Suggesting changes and collaborating on a repo

GitHub makes it easy to collaborate with other Microsoft Learning users on the courses in which you are interested.

You can modify your own copy of the lab materials, and then submit your changes to Microsoft Learning so that they can incorporate your updates. You might want to modify your lab materials if:

  • You find a mistake in a lab.

  • The UI has changed since the lab was created.

  • You think that the lab needs improvements or modifications.

To modify lab materials, you should branch the repo, make updates in your branch, and then submit a pull request to the main (master) branch. This allows Microsoft Learning staff, and other MCTs and GitHub users to review, and comment on, your changes.

You can review and comment on changes that other users make, and Microsoft Learning staff then approves and merges these changes into the master branch. This action notifies any user who is watching the repo that a change has occurred.

Create a repo branch

  1. In Internet Explorer, navigate to the repo on GitHub.

  2. Click Branch : branchname, and then from the Branches list, select the branch you want to copy.

    Note: If there is only one branch, the Branch drop-down list shows Branch: master, and the only branch that is available is master.

  3. In the blank text box, type the name of the branch that you want to create.

  4. Click Create branch: new branch name when it appears.

After you have created a Branch, you can clone the files to your local repo, update them on your computer, and then check in the changes from the GitHub Desktop. If you are working with Markdown or other text files, you can edit them in GitHub, and then check in the changes online.

Delete a repo branch

  1. In Internet Explorer, navigate to the repo on GitHub.

  2. Click n branches, where n is the number of existing branches.

  3. On the Branches page, in the row for the branch that you want to delete, click Delete this branch icon.

Commit changes by using GitHub Desktop:

  1. Open GitHub Desktop.

  2. Select the repo that contains your changes, and then click Changes.

  3. Select the changes that you want to commit, and then in the Summary text box, write a short description of the change.

  4. In the Description text box, write a more-detailed description of the change, if necessary.

  5. Click Commit to master, and then click Sync to push the local changes to the online repo.

Edit files and commit changes in the online repo:

  1. In your browser, navigate to the applicable repository on GitHub, and then select the file that you want to edit.

  2. Click the Edit this file icon.

  3. Make your changes in the Edit file tab of the webpage, and then click Preview changes to view your proposed changes, without committing them.

  4. Under Commit changes, in the Update filename text box, enter a short description of the changes.

  5. In the Add an optional extended description… text box, enter a more detailed description of the change, if necessary, and then click Commit changes.

Create a pull request:

  1. In your browser, navigate to the applicable repository on GitHub.

  2. Click Branch:branchname, and then in the Branches list, select the branch for which you want to create a pull request.

  3. Click New pull request, and then on the Open a pull request page, in the Title text box, update the name of the pull request, if necessary.

  4. On the Write tab, in the Leave a comment text box, provide a description of the proposed change, and then click Create pull request.