python-escpos/CONTRIBUTING.rst

************
Contributing
************

This project is open to any kind of contribution. You can help with improving the documentation, adding fixes to the
code, providing test cases in code or as a description or just spreading the word. Please feel free to create an
issue or pull request.
In order to reduce the amount of work for everyone please try to adhere to good practice.

The pull requests and issues will be prefilled with templates. Please fill in your information where applicable.

This project uses `semantic versioning <http://semver.org/>`_ and tries to adhere to the proposed rules as
well as possible.

Style-Guide
-----------

When writing code please try to stick to these rules.

Python 2 and 3
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
We have rewritten the code in order to maintain compatibility with both Python 2 and Python 3.
In order to ensure that we do not miss any accidental degradation, please add these imports to the top
of every file of code:

.. code-block:: Python

  from __future__ import absolute_import
  from __future__ import division
  from __future__ import print_function
  from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
Furthermore please be aware of the differences between Python 2 and 3. For
example `this guide <https://docs.python.org/3/howto/pyporting.html>`_ is helpful.
Special care has to be taken when dealing with strings and byte-strings. Please note
that the :py:meth:`~escpos.escpos.Escpos._raw`-method only accepts byte-strings.
Often you can achieve compatibility quite easily with a tool from the `six`-package.

PEP8
^^^^
This is not yet consequently done in every piece of code, but please try to ensure
that your code honors PEP8.
The checks by Landscape and QuantifiedCode that run on every PR will provide you with hints.

GIT
^^^
The master-branch contains code that has been released to PyPi. A release is marked with a tag
corresponding to the version. Issues are closed when they have been resolved in a released version
of the package.

When you have a change to make, begin by creating a new branch from the HEAD of `python-escpos/development`.
Name your branch to indicate what you are trying to achieve. Good branch names might
be `improve/text-handling`, `feature/enable-color-printing`.

Please try to group your commits into logical units. If you need to tidy up your branch, you can make use of a
git feature called an 'interactive rebase' before making a pull request. A small, self-contained change-set is
easier to review, and improves the chance of your code being merged.
Please also make sure that before creating your PR, your branch is rebased on a recent commit or you merged a recent
commit into your branch. This way you can ensure that your PR is without merge conflicts.

Docstrings
^^^^^^^^^^
This project tries to have a good documentation.
Please add a docstring to every method and class. Have a look at existing methods and classes for the style.
We use basically standard rst-docstrings for Sphinx.

Test
^^^^
Try to write tests whenever possible. Our goal for the future is 100% coverage.
We are currently using `nose` but might change in the future.
You can copy the structure from other testcases. Please remember to adapt the docstrings.

Further reading
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For further best practices and hints on contributing please see the
`contribution-guide <http://www.contribution-guide.org/>`_. Should there be any contradictions between this guide
and the linked one, please stick to this text.
Aside from that feel free to create an issue or write an email if anything is unclear.

Thank you for your contribution!