Creating a cookiecutter template

For the full documentation, see Cookiecutter Documentation.

Initially, you will need to create a directory to make your cookiecutter template in. This is where you will create your template files.

Note: fprime-util new only supports outside cookiecutters for components, not ports.

JSON file

Create a cookiecutter.json file in your cookiecutter directory. This is where you will specify the fields for your cookiecutter. Each line represents a different question the cookiecutter will ask the user.

Here is an example from the builtin cookiecutter:

{
    "component_name": "MyExample",
    "component_short_description": "Example Component for F Prime FSW framework.",
    "component_namespace": "Component namespace",
    "component_kind": ["active", "passive", "queued"],
    "commands": ["yes","no"],
    "parameters": ["yes","no"],
    "events": ["yes","no"],
    "telemetry": ["yes","no"]
}

The values in the brackets are the values that the user can choose from.

Nested Component Directory

Inside of your cookiecutter directory, you will most likely want to create a nested directory to contain your generated files. You may want to name this directory something like `’ so it will take on the name of your component.

Template files

To create the rest of the files in your template (*Ai.xml, CMakeLists.txt, etc.), just write these files as you normally would, replacing the variables with `` where you would replace <value> with the value from the JSON file that you are using. You can name the files in the same way, and the filenames will take on the values from the user input when generated

Example of filename:

ComponentAi.xml

Example of using values from user input:

<component name="" kind="" namespace="">

Conditionals

You can also use conditionals to make your templates more adaptable.

Below is an example of how these could be used:

Here, the file template will only include the telemetry port import if the user had selected yes to the telemetry prompt.

Loops

You may also use loops to stamp out repeated elements Here is an example of this:

Here, all of the arguments in the arg_list will be stamped out in the users file, one after the other.

Hooks

If you have code that you would like to run immediately before or after the template files are stamped out, you can create post_gen_project.py and pre_gen_project.py files inside of a directory titled hooks within your cookiecutter template directory. The pre_gen_project.py will run right before your files are generated and the post_gen_project.py will run immediately after the files are generated.

Other Cookiecutter features

There are many other features that cookiecutter provides, available in the documentation here:

Cookiecutter Documentation

Using your own template

Once you have created your template, two ways to use it are: through GitHub or locally.

Using a GitHub repository

If you are using a GitHub repository, simply include the line:

component_cookiecutter: gh:repository_name

to the settings.ini file in your F’ deployment.

For example, to import Sterling Pete’s template from Georgia Tech, use the following line:

component_cookiecutter: gh:SterlingPeet/cookiecutter-fprime-component

Using a local template

Similarly to using a GitHub repository, you can use a local template by using:

component_cookiecutter: gh:path_to_repository

Features of fprime-util new –component

While using a different template will alter the generated files, there are some features that are present within the fprime-util new –component command that will happen regardless of which template you use:

1. The component directory will be added to the deployment build system
2. The CMake cache will be refreshed to include the new component
3. The user will be given the option to automatically generate implementation and/or unit test files