# Contributing Guide When contributing to this repository, please first discuss the change you wish to make via the issue tracker or the discussions page with the owner of this repository before making a change. If you just want to make a minor correction, like fix a typo or similar, feel free to just make a pull request directly. ## Pull Request Process 1. Make sure your code passes all tests and conforms to the style guide. You can check that the code conforms by running `flake8` from the root of the project folder. 2. Please provide a complete description of the changes in the pull request, and a summary that can be copied into the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md). Remember to reference any issue related by providing the issue number. 3. Do not change the version number. Version numbers are bumped in separate release pull requests by the maintainer. ## Code of Conduct There is a code of conduct. Please follow it in all your interactions with the project. ### Our Pledge In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation. Please see the [CODE_OF_CONDUCT](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) file for the full text. ## Code Style Guide The source code of novelWriter broadly follows the [PEP8](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008) style guide, but with a few modifications and exceptions listed below. ### Line Length For this project, source lines should stay within the 79 and 99 character limits described by PEP8. 79 characters is often too restrictive, so 99 character lines are acceptable when that is more practical. Readability has priority. Generally, if a code statement requires multiple lines, the lines should wrap at 79 characters, not 99. If wrapping can be avoided by going to 99, then that is generally preferrable. For text files, the text should also be wrapped at 99 character. The exception is markdown image tags and urls. Please do not submit pull requests that re-wrap existing source or text unless this has been discussed beforehand. ### Linting with `flake8` An excellent tool for checking Python code for errors and coding style is `flake8`. The documentation is available [here](https://flake8.pycqa.org/en/latest/). The `setup.cfg` file in the root of this project has the following settings for `flake8` that matches the coding standard: ```conf [flake8] ignore = E203,E221,E226,E228,E241,E251,E261,E266,E302,E305 max-line-length = 99 exclude = docs/* ``` The command line equivalent, with reporting, is: ```bash flake8 . --count --ignore E203,E221,E226,E228,E241,E251,E261,E266,E302,E305 --max-line-length=99 --show-source --statistics ``` Passing this check is required before contributions are merged into the `main` branch. This is checked automatically when you make a pull request. You can run the `flake8` command locally to check beforehand. The full command will give you a detailed description of the code lines that do not conform to the standard. ## Ignored Errors Some `flake8` error codes are ignored for this project for various reasons. The source also uses camelCase function and variable names. This is the standard for the Qt libraries novelWriter integrates with. It also happens to be the author's personal preferences. The reason behind the other ignored error codes are listed below. Many of them are due to PEP8 not permitting column alignment as opposed to many other coding styles, like for instance for Go. I find them useful in regions of bulk value assignments. There's a reason why tables are more readable than lists. They should be used sparingly though. The ignored errors are all `pycodestyle` errors, and they are documented [here](https://pycodestyle.pycqa.org/en/latest/intro.html#error-codes). **E203:** whitespace before ‘:’ **Reason:** Column alignment. **E221:** multiple spaces before operator **Reason:** Column alignment. **E226:** missing whitespace around arithmetic operator **Reason:** This doesn't actually follow the PEP8 recommendation of grouping longer equations by operator precedence like `2*a + 3*b` instead of `a * a + 3 * b`. Generally, don't use spaces around `*`, `/` and `**`, but _do_ use spaces around `+` and `-`. For appending strings, the spaces can be dropped. Don't use the `+` operator for appending multiple strings. Use formatting instead. **E228** missing whitespace around modulo operator **Reason:** See reason for E226. Formatting `%` like `/` and `*` should be possible. **E241:** multiple spaces after ‘,’ **Reason:** Column alignment. **E251:** unexpected spaces around keyword / parameter equals **Reason:** Column alignment. **E261:** at least two spaces before inline comment **Reason:** With syntax highlighting, this one doesn't make much sense. **E266:** too many leading ‘#’ for block comment **Reason:** In the source multiple `#`s is sometimes used to indicate importance or heading level, like markdown headers. **E302:** expected 2 blank lines, found 0 **Reason:** Applies to classes. Instead, end classes with a comment like `# END Class ClassName` to make it easier to see which class just ended. The double line break is then redundant. **E305:** expected 2 blank lines after end of function or class **Reason:** Instead, _always_ end a function with a `return`, preferably indented at function level. The end of the function is then clear.