Getting started with developing for Unifier

Development for Unifier can occur on any platform (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux). You will however require an active Internet connection in order to retrieve data in-application for Unifier due to the application using a realtime database as its authentication, database, and storage solution.

Alternatively, you can mock specific data within the Angular components if you expect to go without Internet for an extended period.

Dependencies

You will first require both Node.js and npm to install the required dependencies and run Unifier.

1. Install Node.js (Latest LTS version is fine) for your specific system via the Node.js website. npm is bundled with Node.js.
2. You can test for a successful installation with the following commands: $ node -v $ npm -v
3. Install the Ionic framework and Apache Cordova using npm. If you encounter an error on Mac OS X or Linux, you may have to execute the command with sudo prefixed. $ npm install -g ionic cordova
4. You can also test for a successful installation of Ionic with the following command: $ ionic -v
5. Clone or fork the Unifier repository. git clone https://github.com/timothytavarez/Unifier.git
6. Change directory to the main project folder.
7. Run npm install to retrieve the latest dependencies for Unifier. $ npm install
8. You should now be able to run the Ionic development server with live reload by invoking ionic serve* within the project folder. $ ionic serve

*Note: If you are using Cloud 9 as your development environment, use the following environment variables instead: $ ionic serve -p $PORT -r 8081