GitHub Status Feed

This is a proof of concept for a Python application that uses tkinter to create a simple GUI. Its purpose is to fetch and display public status messages from GitHub users. The app communicates with the GitHub GraphQL API to retrieve this data in a clean and efficient way.

Features

• Live Status Feed: Get real-time updates of public status messages and emojis from GitHub users.
• Customizable: Easily switch between 'light' and 'dark' themes. You can also control the number of users to display.
• Font Sizing: Adjust the font size of the feed to your personal preference.
• Background Fetching: Data is fetched in a separate thread, which prevents the GUI from freezing and keeps the application responsive during network requests.
• User Links: Click a user's name to open their GitHub profile in your default web browser, making it easy to see their full activity.

Project Structure

The application consists of a single Python file, ghfeed.py, which is designed to be self-contained. It works alongside an environment file and a settings file.

• ghfeed.py: The main application script containing all the GUI logic, API interaction, and threading.
• .env: An environment file where you store your GitHub Personal Access Token. This keeps your sensitive token out of the code and is a best practice for security.
• ghfeed_settings.txt: A simple text file that saves your application settings (theme, user count, font size) so they persist between runs.
• ghfeed.log: A log file that records application errors and warnings, which is extremely helpful for debugging.

Dependencies

To run this application, you need to have Python 3.x installed. The project relies on the following Python libraries, which you can install via pip:

• requests: Used to make HTTP requests to the GitHub GraphQL API.
• emoji: A library to properly handle and display emojis from the user statuses.
• python-dotenv: Used to read the GITHUB_TOKEN from the .env file.
• tkinter: This library is built into Python, so no separate installation is required.

You can install all required dependencies at once by running this command in your terminal: pip install requests emoji python-dotenv

Setup and Configuration

1. Clone or Download: Get the ghfeed.py file to your local machine.
2. Create a GitHub Personal Access Token:
   • Navigate to your GitHub account Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Tokens (classic).
   • Click the Generate new token button.
   • Give your token a name (e.g., ghfeed-app-token).
   • The token requires no permissions or scopes. Just leave all checkboxes unchecked.
   • Click Generate token and copy it. This is your only chance to copy it, so save it somewhere safe!
3. Create the .env file:
   • In the same directory where you placed ghfeed.py, create a new file named .env.
   • Add the following line to the file, replacing YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN with the token you just created: GITHUB_TOKEN="YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN"

How to Run

Once everything is set up, open a terminal in the project directory and run the Python script:

python ghfeed.py

The application window should pop up and automatically begin fetching user statuses.

Settings

Click the "Settings" button at the bottom of the window to open a new dialog where you can change the app's settings.

• Theme: Switches the application's color scheme between a 'dark' and a 'light' theme.
• Users to fetch: Adjust the number of users whose statuses the application will attempt to retrieve. A higher number may result in a longer fetch time.
• Font Size: Increases or decreases the size of the text within the feed.

When you're done, click "Save" to apply your changes. Your preferences will be saved in ghfeed_settings.txt so they'll be there the next time you run the app.

Troubleshooting

• "Configuration Error": This means the app can't find or read your GitHub token. Make sure you have a .env file in the correct directory and that your GITHUB_TOKEN is entered exactly as copied, including the quotation marks.

• "Network Error": This typically points to a problem with your internet connection. Confirm that you are online and that the GitHub API is accessible. This could also be caused by a firewall or proxy issue.

• "Application Error": For unexpected issues, check the ghfeed.log file in the application's directory. This log file contains detailed information about what went wrong and can help you diagnose the problem.

• No statuses are appearing: This could be due to a bug in the code, or there might simply be no users with a public status in the fetched list. Try increasing the "Users to fetch" setting.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. Please read LICENSE for more details.