Once you've discussed your proposed feature/fix/etc. with a team member, and you've agreed an approach or a spec has been written and approved, it's time to start development:
1. Fork the repo if you haven't already
1. Clone your fork locally
1. Create & push a feature branch
1. Create a [Draft Pull Request (PR)](https://github.blog/2019-02-14-introducing-draft-pull-requests/)
- Before starting to work on a fix/feature, make sure there is an open issue to track the work.
- Add the `In progress` label to the issue, if not already present also add a `Cost-Small/Medium/Large` estimate and make sure all appropriate labels are set.
- If you are a community contributor, you will not be able to add labels to the issue, in that case just add a comment saying that you started to work on the issue and try to give an estimate for the delivery date.
- If the work item has a medium/large cost, using the markdown task list, list each sub item and update the list with a check mark after completing each sub item.
- When you'd like the team to take a look, (even if the work is not yet fully-complete), mark the PR as 'Ready For Review' so that the team can review your work and provide comments, suggestions, and request changes. It may take several cycles, but the end result will be solid, testable, conformant code that is safe for us to merge.
- Use the `Squash and merge` option to merge a PR, if you don't want to squash it because there are logically different commits, use `Rebase and merge`.
- We don't close issues automatically when referenced in a PR, so after the PR is merged:
- mark the issue(s), that the PR solved, with the `Resolution-Fix-Committed` label, remove the `In progress` label and if the issue is assigned to a project, move the item to the `Done` status.
- don't close the issue if it's a bug in the current released version since users tend to not search for closed issues, we will close the resolved issues when a new version is released.
- if it's not a code fix that effects the end user, the issue can be closed (for example a fix in the build or a code refactoring and so on).
4. Once you've cloned and started the `PowerToys.sln`, in the solution explorer, if you see a dialog that says `install extra components`, click `install`
- Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio, in the `Solutions Configuration` drop-down menu select `Release` or `Debug`, from the `Build` menu choose `Build Solution`.
- The PowerToys binaries will be in your repo under `x64\Release\`.
- You can run `x64\Release\PowerToys.exe` directly without installing PowerToys, but some modules (i.e. PowerRename, ImageResizer, File Explorer extension etc.) will not be available unless you also build the installer and install PowerToys.
1. Install the [WiX Toolset Visual Studio 2022 Extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WixToolset.WixToolsetVisualStudio2022Extension).
The following configuration issue only applies if the user is a member of the Administrators group.
Some PowerToys modules require being run with the highest permission level if the current user is a member of the Administrators group. The highest permission level is required to be able to perform some actions when an elevated application (e.g. Task Manager) is in the foreground or is the target of an action. Without elevated privileges some PowerToys modules will still work but with some limitations:
To run and debug PowerToys from Visual Studio when the user is a member of the Administrators group, Visual Studio has to be started with elevated privileges. If you want to avoid running Visual Studio with elevated privileges and don't mind the limitations described above, you can do the following: open the `runner` project properties and navigate to the `Linker -> Manifest File` settings, edit the `UAC Execution Level` property and change it from `highestAvailable (level='highestAvailable')` to `asInvoker (/level='asInvoker')`, save the changes.
The common lib, as the name suggests, contains code shared by multiple PowerToys components and modules, e.g. [json parsing](/src/common/json.h) and [IPC primitives](/src/common/two_way_pipe_message_ipc.h).
