microsoft / microsoft/react-native-windows

Improve build error experience from the CLI

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Area: Build Infrastructure enhancement Workstream: ES Compliance SFI
Dominant language
C++
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

When running "react-native run-windows", if you hit a build error, you get error information that looks like this:

Capture

Paraphrasing: It shows you the first line of the first error, and a link to the error file.

This is an improvement from the original implementation but we can do better.

Here's an idea: We already produce a binlog during the build which has everything that happened in the build. There's also a binlog viewer app that has a nice UI with searching, filtering, etc. If we could launch the binlog viewer on build errors, it would be a much better experience. Note that the binlog viewer isn't installed with VS. We could auto-install the binlog viewer on demand, and launch it when there's a build error (exact user experience TBD).

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the react-native run-windows entry point and trace where the build binlog is produced. Research how the binlog viewer could be installed on demand and launched after a build error. Done means build failures provide the improved viewer-based experience, but the desired user experience still needs to be defined.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
react-native
Domain
build-system, cli, developer-experience
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
28/100

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