Skip to main content

Work-In-Progress Backup

Work-In-Progress Backup is an automated program designed to automatically back up the Work In Progress (WIP) for each local project to the origin git repository. This practice is beneficial to ensure that the data being worked on is not lost and can be recovered in case of system failure, user error, or other unexpected events.

info
  • The following demonstrated in this document is only applicable to macOS devices.
  • For Windows users, you can use Autolt instead of Automator and the calendar available on Windows.

How To​

To implement this practice, you need to create a new application from Automator and set the schedule in Calendar.

Set Up The Automator​

Automator is an application that is only available in macOS. This application helps you to automate repetitive tasks using a point-and-click or drag-and-drop interface. Automator enables the repetition of tasks across a wide variety of programs, including Finder, Safari, Calendar, Contacts and others. To set up the Automator, follow these steps:

a. First Set Up​

  1. Open the Automator application. Open the Automator
  2. Click the New Document button. Automator new document
  3. Choose Application. choose application
  4. Type run shell script in the search box, then click and drag the Run Shell Script to the right section where it is written Drag actions or files here to build your workflow. search run shell drag run shell drop run shell
  5. Make sure you choose /bin/bash shell type. choose /bin/bash
  6. Copy and paste the Backup Work Bash script to the Run Shell Script area.
    tip

    The script is stored in arkademi-flutter/mobile_scripts/backup_work.sh directory.

    input bash script

b. Define Workspace Directory​

Input the main workspace directory path that stores all the git projects (e.g., arkademi-flutter, ark-module-regular, etc.). Later, Automater will be in charge of reading and then pushing changes that occur and have not been stored in GitLab from the projects contained in the main directory.

# [SETUP 1] Define the workspace directory where all the project directories are located
# Example: /Users/arkademi/Documents/Projects
WORKSPACE=

c. Define Backup & Restore Time Duration​

# [SETUP 2] Define the time duration for backup and restore with String format "HH:MM"
# Example: "15:00" for minimum backup time and "19:00" for maximum backup time
MINIMUM_BACKUP_TIME_DURATION=
MAXIMUM_BACKUP_TIME_DURATION=
MINIMUM_RESTORE_TIME_DURATION=
MAXIMUM_RESTORE_TIME_DURATION=

The script above is to set the time duration and also to determine the type of action to be performed (backup or restore) based on the allocated time. If you put a time value on the variables MINIMUM_BACKUP_TIME_DURATION and MAXIMUM_BACKUP_TIME_DURATION then the process will be Backup, but if you put a time value on the variables MINIMUM_RESTORE_TIME_DURATION and MAXIMUM_RESTORE_TIME_DURATION then Automator will perform Restore.

Later you will learn how to do this step automatically using Calendar and you do not need to fill in those fields.

d. Finishing The Set Up​

  1. After completing the setup, save it as an application.
  2. Give the application a name, Set the save directory to Applications, and click the Save button. completeing the automater setup
  3. Finally, you can start using the Automator application based on the specified minimum & maximum backup & restore durations. To enable auto-triggering, continue to the next step.

Set Up The Calendar​

Calendar is used to create a schedule that triggers Automator to run. Each schedule is specified by naming the event on the calendar, there are two events namely Backup Work and Delete WIP Branches. Backup Work is an event to perform a backup and Delete WIP Branches is an event to to delete branches that are backed up to avoid overcrowding the main repository.

Here are the setup steps:

  1. Double-click on the current date and time, this will open a pop-up form.
  2. Fill in the New Event field with Backup Work or Delete WIP Branches, and adjust as needed. For example, fill in the field with Backup Work.
    tip

    Each event is created similarly, the only difference is the name of the event as mentioned.

  3. Fill in the start and end to meet the MINIMUM_BACKUP_TIME_DURATION that you have previously set in Automator. set start and end time
  4. For the repeat field, select Custom and set it to weekdays. set custom column
  5. Continue to the alert field, and select On event for Alert. Then add another alert by clicking the + button next to the alert field. Then select Custom, to open another pop-up input. the pop-up form shows up
  6. Change Message with sound to Open file.
    open file
  7. Change Calendar to Other, then select the Backup Work application you made before which is located in the Applications directory.
    the pop-up form show up the pop-up form show up
  8. Change minutes before to At event time. Then click OK and Apply to save the event schedule. the pop-up form show up the pop-up form show up
  9. The backup schedule is set! The Backup Work Application is ready to use and run. backup work
attention!

If your device is not connected to the internet when the time comes, Automator will not work. Then you have to do it manually by clicking on the Automater application you created.

How It Works​

After you create the new application by Automator and set the time in Calendar, your device is ready to run the Work In Progress Backup! The Calendar will automatically trigger the Automator to execute the actions according to the saved event.

The results of Backup Work are stored in automatically created backup branches named wip/<branch type>_<description>. When the original contributor logs in the next day, this practice automatically deletes those branches to remove unused branches and prevent branch spam in the original git repository.

note

For more details about the wip branches, refer to the Git Branching document.

To verify that workspace changes have been successfully backed up, you can check notifications sent by Flutter Gitlab in the Slack channel #mobile-avenger with the following example message:

Tech Arkademi pushed new branch wip/feature_migrate_offline_video_entity_type_data to Arkademi Tech / Module Prakerja - Mobile

For the deleted backup branches, you will receive the example message as follows:

Tech Arkademi removed branch wip/feature_migrate_offline_video_entity_type_data from Arkademi Tech / Module Prakerja - Mobile

Created at :
Writer: Kai
Editor: Media