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Setup

Overview​

Flashpoint Launcher is built from a few components:

  • Backend Nodejs process
  • Database API written in Rust
  • Frontend Electron renderer w/ ReactJS framework

Follow the Required Setup first, then follow on to Database API Development only if you need to make changes to Database API.

If you've already got a cloned repo that builds and runs, please see Git Workflow before starting to make commits.

tip

Once it's running, you may want to point the Flashpoint Path in Config (or config.json) to an existing root folder for your project. For Flashpoint Archive this is the folder where /Data is present.

Required Setup​

To work on the launcher, the minimum you'll need is:

Clone the Launcher repository and its submodules:

git clone https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher.git launcher --recurse-submodules

Inside the new launcher folder, install the dependencies:

Note: The project is written to be used with npm, if you want to use other package management tools your milage may vary.

npm install

Make sure it builds and runs

npm run build
npm run start

Watching​

During development, you can run watch to automatically recompile any saved changes. Any backend changes will require the software to restart, but frontend only changes can use CTRL + SHIFT + R to restart the window.

npm run watch

Debugging​

Flashpoint Launcher includes VSCode launch configurations for debugging already, just use the debug tab in the IDE.

If you want to use debugging in other IDEs then use the NodeJS debugging tools for the backend, and the Chrome devtools (automatically enabled during development) for the frontend. You can enable the Chrome debug port by passing --remote-debugging-port=9223 to the electron process.

Next Steps​

Once you see the window working, you can carry on to Database API Development if you want to make modifications to the Database API, otherwise carry on to Git Workflow to learn how to structure your contributions.

Database API Development​

If you haven't already, set up your project through Required Setup.

The Database API is written in Rust for the flashpoint-archive Rust crate.

To work on the Database API, the minimum you'll need is:

Clone the Rust project to a new folder, outside the launcher folder:

git clone https://github.com/FlashpointProject/FPA-Rust.git fpa-rust --recurse-submodules

Inside the new fpa-rust folder, run the test command to make sure everything is working:

cargo test -p flashpoint-archive

If you want to change functionality, then modify the files inside crates/flashpoint-archive/ and remember to add tests to cover any new functionality.

To test these changes inside launcher development, first go into bindings/binding-node/ and build the binding

cd ./bindings/binding-node/
npm install
npm run build

Then link it to the global packages

npm link

Finally, go into your launcher folder and add the linked package

npm link @fparchive/flashpoint-archive

Now your launcher development environment will use the copy produced from the binding-node folder when compiling / running. You will need to run npm run build inside binding-node again whenever you make changes to the database API in crates/flashpoint-archive/

Whenever you run npm install you will have to run this link command again to set it back up.

Next Steps​

Carry on to Git Workflow to learn how to structure your contributions.