ER: Codebase Formatting Standards

[efrenmarin45]

Emergent Requirement - Problem Description

• Not having a uniformed formatting template is detrimental to the health of the codebase. Currently, white spaces, indentation widths, trailing commas and more are all dependent on the developers personal preference. This hurts the codebase by having multiple formatting styles arise when merging code in making it more cumbersome to read and maintain.

Relevant Issue(s)

(Updated by PMs)

• Epic: Prettier Code Formatting #1877

Date discovered

• November 20th, 2024

Did this require a temporary workaround? If yes, what was it?

• No

Who was involved

• @efrenmarin45

What happens if this is not addressed

• Delays in merging PR's due to miscellaneous formatting differences.
• Codebase health continues to suffer from unorganized formats.

Resources

• Prettier Formatter

Recommended Action Items

• Propose a standard format
• Host a meeting to go over proposed format
• Discuss personal preferences and allow for each developer to make a case for each formatting option possible
• Once formatting options are solidified, assign ticket to a developer to create the necessary files and steps needed for everyone to adopt the changes.
• One master change made to the main branch knowing it might be a massive code diff
• After the main branch is updated with the new formatting, developers can pull and resolve locally.

Potential Solutions

• First thing would be to have the development team agree on a set standard for formatting.
• Once a decision is made, both a .prettierrc file with JSON would need to be created as well as an .editorconfig file using JSON.
• To help ease the transition for both current and future developers, an in-depth workflow and set-up guide should be created.

[aqandrew]

+1 for Prettier!

I would recommend also installing a pre-commit hook like lint-staged to run Prettier on staged files, as recommended in Prettier's docs. IMO the most convenient way to run Prettier is using VS Code's Prettier plugin + format-on-save--but it's difficult to enforce that everyone use the same editor/plugin.

Running a pre-commit hook will ensure that the agreed-upon code styles are followed after this issue is closed.

[ryanfchase]

Assigned myself to review the ER and kick off follow up tickets. ETA today/tmo.

[ryanfchase]

I have created an epic that outlines the steps needed to integrate Prettier into our repo. I will consider this ticket "In Review" while product and dev lead reviews the epic.

• Epic: Prettier Code Formatting #1877
  • ready for dev lead added
  • ready for product added