Why doesn't this CLI let me create a new project in an existing, empty directory?

[Pika-Pool]

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When i run this command: npx react-native init --directory . --skip-install awesomeproject, I get the error error Error occurred while trying to create project directory. Note that the '.' directory is completely empty

I checked the code and it seems the cli only checks if the directory already exists, and if it does, error is thrown here

But in create-react-app, you can just specify the directory, the command works, as long as package.json does not exist, even if the directory does.

Is there are particular reason react-native does this? If not, I think the CRA way is better and I would love to implement it in this CLI

[thymikee]

It's because we get generate Android/iOS package names based on the project name. Feel free to add such a feature to read it from the directory if the project name param is a dot :)

[Pika-Pool]

ok, I'll work on this then. It'll be great if you could clarify a few things for me

• whats the diff between /package/cli/src/commands/init.ts and /package/cli/src/commands/initCompat.ts?
• in what order are these files executed?

This is the workflow in my mind.

• There are 3 scenarios for the command line arguments:

  • projectName is given, --directory is not:
    • treat projectName as a directory path, so something like this:

    const directoryName = path.resolve(projectName);
    projectName = path.basename(root);

  • projectName and --directory both are given:

     const directoryName = path.resolve(directory);
     // projectName remains same as the command line argument passed
     // projectName is also already validated against a regex in the existing code

  • projectName is not given:
    • this already throws an error, so no changes

• Now, to check if the directoryName is valid, CRA uses function isSafeToCreateProjectIn, which uses a list of valid files that could be already present in the directory.

  • i couldn't find any other conflicting files for the react-native cli, please mention them if there are any

[Pika-Pool]

Please review this commit: 131d0be
I do not know jest, but I'll learn it in a day or two and can write the necessary tests if that's ok.
The program does work correctly

[thymikee]

Create a PR please :)

[Pika-Pool]

I'm stuck at writing tests for this. To validate a directory, the code checks the local file system. So should I use something like mock-fs for this?

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