File Context can't be created with `context_root_dir`

[CrossNox]

context = gx.get_context(
        context_root_dir=context_root_dir, project_root_dir=None, mode="file"
)

Results in

TypeError: 'project_root_dir' and 'context_root_dir' are conflicting args; please only provide one

GX version: 1.3.7

I think this is due to

great_expectations/great_expectations/data_context/data_context/context_factory.py

Line 184 in f9dba6f

project_root_dir=project_root_dir or Path.cwd(),

[adeola-ak]

Hi, were you using both prior to 1.3.7? I don't recall ever seeing anyone use both

[CrossNox]

Hi @adeola-ak I haven't used GX before. This is a project starting from scratch.

[adeola-ak]

Ok, here is a snippet from our documentation. In this case , you can omit context_root_dir and use project_root_dir to set the path of your project.

You should then be able to proceed without error

[CrossNox]

This snippet from the docs implies that context_root_dir can be used with a FileContext.

Also, the error message (TypeError: 'project_root_dir' and 'context_root_dir' are conflicting args; please only provide one) is not clear, since project_root_dir was set to None.

[adeola-ak]

Thanks for sharing that, I can see how that would be unclear. We are currently aware of some updates that need to be made to our API docs. In the meantime I would recommend following the guidance on our main documentation page unless there is a specific reason why you'd prefer to use context_root_dir

[CrossNox]

I was hoping to use it to avoid duplication in the structure for a prd/dev setup.
If I could use context_root_dir, I'd have two yml files on the same folder and use each depending on the environment.
Not being able to do that forces me to create two separate files with two separate yml files, and the added concern on how to share the plugins folder between both of them.

[adeola-ak]

ok i am looking into this for you, i'll get back to you shortly

[tyler-hoffman]

@adeola-ak I looked a very related issue today. I see a few issues:

• The signature for get_context when you pass mode="file" doesn't currently allow context_root_dir, but the ephemeral version does. Looks like that needs to be moved
• When you do pass it, it appears to be ignored.

Steps to repro are just context = gx.get_context(context_root_dir="hello_world") and seeing that it was created in gx/ rather than hello_world/.

[kunaljubce]

@adeola-ak I looked a very related issue today. I see a few issues:

• The signature for get_context when you pass mode="file" doesn't currently allow context_root_dir, but the ephemeral version does. Looks like that needs to be moved
• When you do pass it, it appears to be ignored.

Steps to repro are just context = gx.get_context(context_root_dir="hello_world") and seeing that it was created in gx/ rather than hello_world/.

So for anyone landing up here with this issue, till the fix is released for this, the work around we're adopting is to basically override the GX_DIR attribute via a child class -

from great_expectations.data_context.data_context import FileDataContext

class CustomFileDataContext(FileDataContext):
    '''
    This class serves as an alternative to `gx.get_context()` method 
    because this method returns an instance of AbstractDataContext, 
    which could be one of EphemeralDataContext, FileDataContext, or 
    CloudDataContext, depending on the mode and configuration provided. 
    If the parameters indicate a file-based context (e.g., context_root_dir 
    or project_root_dir is provided), the get_context method will likely 
    invoke a FileDataContext, which is a subclass of SerializableDataContext.
    The _scaffold method in the SerializableDataContext class is responsible 
    for creating the gx/ directory, and this directory name is being overriden
    below.
    '''
    GX_DIR: str = "great_expectations"

# A new data context can then be instantiated from this class
data_context = CustomFileDataContext(project_root_dir=self.data_context_dir)