# Contributing This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com. When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA. You can contribute to this project by contributing to: * [Issues](https://github.com/microsoft/win32metadata/issues) * [Discussions](https://github.com/microsoft/win32metadata/discussions) * [Namespaces](#Namespaces) * [Enums](#Enums) * [Constants](#Constants) * [Typedefs](#Typedefs) * [Attributes](#Attributes) * [Projections](docs/projections.md) If you intend to contribute code changes, learn how to [set up your development environment](#Set-up-your-development-environment). When contributing code changes, [validate](#Validating-changes) your changes by rebuilding the winmd and then inspecting the reported winmd diff to ensure all changes were intentional: * [Full builds](#Full-builds) * [Incremental builds](#Incremental-builds) * [Comparing against the last release](#Comparing-against-the-last-release) This project has adopted the [Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct](https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/). For more information see the [Code of Conduct FAQ](https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/faq/) or contact [opencode@microsoft.com](mailto:opencode@microsoft.com) with any additional questions or comments. ## Set up your development environment * Install [Visual Studio 2022 (Desktop C++ Workload)](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=Community&channel=Release&version=VS2022&source=VSLandingPage&passive=false) * Install [PowerShell 7](https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=stable) * Run [scripts/Install-AllSoftware.ps1](scripts/Install-AllSoftware.ps1) to install the below software * Install [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/Download) * Install [.NET (SDK)](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet) * Install [ILSpy](https://github.com/icsharpcode/ILSpy/releases/latest) * Note: To use this script, make sure that the [Microsoft App Installer](https://www.microsoft.com/p/app-installer/9nblggh4nns1) is installed, the script is run as an administrator, and running scripts is not blocked. * Add [NuGet.org](https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json) as a [package source](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-nuget-add-source#examples) * Clone the [repo](https://github.com/microsoft/win32metadata.git) * Run a [full build](#Full-builds) ## Namespaces Our tooling organizes Win32 APIs into namespaces. This provides an alternative way for developers to easily include large areas of functionality and improves consistency and discoverability across Win32 and WinRT. * [Assign a header file to a single namespace](#assign-a-header-file-to-a-single-namespace) * [Split a header file among multiple namespaces](#split-a-header-file-among-multiple-namespaces) * [Refactoring namespaces](#refactoring-namespaces) ### Assign a header file to a single namespace The simplest way to assign an API to a namespace is to associate the API's header file with a [partition](generation/scraper/Partitions). A header file can only be associated with one partition, and by default all APIs included in the header file will be added to the partition's target namespace. Partitions are defined as [folders](generation/WinSDK/Partitions) with [main.cpp](generation/WinSDK/Partitions/Registry/main.cpp) and [settings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/Partitions/Registry/settings.rsp) files. * [main.cpp](generation/WinSDK/Partitions/Registry/main.cpp) contains `#include` statements like you would use to call the APIs directly. This typically includes the header files to be associated with the partition as well as any other dependent headers, included in the proper order. * [settings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/Partitions/Registry/settings.rsp) associates a list of header files to a namespace. Reference existing [partitions](generation/WinSDK/Partitions) to understand the template for this file. The important sections are `--traverse`, which lists the header files to include, and `--namespace` which lists the namespace to associate with the content of those header files. Note that headers should be listed alphabetically by convention, and the casing needs to match the casing of the filenames. You can test localized changes to partitions by running `./scripts/ScrapeHeaders.ps1` from the repo root. If it compiles, the changes are likely correct. A common reason for failure is main.cpp either doesn't include all the necessary dependent headers needed to use the target headers or doesn't include them in the proper order. For an API to be emitted in the metadata, it also needs a proper import library mapping in [libMappings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/libMappings.rsp). This file was prepopulated by scanning the `.lib` files in the SDK with [CreateProcLibMappingForAllLibs.ps1](scripts/CreateProcLibMappingForAllLibs.ps1), so most of the time no changes are required here. However there are cases where APIs may not have proper entries in that file. If APIs do not appear in the metadata despite the Partition definition looking correct, make sure [libMappings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/libMappings.rsp) contains the correct entries. ### Split a header file among multiple namespaces If a header file doesn't cleanly map to one namespace, it should be associated with a partition and namespace that makes sense for the majority of its APIs (using the steps above for a single namespace), and then the rest of the APIs should be manually remapped using [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp). This file contains one line per API and follows the format `=`. It is a single file that is shared across all partitions. For maintainability, it is important to keep [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp) organized with APIs grouped by header files. APIs should be added within `# region
` sections based on the header files where they are defined. APIs within a `# region` should be sorted