Cookiecutter – Modify context in post_gen_project.py

Cookiecutter is a template where you can setup skeleton of a project, and based on parameters from cookiecutter.json it will prefill all files with the supplied values.

Advance Cookiecutter Question:
How can I add new context based on what was submitted from cookiecutter.json, then come up with my own variations, and pass them back to context/extra_context to be rendered.

• Example1: if {{ cookiecutter.project_name}} == myapp and {{cookiecutter.github_username }} ==lszyba1 then add a new context variable called: mygreatuser=’ProSupport’. Then in template files I would use that variable to fill in some values.
• Example2: if {{cookiecutter.framework_to_deploy}}==’pyramid’:
  deployment_prod_or_dev_file = ask_more_questions(….) (This allows me to write my own function to ask more question, if user said pyramid then ask X, if he said django then ask Y.)
• Example3: import os ; workfolder=os.getcwd() ; context[‘workfolder’]=workfolder (this will insert a new variable I can render in template.

Solution:

Cookiecutter has hooks folder, but this does not allow context to be modified out of the box, so we need to add 10 lines of code.
Since pre_gen_project.py and post_gen_project.py get rendered with only the values from cookiecutter.json, I will use post_get_project.py to do my programming, add more values to context then re-render the files using mako.
This allows me to have all files rendered with jinja2 syntax (cookiecutter default), and all my template variables will be left alone, and will be rendered by me using mako.
This also allows me to mix and match code in post_get_project.py where I use cookiecutter original context in my python if statements.

Lets get started:
Create folder hooks and add post_gen_project.py file

myapp/
....
-- {{cookiecutter.folder_name}}
   |-- {{cookiecutter.package_name}}.conf
|-- {{cookiecutter.package_name}}.txt
|-- __init__.py
|-- README.txt
|-- cookiecutter.json
-- DESCRIPTION.rst
-- docs
-- hooks
|-- post_gen_project.py
....


cookiecutter.json contains:
{
"folder_name": "apache2",
"package_name": "myapp",
"domain_name": "example.com",
"framework_to_deploy": ["pyramid", "django"]
}

My .conf file will be called myapp.conf if you just hit enter through prompts.

---

Now lets go into post_gen_project.py

#First get cookiecutter context dictionary:
context={{cookiecutter}}
#I can add values to it like this.:
context['better_package_name']={{cookiecutter.package_name}}+'2'
or
context['better_package_name']=context['package_name']+'2'
#Left is new context I will use in mako, the right is context and info supplied from original cookiecutter.json file

#Add few more:<code>
import os
workfolder=os.getcwd()
context['workfolder']=os.getcwd()
context['user_name']=os.getlogin()

#Now lets re-render my template(s) with my additional 3 variables (aka workfolder,better_package_name,user_name..)
from mako.template import Template
from mako.lookup import TemplateLookup

mylookup = TemplateLookup(directories=[workfolder],strict_undefined=True)

def serve_template(templatename, **kwargs):
    mytemplate2 = mylookup.get_template(templatename)
    print('Rendering: ' + templatename)
    return mytemplate2.render(**kwargs)

#This loops through a files in a workfolder. I need more testing to confirm the work folder is where I think it is, so for now I will name the files explicatively.
#Render each template explicitly
def save_template(workfolder=None,file_name=None,context=None):
    newtemplate=serve_template(file_name,**context)
    print('Saving: '+workfolder+'/'+file_name)
    f=open(os.path.join(workfolder,file_name),'w')
    f.write(newtemplate)
    f.close()

#Now the lets Re-Render my template with my 3 new variables.
file_name= context['package_name']+'.conf'
#or below is also works.
file_name= {{cookiecutter.package_name}}+'.conf'
save_template(workfolder,file_name,context)

#Done, now the template contains all my new variables.

---

Here is a template sample.

##########Start of {{cookiecutter.package_name}}.conf ########

#I like your new project {{cookiecutter.package_name}}. I think it will be awsome, but you should consider giving it a better name ${better_package_name}. 

#Beginning the configuration per ${user_name} instructions

#some code,conf,etc...
Alias ${better_package_name}/{{cookiecutter.package_name}}.txt ${workfolder}/${package_name}
##########End of {{cookiecutter.package_name}}.conf ########

---

Bonus:

#Ask questions based on cookiecutter parameters
def ask_more_questions(question=None):
    try:
        output = input(question)
    except NameError:
        output = raw_input(question)
    return output


if context['framework_to_deploy']=='pyramid':
    deployment_prod_or_dev_file=ask_more_questions('What file you want to deploy: [development.ini] or production.ini :')
    context['deployment_prod_or_dev_file']=(deployment_prod_or_dev_file or 'development.ini')

#Now For every input question from cookiecutter I can do if statements, if a, then b...

Hope you enjoyed it. Have fun creating your awesome new template. Many thanks to cookiecutter team for making simple yet powerful project templating software!
LucasManual.com team

Use the tools available: This post is about being able to programmatically add values based on initial cookiecutter.json context. This is not about which python templating language is better.