Enhancement: Add Environment Variable Option for Custom Template Loca…

…tion (networktocode#863)

README.md

@@ -84,6 +84,25 @@ $
 >>> 
 ```
 
+### Define Custom Templates Directory
+
+To use a custom templates directory set the environmental variable `NTC_TEMPLATES_DIR`.
+
+**Requirements**
+1. `index` file needs to be defined with standard structure. [See](#Index-File)
+2. Each custom template should be defined.
+
+To manaully set variable:
+```shell
+export NTC_TEMPLATES_DIR=/path/to/new/location/templates
+```
+
+To set within your program:
+```python
+import os
+os.environ["NTC_TEMPLATES_DIR"] = "/path/to/new/templates/location/templates"
+```
+
 Contributing
 ------------
 

lib/ntc_templates/parse.py

@@ -12,11 +12,13 @@
 
 
 def _get_template_dir():
-    package_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    template_dir = os.path.join(package_dir, "templates")
-    if not os.path.isdir(template_dir):
-        project_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(template_dir)))
-        template_dir = os.path.join(project_dir, "templates")
+    template_dir = os.environ.get("NTC_TEMPLATES_DIR")
+    if template_dir is None:
+        package_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+        template_dir = os.path.join(package_dir, "templates")
+        if not os.path.isdir(template_dir):
+            project_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(template_dir)))
+            template_dir = os.path.join(project_dir, "templates")
 
     return template_dir