Update on Open Source Contribution: April 14

Hey there folks!

This week I worked on lots of projects and also continued working on Microsoft calculator. Check out my previous blog post to know more about it.

Project link

Issue link

Pull Request link

While testing we encountered internal server problem with the Azure pipelines. It was fixed by one of the code maintainers when he closed and re-opened the PR. And then, suddenly tests started working. I have never seen this kind of fix ever.

I have already finished my tasks. I am just waiting for them to get it merge with the main codebase.

Firefox Fenix

Fenix is a Mozilla project. Soon, the default Mozilla Firefox browser will be archived and Fenix will take over it. I think it’s because fenix had lots of cool features. The main one is that Fenix can save state of your browsing. In programming world it’s like saving the state of collection of numerous tabs.

Its written in Kotlin.

Project link

In this project, I worked on two bugs.

Fenix(Issue-1)

The scroll was working fine in portrait mode but broken in landscape mode. To fix the problem I added Scroll view around Linear layout which simply fixed the problem and scroll was working fine in landscape mode.

Issue link

Pull Request link

Fenix(Issue-1)

Again the problem was related to landscape mode of the app. This time the search input text used to lost whenever user tried to switch his device from portrait mode to landscape mode or vice versa. So, to fix it I found a very common and effective solution to this problem. And, it solved the bug but unfortunately code maintainers didn’t liked my fix.

Issue link

Pull request link

Overall, I really liked working with fenix. I am still looking forward to fix more of its issues.

Mifos mobile

Its an Android Application built on top of the MifosX Self-Service platform for end-user customers to view/transact on the accounts and loans they hold. Data visible to customers will be a sub-set of what staff can see.

This is a native Android Application written in Java with POJO classes in Kotlin.

Project link

In this project, I worked on two bugs.

Mifos(Issue-1)

It was my first time working on this new project so I tried to chose a easy issue to fix and luckily I found a issue related to UI. All I had to do was to align the text(Account Number) in center.

Before

After

Issue link

Pull request link

Mifos(Issue-2)

Now time was to do something that I have never done before. I found a issues in which they needed a confirmation dialog box whenever a user tries to change the password. So I used material dialog class to do it.

New changes

I always wondered how to implement those fancy dialog boxes and today I actually implemented it myself

Issue link

Pull request link

This week I found developers don’t give much importance to the landscape layout of android apps and due to which number of issues are filed related to the app orientation.

Overall, I feel proud to work on so many projects in just two weeks. Most importantly I got a good opportunity to work on Microsoft and Mozilla project.

I will be still looking out for some other exciting Open Source projects to work on so let me know in comments if you have any recommendations.

Stay Tuned!

Open Source Contribution Summary: March Edition

Here there folks!

This month I am working on an issue in AntennaPod. Check out my previous blog post to know more about it.

Project Link

About Issue

Issue link

My task was to add empty view to the Episodes, Download, Playback History and Queue history pages. At first, I had some troubles figuring out how fragments work. Later, I found my way out and added the empty views to the required pages. Throughout the process, the code maintainers of the project helped me and gave me amazing tips in android development.

Result

I have already submitted my pull request and currently maintainers are reviewing my code. Hopefully, my code will get merge by next week.

Pull Request link

I am also looking forward to fix more issues in this project.

Stay Tuned!

Contribution to AntennaPod: March22

Hey folks,

This week I am working on an issue in AntennaPod. It’s a podcast manager which allows you to subscribe, download top podcasts available in the market.

The project is written in Java and XML.

For the issue, I am adding empty views to various pages. At first I thought the task will be easy but later I found its not that simple. Especially understanding fragments code was a challenge. For almost two days I was lost I had no idea how fragments work. Not only that fragments can be coded in many different ways which makes it more complex to understand as every developer has its own style of writing code. So, I had to do some digging about it.

Issue link

Later I was able to create empty views for some pages. But I wasn’t sure if
my code is according to their project coding standards. So I sent a pull request of my current work for review. Luckily, it passed all the test (hurray!)

Pull request

Then, one of contributor recommended to create only one empty view(xml) instead of recreating empty views for each page. But, he didn’t said anything about my java code (main code) so I believe it’s a good sign.

Now, I am finishing off remaining work and I believe I will submit my final PR to resolve the issue by next week.

Stay Tuned!

Future Open Source Contribution Plan: March Edition

Hey there folks!

This week I will be working on an WordPress android application.

Personally, I have been using wordpress for a quite some time and I love it. It is just so clean and simple to use. Recently, I found that there is an android app for the WordPress which is an Open Source project(repo). These days I have been investing lot of time learning cool things in android development. Soon, I will be uploading my ongoing android projects on Github as Open Source.

