MediaPortal Development Mentor (1 Viewer)

[GreenJelly]

Hey, well I am interesting in getting involved, but am WAY over my head. Is there a way I can get a "Mentor" of types to help Me learn the code, community, and other things so that I may get involved.

I already have SVN, Visual Studios and one error away from Compiling. I have been on IRC, even asked some questions but it is not the most super active place

Anyways looking to try something new... Development Desktop!

 

[mm1352000]

Hi GreenJelly

Hey, well I am interesting in getting involved, but am WAY over my head. Is there a way I can get a "Mentor" of types to help Me learn the code, community, and other things so that I may get involved.

I think it is *awesome* that you're interested - we always need more developers. Having said that, I'm not sure that we're able to offer mentoring as there is just too much code and we're all very busy. The last thing I want to do is discourage you though! The advice I would give you is to start by yourself, focussing on one [limited] area of the code (like My Videos or My Music etc. - even a specific feature within an area if the code is too overwhelming) - I'd recommend code for an area of MP that you use a lot so that you know how the functionality is meant to work. Maybe make a few random small changes just to find out how things work. Once you're a little more comfortable, find a limitation that you would like to get rid of, a small feature that you want to add, or maybe a bug (if you can ) that needs fixing, and see if you can implement the feature/fix. That is how I got started and I think I'm not too much worse for the experience. If you are really stuck with something or have specific questions then I'm sure we'd be happy to try and answer them...

I have been on IRC, even asked some questions but it is not the most super active place

Personally I don't visit IRC at all because I'd rather respond to questions in the forum - it gives me a chance to think more carefully about the answer, and more importantly to me, it leaves a record of the process/answer/solution/cause etc. for other people to find in the future.

mm

 

[Mike Lowrey]

Just as an addition to mm1352000:
I would not start with MyMusic since it is based on many workarounds of the db layout where most changes can have many sideeffects which might be discouraging.

 

[GreenJelly]

Dont worry about it...

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again GreenJelly

We'd all be happy to answer any specific questions you have, however what I meant by "don't have time" is that we don't really have time to walk you through the code and explain how it works. You mentioned you have a problem with compiling - what is the error, and are you using a 64 bit system with VS 2010?

mm

 

[GreenJelly]

Yes I am running a 64 bit OS with VS 2010, the getting started post is highly outdated. With the current setup running Visual Studio Express is not possible. I get the error...

Error 1 Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:/svnroot/mediaportal/trunk/mediaportal/MediaPortal.Base/BassRegistration.dll' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Line 2293, position 5. C:\svnroot\mediaportal\trunk\mediaportal\Configuration\Sections\PluginsNew.resx 2293 5 MediaPortal.Configuration

I don't think publishing every question development question in a public forum is an option for success... More of an of an option to get extremely frustrated and be seen as a pain in the ass... I would prefer to step away from the project at this time with My dignity intact.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again GreenJelly

Yes I am running a 64 bit OS with VS 2010, the getting started post is highly outdated.

I'm not exactly sure which "getting started" post you're referring to. Do you mind pointing me in the right direction so we can fix it please.

With the current setup running Visual Studio Express is not possible. I get the error...

Error 1 Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:/svnroot/mediaportal/trunk/mediaportal/MediaPortal.Base/BassRegistration.dll' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Line 2293, position 5. C:\svnroot\mediaportal\trunk\mediaportal\Configuration\Sections\PluginsNew.resx 2293 5 MediaPortal.Configuration

Noted. We've only shifted to VS2010 within the last few months and we're still ironing out a few crinkles with it. I will raise that with the rest of the team.

I don't think publishing every question development question in a public forum is an option for success... More of an of an option to get extremely frustrated and be seen as a pain in the ass... I would prefer to step away from the project at this time with My dignity intact.

Sorry to hear it, but I respect your decision. Obviously collaborating on such a project when the developers are spread around the world in different timezones (mostly Europe...) and are working on different areas of the project in their spare time makes things a little tricky. I don't really know what more you expected, but personally I would be fully open to any suggestions you may have to make it easier for people such as yourself to dive into the code.

All the best,
mm

[Edit: I also note that we have a private forum and IRC channel for discussing development related issues... which is to say that if you were invited to join the team then perhaps you may find things easier.]

 

[GreenJelly]

Each open source project has its own way of doing things... There own system of "Karma". Its very difficult for someone new to come in and work within an established group. Figure out how to make it easy and you will be a visionary

I am also not experienced enough with .NET right now to jump in, so I will be playing around and picking it up. I figured I would work on a task manager optimizer since Microsoft seems to feel that no one uses their computers at midnight (exactly when Im usually playing games and watching movies) so they run everything that makes my movies skip. The Skips appear to be random, but they are associated with Microsoft's default tasks (Watch the Resource Monitor).

As far as the instructions I was talking about, you will find them here Compiling - MediaPortal Wiki however it looks like you updated it