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Static files namespaces in django

I can't get my static files in Django to work with "namespaced" urls - I wonder if I'm missing something here?
my project structure
Basically I have one app called "foo" in my project "static_test". Inside that app I have a "static" folder which contains "test.txt".
I haven't changed anything in settings.py, so it contains all the default settings: staticfiles is included in INSTALLED_APPS, and STATIC_URL is set to '/static/'.
All of this is in full accordance with official Django tutorial: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/howto/static-files/
I'm using Django 1.9.2.
When I start the Django development server, this is what I get:
localhost:8000/static/test.txt - 200 OK
localhost:8000/static/foo/test.txt - 404 Page not found
This is despite the official tutorial claiming
In your templates, either hardcode the url like /static/my_app/myexample.jpg or, preferably, use the static template tag to build the URL for the given relative path by using the configured STATICFILES_STORAGE storage (this makes it much easier when you want to switch to a content delivery network (CDN) for serving static files).
Why is the second url (/static/foo/test.txt) not working for me? And why is the first url working? I do not have a project-wide static folder.
Thanks

from the docs
You should use 'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder' in your STATICIFILES_FINDERS variable in your settings.

First one is searching under static.
Second one under foo under static.
Your link should look like this.
href="{% static "test.txt" %}"
And settings.py like this
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

Can't load static files with bottle on elastic beanstalk

After some help, I got my bottle application running with Elastic Beanstalk. Well almost - I still can't see any static files. I have followed the instructions here by inserting a file called python.conf in directory .ebextensions with this in it:
option_settings:
"aws:elasticbeanstalk:container:python:staticfiles":
"/static/": "static/"
Unfortunately that did not work. My files are in folders under /static (for example, /static/js, /static/css etc). In my bottle application, I was serving static files as per the answer here, like this:
#route('/static/:path#.+#')
def server_static(path):
return static_file(path, root='./static')
It all works when I run it locally. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Should I be following a different procedure because my static files are in subfolders, or because I'm using bottle instead of flask? I'm aware of a similar question that has been asked here for flask, but there has been no answer (and for all I know it could be a totally different issue).
Thanks a lot, Alex

I'm sure it isn't the most elegant solution, but I solved this by putting all of my static files in an S3 bucket and using that in all of my pages.
I didn't really have that many static files to begin with so it wasn't a very big deal. I just made a variable of the S3 bucket url:
S3Static = r'mystaticbucket.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com'
Passed it to my bottle templates, and changed the links from:
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href = "/static/css/MarmoStyle.css" >
to
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href = "{{S3Static}}/static/css/Style.css">
(ie just added {{S3Static}} before the path)
If you're using a static file in a separate %included header template like I am, you have to pass the S3Static variable to the template like this:
%include header.tpl S3Static=S3Static
And that was about it. I know this won't be an ideal solution for everyone and there are probably better ways to do it, but it's worked for me so far.
Thanks,
Alex

You should really look into python's whitenoise module. Then you only have one line you have to change and the URL routing is handled by whitenoise next to bottle. Essentially you can keep the url the same as your domain, even if whitenoise is pulling from someplace else. PLus it's designed to cache your static data. Definitely should be using it. It takes like 3 lines to setup, and you can remove bottle's static folder route.

Django static files, and filepaths in settings.py

I'm trying my first proper webdev project and i'm learning the django framework.
I came here to ask about the cleanest way to use "static files", like the external CSS i'm referring to in one of my html templates. I tried reading through the official documentation on the subject but found it a little bit confusing as a beginner, i then tried googling but i noticed that most of the guides or stackoverflow answers differed slightly and i realised i needed a better understanding. Bit cheeky to ask but, could someone explain and summarise the process to me?
For reference, here is my project folder hierarchy. At the moment i'm trying to get the template base.html to use the sylesheet at CSS/base.css:
Also one of the things that keeps throwing me off is the use of absolute filepaths. So far i've managed to get away with just using relative filepaths, which makes more sense to me as the aim is to develop on the django test server then transfer it all onto my own server when i have one. (note: perhaps it's because i have no idea how complicated that transfer process is that i don't understand why absolute filepaths are prefered). What's the issue with using relative filepaths?
I realise that this has sort of become two questions, which is against the rules, but i really think both could be answered together and if i understood one it would probably aid my understanding of the other. Any help would be much appreciated.