For now, I am going to fix some existing bugs or maybe add some cool feature in WordPress app. In process, I will also try to find some undiscovered bugs.

I have already setup my workspace. Throughout the project, I really loved the variable/function naming convention. But, I have to become more familiar with the codebase and get down to work on bugs.

The issues that I am planning to work are as follows:

Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

I will be still looking out for some other exciting Open Source projects to work on so let me know in comments if you have any recommendations.

Stay Tuned!

Open Source Contribution Summary: Feb Edition

As may have seen my older blog posts in which I posted stuff about my participation in Open Source projects whether it is fixing a small bug, improving UI, fixing typos in a document or implementing a cool feature.

If not, check out my previous posts to get more information about my work on Open Source projects in detail.

Pull Requests

Github Account

Lessons learned…

Earlier when I was finding a good first issue, my main concern was about fixing an issue, but later I got to know setting up the project on a personal desktop is the real pain. So, always check if the project dependencies are compatible with your machine prior to the installation process.
You need to know basic Git commands like push, pull.
Find issue easily by filtering search results using label. My favourite label ones are good first issue and bug
There so many ways to fix a problem and there might be times when code maintainers don’t like your fix so don’t feel bad instead learn from it.
Writing comments above your code is a good practice.
Don’t look around too much for a solution, its okay to ask for help from your fellow developers or Open Source community.
At the end of the day Stack overflow will be your best friend.
Don’t rush, take it easy and enjoy the process.

Some cool things…

My GitHub contribution activity table has started looking green now.

I was invited to join Code For Boston community on slack and worked with awesome developers.
I was added on MojiScript contributors list by the owner.

Reflection

I am getting very comfortable with React and Android.
I learned to implement APIs in a web application and it will be very helpful in future projects.
While finding issues, I discovered several projects that uses machine learning and I am looking forward to work on it.

Overall, it was a great experience!

In upcoming weeks, I will be working and fixing more issue in Open Source projects and definitely will post a blog update about it.

Stay Tuned!

My Next Steps in Contributing to the Open-Source Society

After successfully getting started with contributing to the Open-Source society. I am planning to work on four new Open-Source projects in the future.

Check out my previous blog post to know more about my first contribution to the Open-Source society.

MICROSOFT – VS CODE

VS Code is a type of tool that combines the simplicity of a code editor with what developers need for their core edit-build-debug cycle. It provides comprehensive editing and debugging support, an extensibility model, and lightweight integration with existing tools.

VS Code is built using Javascript, Typescript, and CSS on top of Electron framework.

I have been using the VS Code for two years and I love this code editor. I usually develop web apps using the VS Code. Currently, the VS Code has around 4500 issues on GitHub. I want to help the VS Code by fixing some of its issues. Also, I will become more familiar with Javascript and TypeScript.

Website

GitHub

BRAVE – BRAVE BROWSER

Brave is a free and open-source web browser available on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and IOS. Brave is designed with a built-in adblocker to provide an ad-free and seamless browsing experience.

The Brave windows browser is built using JavaScript and Brave android app uses Java.

I have been using Brave for six months but never thought of contributing to it. Now, I am planning to resolve potential issues to both the Brave Windows browser and the Brave Android App. I will be able to improve my front end skills with JavaScript. I will also gain a deeper understanding of different functionalities of the web browser.

Website

Google Play Store

GitHub – Web

GitHub – Android

DUCK DUCK GO – ANDROID

Duck Duck Go is an Internet search engine available on Web, Android, and IOS platforms. The astonishing thing about this search engine is to protect the user’s privacy. It avoids the filter bubble of personalized search results and shows all users the same search results for a given search term.

The Duck Duck Go Android app is built using Kotlin.

It has been a month since I started developing on Android apps using Java but never worked with Kotlin. It will be a great opportunity for me to learn about Kotlin. I am planning to resolve the backend related issues of the project. I will also learn about how a search engine works.

Website

Google Play Store

GitHub

TEAMMATES

TEAMMATES is a free online tool for managing peer evaluations and other feedback paths of your students. It is provided as a cloud-based service for educators/students and is currently used by hundreds of universities across the world.

The Teammates website uses both Java and TypeScript.

I am really good at Java programming and want to contribute my skills and time to resolve issues on the project. Moreover, I will be able to develop my programming skills with TypeScript. I will be able to further develop my knowledge/understanding of the Java production-ready applications.

Website

Github

Let me know if you want to recommend any Open-Source projects related to JavaScript, Android and Machine Learning.