Non-rendered variable in the project-template name causes error

• Cookiecutter version: 1.7.2
• Python version: 3.7.5
• Operating System: OSX (10.14.6)

Description:

When using a non-rendered variable (starting with an underscore) for the directory-name, cookiecutter gives an error.

What I’ve run:

cookiecutter.json

{
    "game_name": "",
    "_game_slug": "{{ cookiecutter.game_name.lower().replace(' ', '-') }}",
    "game_slug": "{{ cookiecutter.game_name.lower().replace(' ', '-') }}",
}

When I set the template-folder-name to {{cookiecutter.game_slug}} (so I use the variable without the underscore) it will create the right directory:

terminal output

❯ cookiecutter boilerplate-project
game_name []: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
game_slug [this-is-a-test-with-captials-and-spaces]:

👍

But when I replace use the non-rendered variable (_game_slug) in the template-folder-name, it gives an error. The reason why I want the variable to be non-rendered, is because I want to base the variable-value on the game_name. And I don’t want an user to be able to overwrite this slug.

I get the following error:

❯ cookiecutter boilerplate-project
game_name []: this is a test with spaces and CAPITALS
game_slug [this-is-a-test-with-spaces-and-capitals]:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/cookiecutter", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/click/core.py", line 829, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/click/core.py", line 782, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1066, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/click/core.py", line 610, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cookiecutter/cli.py", line 140, in main
    cookiecutter(
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cookiecutter/main.py", line 101, in cookiecutter
    result = generate_files(
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cookiecutter/generate.py", line 352, in generate_files
    generate_file(
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/site-packages/cookiecutter/generate.py", line 161, in generate_file
    shutil.copyfile(infile, outfile)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/cookiecutter/1.7.2/libexec/lib/python3.8/shutil.py", line 261, in copyfile
    with open(src, 'rb') as fsrc, open(dst, 'wb') as fdst:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: "/Users/oskar/projects/gamedev/godot/test/{{ cookiecutter.game_name.lower().replace(' ', '-') }}/screens/.DS_Store"

And I have 2 folders where half of the files are in one and half are in the other:

[njiles]

@edesz This example still fails for me (cookiecutter version 1.7.2):

$ cookiecutter -v test
DEBUG cookiecutter.config: User config not found. Loading default config.
DEBUG cookiecutter.main: context_file is test/cookiecutter.json
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Context generated is OrderedDict([('cookiecutter', OrderedDict([('game_name', '')]))])
game_name []: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.utils: Making sure path exists: /Users/nicholasiles/.cookiecutter_replay/
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: Searching test for the project template.
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: The project template appears to be test/{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Generating project from test/{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}...
Unable to create project directory '{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}'
Error message: 'collections.OrderedDict object' has no attribute 'game_slug'
Context: {
    "cookiecutter": {
        "_template": "test",
        "game_name": "this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces"
    }
}

However, if I rename the {{cookiecutter.game_slug}} directory to {{cookiecutter.game_name}} then everything runs ok, and this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces/mytest.txt is generated and contains the correctly rendered contents that you describe:

$ cookiecutter -v test
DEBUG cookiecutter.config: User config not found. Loading default config.
DEBUG cookiecutter.main: context_file is test/cookiecutter.json
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Context generated is OrderedDict([('cookiecutter', OrderedDict([('game_name', '')]))])
game_name []: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.utils: Making sure path exists: /Users/nicholasiles/.cookiecutter_replay/
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: Searching test for the project template.
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: The project template appears to be test/{{cookiecutter.game_name}}
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Generating project from test/{{cookiecutter.game_name}}...
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Rendered dir this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces must exist in output_dir .
DEBUG cookiecutter.utils: Making sure path exists: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.utils: Created directory at: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Project directory is /Users/nicholasiles/this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.hooks: hooks_dir is /Users/nicholasiles/test/hooks
DEBUG cookiecutter.hooks: Running hook pre_gen_project
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Processing file mytest.txt
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Created file at /Users/nicholasiles/this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces/mytest.txt
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Check mytest.txt to see if it's a binary
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Writing contents to file /Users/nicholasiles/this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces/mytest.txt
DEBUG cookiecutter.hooks: hooks_dir is /Users/nicholasiles/test/hooks
DEBUG cookiecutter.hooks: No post_gen_project hook found

This outcome, plus the two terminal outputs I’ve posted here, makes me think that maybe the project template is being generated first (before cookiecutter.game_slug has been created), and then pre_gen_project.py is being run afterwards?

[njiles]

@simobasso Thanks for the response - my comment was to remark that @edesz 's example doesn’t work, for me at least, rather than to request help for an issue that I was having.

However, for completeness, the version at 623e4b9 still fails with the same error:

$ cookiecutter --version
Cookiecutter 2.0.0 from /Users/nicholasiles/anaconda3/envs/cc-gh/lib/python3.9/site-packages (Python 3.9)

$ cookiecutter -v test
DEBUG cookiecutter.config: User config not found. Loading default config.
DEBUG cookiecutter.main: context_file is test/cookiecutter.json
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Context generated is OrderedDict([('cookiecutter', OrderedDict([('game_name', '')]))])
game_name []: this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces
DEBUG cookiecutter.utils: Making sure path exists: /Users/nicholasiles/.cookiecutter_replay/
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: Searching test for the project template.
DEBUG cookiecutter.find: The project template appears to be test/{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}
DEBUG cookiecutter.generate: Generating project from test/{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}...
Unable to create project directory '{{cookiecutter.game_slug}}'
Error message: 'collections.OrderedDict object' has no attribute 'game_slug'
Context: {
    "cookiecutter": {
        "_template": "test",
        "game_name": "this is a test with CAPTIALS and spaces"
    }
}

so I still think that maybe the project template is being generated first (before cookiecutter.game_slug has been created), and then pre_gen_project.py is being run afterwards?