Here is a set of code snippets from settings.py i have changed for including static files
import os
import django
DJANGO_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(django.__file__))
SITE_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
Dynamically setting variables for SITE_ROOT directory
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
'NAME': os.path.join(SITE_ROOT,'data.db'),
where the sqlite3 database is stored it needs absolute address
'USER': '',
'PASSWORD': '',
'HOST': '',
'PORT': '',
}
}
STATIC_ROOT = SITE_ROOT
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
store static files here
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(SITE_ROOT,'static'),
)
where the templates are stored
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
os.path.join(SITE_ROOT,'templates'),
)
Now in templates use
{% load static %} --at beginning
<link href="{% static "css/bootstrap.min.css"%}" rel="stylesheet" media="screen">
this is an example showing how to access "css/bootstrap.min.css" in static directory

I'm going to assume you're using Django 1.3 or higher as that allows you to use staticfiles (docs) for static files. Here's the basic idea: each Django website consists of multiple apps (directories) that contain all the files needed for a particular part of the website (i.e., a models.py, views.py, a templates directory and also a static directory). This static directory contains the JavaScript and CSS files (as well as other static files for that app.
When deploying the website, you run the collectstatic command to gather all the static files into one directory. From that directory you then serve the static files to visitors of your site (i.e, Apache or a different web server can do that for you).
So the general structure of your web project could be:
manage.py
website/models.py
website/views.py
website/static/website/css/base.css
website/static/website/js/base.js
website/templates/website/base.html
static
settings.py
urls.py
You'll notice that the name of the Django app is repeated in the subdirectories of the static and templates directories. This is necessary because it keeps the files apart when they are moved to a general static directory. In the above example, the STATIC_ROOT is the top-level static directory and into this directory all your static files will be copied.
It's definitely worth reading the documentation of staticfiles as this project layout allows you to reuse Django apps in other projects with ease. For example, you can imagine a website that looks like this:
blog/models.py
blog/templates/blog/overview.html
blog/templates/blog/post.html
blog/urls.py
blog/views.py
photos/models.py
photos/templates/photos/overview.html
photos/templates/photos/photo.html
photos/urls.py
photos/views.py
manage.py
static
settings.py
urls.py
The apps blog and photos can now easily be reused in other websites if desired.

Really appreciate the time put into the #Simeon Visser's answer, and there was some really useful information there but it wasn't entirely what I was looking for. So I asked around and have sinister_user_name from reddit to thank for this, which I thought might help someone else:
Static files have changed a fair bit in recent releases so old blogs might be a bit of a mess.
I'll give it a shot:
In your templates you can use the static_url tag and django will fill in the path for you.
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ STATIC_URL }}css/bootstrap.min.css">
It fills in the static url by looking at your settings file. STATIC_URL defaults to /static/ I think in settings? If static files end up in a weird url on your corporate web server you can just change it in settings anyway and it will reflect in all templates. So it doesn't matter if they are absolute.
When you go to deploy you fill in STATIC_ROOT in your settings, this is just the path that you've set your webserver to find the static files. Then if you run manage.py collectstatic and it will copy them to that directory. That's the only function of STATIC_ROOT I think.
I keep the template directory separate from my static directory, mainly because you want your webserver just to serve static files, while templates are processed by python. So, static files are almost not part of your application as far as the web server views them. I keep my templates and static files in separate paths just in the base directory, mainly because both are not python source files.
So my project structure would be like:
manage.py
website/settings.py
app/models.py
app/views.py
templates/base.html
static/js/jquery.js
static/css/bootstrap.css
The problem with relative paths is that they will need to change if your url scheme changes.
Optional: I found in this blog which helps to not put absolute file system paths into the settings.py which is good if your working from multiple machines eg work and home :(
With the slightly different layout for 1.4 I use this at the top of my settings:
import os
import django
import manage
DJANGO_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(django.__file__))
SITE_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(manage.__file__))
instead of what they suggest (the location of settings has moved in 1.4 or 1.3) so SITE_ROOT is messed up. I think that might work.
Further on down in the settings I use this:
# Additional locations of static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(SITE_ROOT, 'static'),
)
This will tell the development server where to find the static files. You can do the same for templates or just use the full file path.

