Are you having issues?

cowboysdude

How to help a developer help you.
Making a MagicMirror2 is both fun and educational.
There are many different mirrors….everyone’s is different, unique. That’s not a bad thing but when it comes to helping you figure out an issue it can become very cloudy at best.
So here’s some basic information that will help you.

DO NOT change a module core file [that includes the main.js, node_helper.js or css file]
That’s what the custom css file is for….playing and testing. IF you do and something goes wrong tell the developer what you’ve done so he/she can better help you and try to figure out what you are trying to do and how to best fix it. You may not like the answer ie ‘it wasn’t meant to do that……’
Understand above all else including the Mirror software itself that all of this is free to you. Be patient. The vast majority of developers have full time jobs and this is a ‘hobby’…and if they can’t just get right back to you be willing to put something on hold until everyone has time.
You can do this simply by adding “disabled: true “ at the top of ANY module in the config.js file. This will stop that particular module from running while you wait for help.
A developer more than likely created a module for his/her own use and decided to share it with the community. They are under NO obligation to help you with it, remember this is supposed to be a project that you actively take part in and not something you should count on others to build for you.
Like anything new it’s fun and exciting and if everything goes 100% correctly it’s great but more than likely you may run into issues.
WHAT DO I DO Cowboysdude???
First…be willing to do some leg work on your own. IF something isn’t working run your mirror in ‘dev mode’………
HOW?
In a terminal window simply type ‘npm start dev’………a side window will open and you will see any errors in red. Write down that error because it will help! OR you can do what I did when I first started and had NO idea what I was doing and at the start of this there just wasn’t much help…… I looked up things on the internet. It’s how I got the first version running……I checked the errors and did research and VIOLA…….I got it running!
WHAT DID I DO?
Did you change something?
If you changed something, change it back to see if you still get the error, if not your change is the issue, ask for help.

What did you change?
IF you totally destroy something not to worry simply delete the module and start over. It’s already in your config……so after you delete it you can do another ‘git clone’ and start over. Easy.

Just remember asking for help is not the same as asking someone to do the work for you. I had a TON of help after the forum really got going and when I started I was writing programs in PHP and knew ZERO javascript……here I am today……still learning but writing in Javascript…… I asked for help and YES I got frustrated at times myself but hung In there. Thanks for a few people for that and they know who they are and I don’t need to mention their names. [Thanks Kid ;)]…
SO there you are……
If you’re having issues, ask. If you’re changing files and breaking things, stop. Yes it’s fun to ‘play’ and try new things but I suggest you use a ‘dev machine’ for that and not your main mirror.

The MOST important thing you can do for yourself is read…use the search feature on the forum because more than likely there is already a topic that’s been solved for the issue you are having. What doesn’t help is when people keep creating new topics when there are already a few of the same runs already going. A little reading can save you HOURS of frustration.

EDIT

YES the developer created a README.MD file with the module…take your time and read it!!!

Mykle1

@cowboysdude

Amen brother! :thumbsup:

And lets not forget to read the README files.