Commlink is a Java application, that uses JavaFX for the UI and GraalVM to produce native images for all platforms, including mobile operating systems. If you want to help writing code or if you want to contribute data - either way, you need to setup an environment to test your work.

For experienced Java developers

In case you are familiar with Java development and Maven, this is a brief summary what you need.

• Java 17 or newer and Maven

• Clone the following Git repository for Shadowrun 6 related code and data
  https://bitbucket.org/rpgframework-cloud/shadowrun-6/src/master/
  In the module “SR6_Data” is a test called LoadSR6DataTest which tries to run a headless test that reads all XML

• If you want to run the Commlink application, you also need to clone this Git repository: https://github.com/taranion/CommLink
  Run the ComLinkStarter.java class as a main application

• Optional: Some Shadowrun related source code (that might be identical for SR5) is held in a third Git repository: https://bitbucket.org/rpgframework-cloud/shadowrun-common/ You won’t need this repository, if you just want to edit data.

New to Java Development

Okay, the following explanation is the longer version of the paragraphs above and assumes you are fairly new to Java development. It also assumes you use Eclipse as an IDE.

Step 1: Create yourself an account at Bitbucket

We do store our source code and data at the online service called “Bitbucket” (from Atlassian). We use a so called version control system named “Git” to access that service.

You need to create yourself an account at https://bitbucket.org/ - it is free.

Step 2: Install the necessary software

You need to decide, if you want to work with a full fledged integrated development environment (IDE) or install software individually.

• IDE : All the setup is tried and tested by using Eclipse as an IDE. We can render help for this IDE. Of course, other IDEs like Intelli-J are just fine too.

• Individually : If you just want to edit a few files (like contributing translations), you can install the required components individually:

  • A Git Client for your operating system.

  • A good Text Editor that supports working with different encodings (like Notepad++)

  • (for programming) Java 17 or newer (e.g. from here).

For further steps, read this guide.