Ember Media Manager is written in Visual Basic 2012, and uses GitHub as a code repository.
If you want to be more involved in the development process and easily see changes as they are committed by other developers, you will need a git client of your own. You have many choices and there is no right or wrong answer. Can't choose? If you like GUI clients, try TortoiseGit. If you like command-line clients, you can't go wrong with the original.
Alternatively, and maybe simplest of all, is to use GitHub's built-in support. Selecting the "Clone in Desktop" button (right side of any repository), you can use GitHub's Windows desktop client to interface with GitHub. It is pretty slick, but only works on GitHub. If you are using Git elsewhere, you might be better served using one tool for all your Git needs.
First, navigate to the source code repository that you'd like to work on as your base, and copy the HTTPS clone URL to your clipboard.
Finding the HTTPS clone URL
Assuming Git is properly installed on your system, you will have a new program listed under <Start | All programs | Git> called Git GUI. Select that program to start it.
Initial Git selection screen
Select "Clone Existing Repository". This will bring up a dialog asking for the source and destination. In the source box, enter the HTTPS clone URL by clicking in the box and pressing control-V (right-click does not seem to work in that application). Then select a suitable destination directory. A recommended location is < C:\Users\YourUserID\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\EmberMM >. Placing it there makes it easily accessible from Visual Studio.
Clone Existing Repository dialog from the Git client
Open the Ember Media Manager project, either by double-clicking on the Ember Media Manager.sln file, or by first opening Visual Studio and performing a File | Open and selecting the same .sln file. When this completes, Visual Studio should present you with a list of sub-projects along the right, with a heading "Solution 'Ember Media Manager'".
The very first time you run the application, it is recommended you select Build | Clean solution. This will remove any existing build artefacts, and force everything to be re-built, so you can ensure you have everything required to compile the application. If you omit this step (at least when you first check-out the code) you won't know if it fails because of something you have done, or if it fails because the source code had an error. Now you can just click the green Start arrow on the toolbar, or select Debug | Start Debugging, which will trigger a compile (if required) and will run it when done.
If you embrace the GitHub interface, you can create your own fork of the project, make your modifications, commit the changes back to your fork, and generate a pull request for DanCooper (or authorized developer) to pull the changes into the development branches.
Alternatively, for small changes, you can just clone the official repository (without making your own fork), code/debug on your local machine, then post a comment into the appropriate forum thread. This works for small changes to single blocks of code, but is unwieldy for larger blocks or multiple files.
Tools
The following are the recommended tools for developing Ember Media Manager. Alternatives do exist, however they may not be supported.Visual Basic 2012
You can get a free and fully functional version of Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 directly from Microsoft. You must register to obtain a free key to allow its use past 30 days, but there are no obligations.Git Client
The source code is stored at GitHub. If you just want to download the code and play with it, you can just download the zip version, and have at it. The link to the zip can be found along the right-side of the GitHub repository page.If you want to be more involved in the development process and easily see changes as they are committed by other developers, you will need a git client of your own. You have many choices and there is no right or wrong answer. Can't choose? If you like GUI clients, try TortoiseGit. If you like command-line clients, you can't go wrong with the original.
Alternatively, and maybe simplest of all, is to use GitHub's built-in support. Selecting the "Clone in Desktop" button (right side of any repository), you can use GitHub's Windows desktop client to interface with GitHub. It is pretty slick, but only works on GitHub. If you are using Git elsewhere, you might be better served using one tool for all your Git needs.
Checking Out the Source Code
Because there are so many Git clients, I'll just demonstrate using the reference version of Git which has some basic GUI capabilities.First, navigate to the source code repository that you'd like to work on as your base, and copy the HTTPS clone URL to your clipboard.
Finding the HTTPS clone URL
Assuming Git is properly installed on your system, you will have a new program listed under <Start | All programs | Git> called Git GUI. Select that program to start it.
Initial Git selection screen
Select "Clone Existing Repository". This will bring up a dialog asking for the source and destination. In the source box, enter the HTTPS clone URL by clicking in the box and pressing control-V (right-click does not seem to work in that application). Then select a suitable destination directory. A recommended location is < C:\Users\YourUserID\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\EmberMM >. Placing it there makes it easily accessible from Visual Studio.
Clone Existing Repository dialog from the Git client
Compiling the Source
Navigate to the directory where you have stored your local copy of Ember MM.Open the Ember Media Manager project, either by double-clicking on the Ember Media Manager.sln file, or by first opening Visual Studio and performing a File | Open and selecting the same .sln file. When this completes, Visual Studio should present you with a list of sub-projects along the right, with a heading "Solution 'Ember Media Manager'".
The very first time you run the application, it is recommended you select Build | Clean solution. This will remove any existing build artefacts, and force everything to be re-built, so you can ensure you have everything required to compile the application. If you omit this step (at least when you first check-out the code) you won't know if it fails because of something you have done, or if it fails because the source code had an error. Now you can just click the green Start arrow on the toolbar, or select Debug | Start Debugging, which will trigger a compile (if required) and will run it when done.
Using GitHub and Submitting Fixes
There are a few different ways to submit fixes, each with its own pros and cons. It all depends on how involved you want to get in the Ember Media Manager project, and whether you want to give back to the community.If you embrace the GitHub interface, you can create your own fork of the project, make your modifications, commit the changes back to your fork, and generate a pull request for DanCooper (or authorized developer) to pull the changes into the development branches.
Alternatively, for small changes, you can just clone the official repository (without making your own fork), code/debug on your local machine, then post a comment into the appropriate forum thread. This works for small changes to single blocks of code, but is unwieldy for larger blocks or multiple files.
