To get started with the Windows Community Toolkit, you can follow these steps:

***

#### Cloning the repository

```ascii
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Windows.git
```
The folder will contain a `tooling` and `components` folder. The latter contains all the individual Toolkit components.

***

#### Editing a component
In an existing component folder, you can run `OpenSolution.bat` to generate the `.sln`:

```ascii
cd *path of your component*

.\OpenSolution.bat
```
The .sln` will open automatically, and contains the source project (component code), samples project (samples and documentation) and tests project (for all tests).
<img width="284" alt="image" src="https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Windows/assets/9866362/08a45175-1761-4674-b5af-e926c4a4dd6a">  
You can test your component code by adding it to a sample, and use the different startup projects to test it on UWP, WinAppSDK or Uno.

***

#### Running the sample app

Run the following script to navigate to the cloned folder, install `SlnGen` and run `GenerateAllSolutions.bat`.  
  
```ascii
cd *path of your Toolkit folder*

dotnet tool restore

.\GenerateAllSolution.bat
```

This will generate and open the `CommunityToolkit.AllComponents.sln`. In Visual Studio, select the preferred startup project (`Uwp` (WinUI2), `WinAppSDK` (WinUI3) or `Wasm` (Uno).  
<img width="383" alt="image" src="https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Windows/assets/9866362/bf47f373-31ed-4298-b70e-842b4a02a029">

***

#### Creating a new component  
To create a new component run the following script:

```ascii
cd *path of your Toolkit folder*

dotnet new --install .\tooling\ProjectTemplate\

cd components

dotnet new ctk-component -n MyExperimentNameHere
```
This will generate a new component folder that contains `src`, `samples` and `tests` folders.

***

#### FAQ
Errors that might come up when running the `.bat` files:

##### Error: `Cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system`
Make sure you set the execution policy. (More info: https://lazyadmin.nl/powershell/running-scripts-is-disabled-on-this-system/)

##### Error: `Could not find a Visual Studio installation.  Please run from a command window that has MSBuild.exe on the PATH or specify the full path to devenv.exe via the -vs command-line argument`
Use `Developer Command Prompt for VS2022`, or add `msbuild.exe` to your PATH variables to use it in e.g. `PowerShell`. (More info: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12608705)