style and Naming Conventions

Static versus Instance Methods

We prefer instance methods, even if they can be made static because they do not use instance members. Making a static methods into an instance method happens relatively often and can entail a lot of work.

Naming Conventions for Tests

The test class should be named like the class it is testing, with a Tests suffix. So for example: if a class is named Calculator, then the test class is called CalculatorTests.

Each test method is named by three parts, separated by an underscore. The parts are "method or property under test", "scenario" and "expected result". For example, if we want to test the Add method with a small positive and a big negative argument and the result should be negative, then the text method would be called Add_SmallPositiveAndBigNegativeArgument_ResultShouldBeNegative.

Pull requests

Good pull requests - patches, improvements, new features - are a fantastic help. They should remain focused in scope and avoid containing unrelated commits.

NOTE: Do not send code style changes as pull requests like changing the indentation of some particular code snippet or how a function is called. Those will not be accepted as they pollute the repository history with non functional changes and are often based on personal preferences.

IMPORTANT: By submitting a patch, you agree that your work will be licensed under the license used by the project.

If you have any large pull request in mind (e.g. implementing features, refactoring code, etc), please ask first otherwise you risk spending a lot of time working on something that the project's developers might not want to merge into the project.

Please adhere to the coding conventions in the project (indentation, accurate comments, etc.) and don't forget to add your own tests and documentation. When working with Git, we recommend the following process in order to craft an excellent pull request:

  1. Fork the project, clone your fork, and configure the remotes:
# Clone your fork of the repo into the current directory
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/SpecFlow
# Navigate to the newly cloned directory
cd SpecFlow
# Assign the original repo to a remote called "upstream"
git remote add upstream https://github.com/techtalk/SpecFlow
  1. If you cloned a while ago, get the latest changes from upstream:
git checkout master
git pull upstream master
  1. Create a new topic branch (off of master) to contain your feature, change, or fix.

IMPORTANT: Making changes in master is discouraged. You should always keep your local master in sync with upstream master and make your changes in topic branches.

git checkout -b <topic-branch-name>

  1. Commit your changes in logical chunks. Keep your commit messages organized, with a short description in the first line and more detailed information on the following lines. Feel free to use Git's interactive rebase feature to tidy up your commits before making them public.

  2. Make sure all the tests are still passing.

This is needed to ensure your changes can pass all the tests.

  1. Push your topic branch up to your fork:
git push origin <topic-branch-name>

  1. Open a Pull Request with a clear title and description.

  2. If you haven't updated your pull request for a while, you should consider rebasing on master and resolving any conflicts.

IMPORTANT: Never ever merge upstream master into your branches. You should always git rebase on master to bring your changes up to date when necessary.

git checkout master
git pull upstream master
git checkout <your-topic-branch>
git rebase master

Thank you for your contributions!