Best way to structure a site with media to keep it separate from the base code. ( Opinion based )

I've recently have taken a new server under my wing that has an interesting installation of django on it. The previous developer mixed in the media uploads with the static content and in other modules created it's own directory on the root file level of the project. My first reaction to this was general annoyance. ( I'm a huge fan of modular development. ) However after working to 'correct,' it's raised a question.
Even though this question is tagged with django, feel free to post response according to java and asp.net.
How do you set up your static files? Do you stack everything inside a static directory or do you take the time link each modular independently?
One of my tricks for every django app I start is, in the init.py of said app I put the following.
import os
from django.conf import settings as djsettings
TEMPLATES_DIR = (os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),'./templates'),)
djsettings.TEMPLATES_DIR += TEMPLATES_DIR

I don't think your trick is really needed (anymore).
If you use django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader (docs)
you can put a template dir in your app dir and Django will check it for your app-specific templates
And starting with Django 1.3 you can use the staticfiles app to do something similar with all your static media files. Check the docs for the staticfiles-finders
So finally, thanks to the collectstatic management command, you're now able to keep your static media files modularized (for easier development and distribution), yet you still can bundle them at a centralized place once it is time to deploy and serve your project.

Right now I'm in the habit of putting a static folder in each app directory containing its static files. I keep templates in each app directory under templates. I alias the static path when putting the app behind nginx or apache.
One thing that I'm starting to do more of is putting static files such as javascript, css, or images behind a CDN like S3.

How should Django Apps bundle static media?

Background:
I'm starting to use Django for the first time, which is also my first foray into web development. I just got stuck on the whole "serving static media" problem. After spending a while looking at all the documentation and StackOverflow questions, I think I understand how it's supposed to work (i.e. MEDIA_ROOT, MEDIA_URL, updating the urls file, etc).
My Question:
Ok, so here's the part I'm not sure about. Django applications are supposed to be "pluggable", i.e. I can move an application from one project to another. So, how should these applications bundle static media?
For example, let's say I have a "foo" application, which has templates that load some css/image files. Where am I supposed to put these files, so that they'll automatically get served once I include the application?
The only solution I see, is that installing an application has to include the extra step of copying its static media to some place on your own server that serves that media.
Is this the accepted way to do it? It includes an extra step, but maybe that's standard when dealing with web-dev (I'm new so I don't really know).
Also, if this is the way, is there a standard way to collect all my static media to make it easy to know what I need to serve? (I.e., is it standard to have a folder named "media" or something inside the app?).
Thanks,

Convention is to put static media in either media/appname/ or static/appname/ within the app (similar to templates).
For using apps in your project that come with media, I strongly recommend using django-staticfiles. It will automatically serve media (including media within apps) in development through a view that replaces django.views.static.serve, and it comes with a build_static management command that will copy media from all apps into a single directory for serving in production.
Update: django-staticfiles has become part of Django 1.3. It now expects app media to live in a "static/" subdirectory of the app, not "media/". And the management command is now "collectstatic."

The only app I know of that deals with this without any intervention is the rather wonderful django-debug-toolbar, though it's arguable that this isn't a great example, since it's an app specifically designed for debug mode only.
The way it deals with it is that it serves its media through Django itself - see the source for urls.py:
url(r'^%s/m/(.*)$' % _PREFIX, 'debug_toolbar.views.debug_media'),
In general, this is a bad idea (you don't want to serve static files through Django), per this comment from the documentation:
[Serving static files through Django] is inefficient and
insecure. Do not use this in a
production setting. Use this only for
development.
Obviously, the django-debug-toolbar is only used for development, so I think its method of deployment makes sense, but this is very much an exception.
In general, the best way I know to do it is to create symbolic links wherever your media is stored to the media inside your app code. For example, create a folder called media within your app, and then require users installing your app to either add a symbolic link from their media directory, or copy the whole thing.

i usually put apps media in ./apps/appname/static (my apps resides in an apps subfolder)
then i have something similar in the vhost in apache :
AliasMatch ^/apps/([^/]+)/static/(.*) /home/django/projectname/apps/$1/static/$2
<DirectoryMatch "^/home/django/projectname/apps/([^/]+)/static/*">
Order deny,allow
Options -Indexes
deny from all
Options +FollowSymLinks
<FilesMatch "\.(flv|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|ico|swf|js|css|pdf|txt|htm|html|json)$">
allow from all
</FilesMatch>
</DirectoryMatch>
i also have this in my urls.py for dev server (use only for debug) :
def statics_wrapper(request, **dict):
from django.views import static
return static.serve(request, dict['path'], document_root = os.path.join(settings.BASE_DIR, 'apps', dict['app'], 'static'), show_indexes=True)
urlpatterns += patterns('', (r'^apps/(?P<app>[^/]+)/static/(?P<path>.+)$', statics_wrapper))
this is very handy because statics url are simply mapped to filesystem, eg :
http://wwww.ecample.com/apps/calendar/static/js/calendar.js resides in [BASE_DIR]/apps/calendar/static/js/calendar.js
hope this helps