alphabetically by selecting them and then using Visual Studio Code's `Sort Lines Ascending` command. ### Refactoring namespaces Note that when refactoring namespaces, [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp) will take precedence over any namespaces declared in the partitions, so make sure it doesn't contain remappings that will conflict with the expected factoring from the partitions. For example, if you create a new Registry partition to assign everything in winreg.h to Windows.Win32.System.Registry, but [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp) was previously updated to map Reg* APIs to a different namespace, you won't achieve the desired result unless you remove the Reg* entries from [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp). Other files that need to be kept in sync when refactoring namespaces include [manual](generation/WinSDK/manual) and [autotypes.json](generation/WinSDK/autoTypes.json), which manually define some types, as well as [scraper.header.txt](generation/WinSDK/scraper.header.txt), which adds using statements to generated .cs files to resolve cross-namespace references. ## Enums Our tooling produces enums for loosely typed parameters and fields that expect a closed set of values. This improves discoverability and usability of the values in the projections. Enums are defined in [enums.json](generation/WinSDK/enums.json). This file provides a schema for extracting constants and macros from headers and emitting them in the winmd as an enum. Each object in the JSON array is an enum with the following properties: * `namespace` - Optional property indicating the namespace for the enum * Note: If omitted, the enum will inherit the namespace of the first entry in `uses` * `type` - Optional property indicating the type for the enum * Note: If omitted, the default value is `uint` * `name` - The name of the enum * `addUsesTo` - The name of an existing enum scraped from the headers. Specify this value to add additional uses to the enum. * `flags` - Whether this is a flags enum * `autoPopulate` - For automatically defined members, rules for how to populate them * `header` - The header to scan * `filter` - The constant or macro prefix to search for in `header` * Note: `filter` can be a regular expression to match more than a simple prefix (e.g. `ERROR_|DNS_ERROR_`) * `members` - For manually defined members, a list of members * `name` - The name of the enum member * `value` - The value of the enum member * Note: If you omit `value`, it will be autopopulated if detected by the [ConstantsScraper](#Constants) * Note: You can use `members` and `autoPopulate` in the same enum * `uses` - A list of APIs where this enum is used * `interface` - The COM interface name * `method` - The method name * `parameter` - The parameter name of `method` or `"return"` for the return value * `struct` - The struct name * `field` - The field name of `struct` * Note: Define only the subset of properties relevant to an API In the example below, a flags enum called `WNDCLASS_STYLES` is created with all of the `CS_` constants from `winuser.h`. This enum is then used by the style fields of all the `WNDCLASS` structs. Since no `namespace` or `type` are specified, the enum will live in the same namespace as `WNDCLASSA` and will be of type `uint`. ```json { "name": "WNDCLASS_STYLES", "flags": true, "autoPopulate": { "filter": "CS_", "header": "WinUser.h" }, "members": [], "uses": [ { "struct": "WNDCLASSA", "field": "style" }, { "struct": "WNDCLASSW", "field": "style" }, { "struct": "WNDCLASSEXA", "field": "style" }, { "struct": "WNDCLASSEXW", "field": "style" } ] } ``` You can add new enums, modify existing enums, or apply enums to more APIs by modifying [enums.json](generation/WinSDK/enums.json). ## Constants Our tooling scans header files for constants and emits them into the namespace of the containing header file. The tool that handles this responsibility is called the [ConstantsScraper](sources/ConstantsScraper). The behavior of the ConstantsScraper can be adjusted by modifying [ConstantsScraper.settings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/ConstantsScraper.settings.rsp): * The `--with-attribute` section declares attributes to add to constants (e.g. `E_NOTIMPL=NativeTypeName("HRESULT")`) * The `--with-type` section declares constant types that cannot be detected automatically (e.g. `SOCK_STREAM=ushort`) * The `--exclude` section declares constants to exclude from the metadata Constants can be assigned to different namespaces than their header files by adding them to [requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp](generation/WinSDK/requiredNamespacesForNames.rsp) as described in [Split a header file among multiple namespaces](#Split-a-header-file-among-multiple-namespaces). Wildcards can be used (e.g. `DXGI_ERROR_*=Windows.Win32.Graphics.Dxgi`). The ConstantsScraper uses [regular expression matching](sources/MetadataUtils/ConstantsScraper.cs) on the header files to automatically extract constants. If a constant is not being detected, either a regular expression needs to be added or a regular expression would be insufficient. For cases where regular expressions would be insufficient, you can manually define constants in `.cs` files within [manual](generation/WinSDK/manual) (e.g. [RestartManager.cs](generation/WinSDK/manual/RestartManager.cs)). Constants are removed from the metadata when they are detected as members of an enum. ## Typedefs Typedefs are friendly aliases for types that add more intuitive names and type safety to APIs. Typedefs in the metadata are defined in [autotypes.json](generation/WinSDK/autoTypes.json). Each object in the JSON array is a typedef with the following properties: * `Namespace` - Optional property indicating the namespace for the typedef * Note: If omitted, the typedef will inherit the namespace of the `CloseApi` * `Name` - The name of the typedef * `ValueType` - The type that the typedef represents. In addition to base types, the below [special patterns](https://github.com/microsoft/win32metadata/blob/e49534798f50469837c93dbcefa02c2ca952dd08/sources/GeneratorSdk/MetadataTasks/PrepSettingsForAutoTypes.cs#L40-L73) are