Node-RED Dashboard 2.0

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Contributing ​

Contributions are always welcome for FlowFuse Dashboard. We have a lot of great ideas we want to get built, and we'd love to have your help!

Project Structure ​

/nodes ​

Contains the files that define each of the Node-RED nodes that make up the FlowFuse Dashboard node set. You can read more about writing nodes for Node-RED here.

/ui ​

Contains our VueJS app that forms the core of FlowFuse Dashboard. Inside /ui/src/widgets, you will find a set of subdirectories, each containing a .vue file. It is these files that define the appearance and functionality a users sees when viewing the Dashboard.

/docs ​

A VitePress documentation site that is used to generate the documentation for FlowFuse Dashboard (what you're reading now).

Installing Locally ​

Pre-requisites ​

  • GitHub Account - You will need a GitHub account in order to make a copy of the code and contribute any changes.
  • Node.js - Node.js will also come packaged with the Node Package Manager (npm) which is used to install dependencies, and run the Dashboard (and Node-RED) locally.
  • Git - Git is used to clone the repository locally to your machine, and permits you to push changes back to the central repository on GitHub.

Clone & Build the Repository ​

  1. Logon to Appropriate Machine: Logon to the machine where you have installed Node-RED.

  2. Fork Repository: Fork this repository to your own Github account:

    image

  3. Clone Git Repo: Clone the forked repository from your Github account. This can be anywhere appropriate on your machine (e.g. /yourname/development/):

    bash
    git clone https://github.com/<your_github_account>/node-red-dashboard.git

  4. Install Dependencies: From inside your cloned directory, install all dependent packages (from the package.json file):

    bash
    cd /node-red-dashboard
npm install

  5. Optionally generate a source map (to map the minified dashboard code to the original code), to simplify debugging of the frontend dashboard code in the browser. On Linux this can be achieved by:

    bash
    export NODE_ENV=development

  6. Build Dashboard: Create a static build of the Dashboard's UI, based on Vue CLI (which has been installed in step 3):

    bash
    npm run build

    Alternatively, use npm run build:dev to build a developer version or use npm run dev to build a developer version and watch for changes (hot reload)

Install into Node-RED ​

  1. Navigate to .node-red: In a terminal, navigate to your .node-red folder (normally at ~/.node-red).

    bash
    cd ~/.node-red

  2. Remove existing FlowFuse Dashboard: Note - if you have already installed this dashboard via your palette, you will need to uninstall it first. This can be done from the Palette Manager in Node-RED, or via npm on the terminal:

    bash
    npm uninstall @flowfuse/node-red-dashboard

  3. Install FlowFuse Dashboard: Install the forked dashboard into your Node-RED system from inside the .node-red folder:

    bash
    npm install <path_to_your_forked_dashboard>

Making Changes ​

  1. Make Changes: Make any appropriate edits.

    • Node-RED Editor: For Node-RED node changes, you'll work inside /nodes - changes here will require a restart of Node-RED (and refresh of the Node-RED Editor) to see the latest changes.
      • For convenience you can use npm run watch:node-red which will restart Node-RED after any changes to /nodes
      • This assumes Node-RED is installed at ~/.node-red and you have @flowfuse/node-red-dashboard installed in that folder (as per step 3 above)
    • Dashboard/UI: For Dashboard/UI changes, see /ui - changes here will require a rebuild of the Dashboard's UI, which can be done by running npm run build (as per Step 5. in "Clone & Build the Repository").
      • For convenience you can use npm run watch:dashboard which will auto-rebuild after dashboard UI changes
    • The two watch commands are combined into one command under npm run watch

  2. Refresh Browser: Refresh the dashboard in the browser on http(s)://your_hostname_or_ip_address:1880/dashboard

  3. Develop: Repeat step 1 to 2 over and over again, until you're satisfied with your results.

  4. Create Branch: Once you're ready to publish your changes, in your cloned repository directory (e.g. /yourname/development/node-red-dashboard), create a new branch for all the files of your forked dashboard:

    bash
    git checkout -b name_of_your_new_branch

  5. As soon as all your changes work fine, commit your changes:

    bash
    git commit -a -m "Description of your changes"

  6. Push the committed changes to the dashboard fork on your Github account:

    bash
    git push origin

  7. In your forked dashboard repository (on Github), switch to the new branch and create a pull request.

Running Documentation Locally ​

  1. Run Docs Dev Server: You can run the documentation locally by running the following command at the root of the /node-red-dashboard directory:
    bash
    npm run docs:dev
    This will then run your documentation at http://localhost:5173/
  2. Make Changes: Make any appropriate edits to the documentation (/docs). The documentation will live update, no need to re-build, restart the server or refresh the browser.