My Attempt to Send a Pull Request to Prism

I'm sure you have all had the thought at least once or twice: "I want to have my name listed as a contributor to a project I admire!"

I certainly have.

And I actually had an idea that seemed worth adopting.

In this post, I'd like to talk about the actions I took with that goal in mind and the results I got.

For those of you who know me, you can probably guess which project I wanted to send a pull request to.

Yes, it’s Prism.

//hatenablog-parts.com/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FPrismLibrary%2FPrism

Prism provides a feature that allows you to inject the DependencyService itself by using an IDependencyService that wraps the DependencyService.

So, I thought:

"Wouldn't it be useful if we did the same thing with the Xamarin.Forms.Device class?"

Xamarin.Forms.Device depends on Xamarin.Forms.Init and specific device details, which makes it hard to test if you use it directly.

I thought that wrapping it in an interface and making it injectable would make things much more convenient.

Just as I was thinking about this, the creator, Brian Lagunas, happened to visit Japan, and luckily, I had the chance to speak with him directly.

So, I decided to do an impromptu interview (with the help of an external simultaneous interpreter).

Me: Hey, Brian! Why isn't there an IDevice for Device? Has there been any discussion about it in the past?

Brian: No, we haven't really discussed it. But I don't really see the necessity.

Me: Well, I'll open a proper issue for it, so if it looks good, would you mind if I sent a pull request?

Brian: OK! I'll be waiting!

That was the exchange.

Being the serious person I am, I went ahead and translated the entire Prism Contributing manual.

I even got help on Twitter when I couldn't grasp the nuances.

Thank you, @takuya_takeuchi and @espresso3389!

http://www.nuits.jp/embed/2016/10/16/183517

Hmm, I see.

"If you want to send a pull request, it's best to open an issue and discuss it first!"

OK! Open an issue. Easy peasy. Take it away, Google Translate sensei.

The issue I opened is linked below, but to summarize it:

Me: Hey, Brian! I want IDevice. Here is the design!

Brian: It's easy to build. But what is the scenario for using it?

Someone out there: I'd like to use it in these situations. <- Backup has arrived!
Me: Also, maybe in these situations as well.

Brian: I see, sounds good! It's simple!

Me: Oh! Can I send a PR then!?

Brian: Easy! I already made it! Could you review the PR?

Me: (　ﾟдﾟ) ...Wait, what? I wanted to send the PR... Ah... Don't you need the generic methods?

Brian: Oh! I forgot! I added them, so please review!

Me: I-I think it's good! It's perfect!

Brian: OK! That's one done!

//hatenablog-parts.com/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FPrismLibrary%2FPrism%2Fissues%2F808

That was how it all ended up.

I mean, Brian is a great guy, but I really wanted to be the one to send the PR...

Anyway, IDeviceService is scheduled to be released in the next version of Prism, 6.3.

Prism/IDeviceService.cs at master · PrismLibrary/Prism · GitHub

Next time, I'm going to send an issue along with a "What do you think about this!?" PR! (#ﾟДﾟ)!!

Oh, and just to repeat, Brian really is a great guy. Seriously.

Everyone, let's use Prism!