Our practice projects use a step-based approach to teach concepts to campers. A project will consist of multiple files, which we refer to as **"steps"**. These files are named by the challenge ID, to avoid issues with the translation flow. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to find the file associated with a specific step.
We've built a challenge editor tool that helps remedy this. This tool allows you to navigate the available projects, and the steps for each project (in order). There's also an embedded code editor you can use to work on the files directly.
## Using the Challenge Editor
These instructions will tell you how to use our challenge editor tool to work on the practice projects.
### Starting the Editor
To start the editor, make sure you are in the root freecodecamp directory. Then, run `npm run challenge-editor` to start both the client and the API that powers the editor.
The client will run on port `3300`, so you can access it at `http://localhost:3300`. The API runs on port `3200`, to avoid conflicts with the learn client and server. This will allow you to run the freeCodeCamp application at the same time as the editor, so you can test your changes locally.
### Navigating the Editor
The default view will list the available `superblocks` - these are the certifications. Click on the certification link you want to work on.
This will take you to the list of blocks. These are the practice projects. Click on the project link you want to work on.
This will take you to a list of steps for the project. If you are working on an existing step, you can click on the step link to open the editor. If you are adding or removing steps, click the `Use the step tools` link to switch to the step tools for that challenge.
### Editing Steps
When you click on a step, you'll be taken to the editor. This is a basic text editor that offers syntax highlighting.
After you have made your changes, click the `Save Changes` button to save your changes. You will get a browser alert letting you know that your changes are ready to commit. Note that you'll need to use `git` manually to stage and commit your files - this tool will not do that for you.
### Step Tools
When you click the `Use the step tools` link, you'll be taken to the step tools page. This allows you to add or remove steps from the project.
#### Create Next Step
Clicking this button will add a new step at the end of the project. This step will use the previous step's code as the seed.
#### Create Empty Steps
Enter the number of steps you want to add in the input. Then, clicking the button will create that many empty steps at the end of the project.
Enter the step number you want to delete. Then click the `Delete Step` button to remove that step. This will automatically update the step numbers for the remaining steps.
#### Update Step Titles
You should not have to use this tool unless you've manually deleted or added steps. This tool will reorder the step numbers.
## Using the Scripts Manually
If you want to work on the steps manually, in your local IDE, you can run the step management scripts directly.
The `tools/challenge-helper-scripts` folder contains tools to help facilitate the creation and maintenance of the freeCodeCamp project-based curriculum.
Run `npm run create-project` from the root directory. This opens up a command line ui that guides you through the process. Once that has finished, there should be a new challenge in the English curriculum that you can use for the first step of the project. For example, if you created a project called `test-project` in the Responsive Web Design certification, it would be in `curriculum/challenges/english/01-responsive-web-design/test-project`.
A one-off script that will automatically add the next step based on the last step in the project. The challenge seed code will use the previous step's challenge seed code.
A one-off script that automatically adds a new step at a specified position, incrementing all subsequent steps (both their titles and in their meta.json). The challenge seed code will use the previous step's challenge seed code with the editable region markers (ERMs) removed.
A one-off script that automatically updates the frontmatter in a project's markdown files so that they are consistent with the project's meta.json. It ensures that each step's title (and dashedName) match the meta's challengeOrder.