recognized: * `DECLARE_HANDLE` - For typedefs defined with the `DECLARE_HANDLE` macro in the headers * `typedef struct ` - For opaque structs * Note: These special patterns automatically handle the remaps and exclusions necessary to achieve the optimal result so should always be used when applicable * `CloseApi` - Optional property indicating the API that must be used to close the handle * `InvalidHandleValues` - A list of invalid values for the handle * `NativeTypedef` - Whether this typedef exists in the native headers * Note: While adding metadata-only typedefs can improve API usability, projections may wish to ignore typedefs that don't exist in the headers to provide an experience closer to the native headers. This property allows projections to differentiate native typedefs vs. metadata typedefs. In the example below, a native typedef called `BCRYPT_KEY_HANDLE` is defined representing `void*` aligned with the original typedef from the headers `typedef PVOID BCRYPT_KEY_HANDLE;`. The typedef must be closed with `BCryptDestroyKey` and has an `InvalidHandleValue` of `0`. Since no `Namespace` is specified, the typedef will live in the same namespace as `BCryptDestroyKey`. ```json { "Name": "BCRYPT_KEY_HANDLE", "ValueType": "void*", "CloseApi": "BCryptDestroyKey", "AlsoUsableFor": "BCRYPT_HANDLE", "InvalidHandleValues": [ 0 ], "NativeTypedef": true } ``` You can add new typedefs or modify existing typedefs by modifying [autotypes.json](generation/WinSDK/autoTypes.json). ## Attributes Our tooling defines several [attributes](generation/WinSDK/manual/Metadata.cs) that can be applied to APIs to provide useful context to language projections. To apply an attribute to an API, update the `--memberRemap` section of [emitter.settings.rsp](generation/WinSDK/emitter.settings.rsp) in one of the following ways: * `=[]` * Applies an attribute directly to an API (e.g. `MLOperatorAttributeType=[ScopedEnum]`) * `::=[]` * Applies an attribute to a parameter of an API (e.g. `GetProcessHeaps::ProcessHeaps=[DoNotRelease]HeapHandle*`) * `::return=[]` * Applies an attribute to the return value of an API (e.g. `GetCurrentProcess::return=[DoNotRelease]`) You can apply multiple attributes to an API (e.g. `[][]`) and also combine attributes with type remappings as shown in the `GetProcessHeaps` example above. Attributes scanned from headers sometimes may not be desired. In those cases, you can remove attributes by prefixing them with a `-` as shown below: * `CoInitializeSecurity::asAuthSvc=[-NativeArrayInfo]` * Removes an attribute from an API Language projections can use the context provided by attributes to improve the developer experience for decorated APIs. ## Validating changes ### Full builds Run `./DoAll.ps1 -Clean` in [PowerShell 7](https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=stable) to run a full build, then inspect the reported winmd diff to ensure all changes were intentional. A full build can take 25-30 minutes. If CI builds pass but local builds of the same commit fail with cryptic error messages, clearing the local NuGet cache with `dotnet nuget locals -c all` often helps. ### Incremental builds Run `./DoAll.ps1 -ExcludePackages -ExcludeSamples` in [PowerShell 7](https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=stable) to run an incremental build, then inspect the reported winmd diff to ensure all changes were intentional. `./DoAll.ps1` without `-Clean` will recognize what files have changed and build only the necessary components required for those changes. Building NuGet packages and WinmdGenerator samples isn't usually necessary for local builds, so excluding them with `ExcludePackages` and `ExcludeSamples` will provide the fastest build times. Note that stale artifacts on your system may sometimes result in cryptic errors when attempting incremental builds. If you do encounter cryptic errors during incremental builds that you suspect are the result of previously built changes, reset your system state by running a clean build with `./DoAll.ps1 -Clean`. ### Comparing against the last release A list of accumulated changes since the last release is kept at [ChangesSinceLastRelease.txt](scripts/ChangesSinceLastRelease.txt). New changes are reported by `./scripts/TestWinmdBinary.ps1` which is called during both full and incremental builds if you follow the steps above. When validating changes, it's important to evaluate the diffs to ensure all changes are intentional. Common patterns to expect in the diffs include: * APIs were added to the baseline * APIs were removed from the baseline * APIs were moved to different namespaces Additionally, it is useful to load the winmd in [ILSpy](https://github.com/icsharpcode/ILSpy) and navigate through the APIs as another means to identify additional changes that may be required to achieve the desired end result. You may notice that two related APIs are in different namespaces or that a type that an API depends on was not moved as you would have expected. If that happens, search the repo for the API or its header file to identify where it may be being mapped to another namespace. Once all the changes are validated, update the list of known changes since the last release by following the steps reported in the build output. When a new release is made, the list of changes in [ChangesSinceLastRelease.txt](scripts/ChangesSinceLastRelease.txt) will get reset and will start accumulating again until the next release. ## Releasing The main branch must have a clean build to publish a new release. Run the [release pipeline](https://dev.azure.com/microsoft/Dart/_build?definitionId=62263) to publish new packages to nuget.org and create a new draft release on GitHub autopopulated with the list of resolved issues. Once the packages are live on nuget.org, publish the GitHub release. After a release is published, run [Set-LastReleaseVersion.ps1](scripts/Set-LastReleaseVersion.ps1) with the metadata package version published to nuget.org, and run [Set-MajorVersion.ps1](scripts/Set-MajorVersion.ps1) to increment the version number in the build for the next release.