Cookiecutter: F Prime Component

Cookiecutter template for a F Prime component, to help with reducing the copy-pasta effect while creating new components. There are just enough pieces to remember to change/fix, that it is rather challenging to do without a template. So here is a template to fill in all the adjustments, so you can spend time writing a component instead of scratching your head over why you get weird errors.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Usage and options
• Changelog

Features

• Choice of various licenses.

Requirements

Projects using this template have these minimal dependencies:

• Cookiecutter - just for creating the project

To get quickly started on a new system, just install Cookiecutter. You should do this in your fprime-venv. To install it, just run this in your shell or command prompt, within the venv environment:

pip install cookiecutter

Usage and options

This template is intended to make it easy to generate all the boilerplate required for a F Prime component. A collection of these components along with a mission/project configuration [deployment] completes the framework to fill out a robotic software project; e.g.: a balloon payload, an wheeled rover, or maybe a satellite.

First navigate to the directory where you want to add your component. The template is going to create the folder containing your component in the current directory (you should not try to create the folder ahead of the template). Next, generate the component's boilerplate:

cookiecutter gh:SterlingPeet/cookiecutter-fprime-component

You will be asked for these fields:

Template variable	Default	Description
full_name	"Sterling Peet"	Main author of this component. Can be set in your ~/.cookiecutterrc config file.
email	"noreply@nospam.com"	Contact email of the author. Can be set in your ~/.cookiecutterrc config file.
component_name	"My Example"	The printed name of this component for documentation and strings. It should be concise and convey the purpose of the component, but also complete.
component_short_description	"An example component [...]"	One line description of the project (used in headers and comments). This should describe the purpose of the component in the Imperetive Voice, not the context where the component is used.
component_slug	"MyExample"	A slug is a simplified version of the component_name, which will be used for the class name and file names within the component folder structure. It should be TitleCase with no spaces or special characters.
component_dir_name	"MyExample"	This is the name of the component's main directory. The obvious choice is to use your deployment_slug for this field.
component_explicit_component_suffix	"Component"	The general convention is for F Prime components to have the Component suffix for file names and class names. While it is not required, the Autocoder will assume this format, and Autocoder provided templates may be more difficult to adapt if this is not selected.
component_explicit_common	""	If preferred, the cpp file with the common implementation code can be appended with the suffix Common.
component_impl_suffix	"Impl"	The general convention is for F Prime components to have the Impl suffix for file names and class names. While it is not required, the Autocoder will assume this format, and Autocoder provided templates may be more difficult to adapt if this is not selected.
component_path	"Prjct/Grp"	This is the path from the F Prime root to the current directory, not including the component's folder. Do not add a / to the front or back of the path.
component_path_to_fprime_root	"../.."	This is the path from the current directory to the F Prime root, not including the components's folder. Do not add a / to the front or back of the path.
component_namespace	"Prjct::Grp"	This is the namespace where your component's implementation class resides. It is usually the same but can be different from the path.
component_kind	"active"	You can choose and active or passive component type. If you change your mind, is it set in the Autocoder input file (and some of the component's port kinds may also affected).
component_multiplatform_support	"no"	If you need different implementations of your component based on the target platform, choose yes to get additional support file templates.
license	"None"	License to use. Available options: None (no license text, assume project level license) BSD license MIT license What license to pick? https://choosealicense.com/

You will still need to run fprime-util to generate the templates from your autocoder input file.

This requires your component to be included in a deployment. This can be done by adding a line like this, near the bottom of the deployment's CMakeLists.txt file:

add_fprime_subdirectory("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../Prjct/Grp/MyExample")

Then you need to (possibly purge) and generate the new cmake config in that deployment:

fprime-util generate

Now you can edit your MyExampleComponentAi.xml file define the component to your liking, and generate the implementation boilerplate:

cd MyExample
fprime-util impl -b {path/to/your/deployment}/build-fprime-automatic-default

Next, copy the -template code contents into your .hpp and .cpp files. Try not to overwrite the freshly generated comments at the top!

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.rst.