Flask, Keep getting 404 serving static files using send_static_file

Question

I followed the instructions from How to serve static files in Flask, but still couldn't get it working.

Here's my project structure:

Project_path    |  +--app  |  |  |  +--main.py  +--static     |     +--js        |        +--jquery-1.11.2.min.js 

Here's main.py:

@app.route('/js/<path:path>') def serve_static(path):     root_dir = os.path.dirname(os.getcwd())     print(os.path.join(root_dir, 'static', 'js', path))     return app.send_static_file(os.path.join(root_dir, 'static', 'js', path)) 

Here's index.html:

  ...   <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery-1.11.2.min.js"></script>   ... 

And when I visit /, I could see the correct path of javascript file printed on the screen
which is Project_path/static/js/jquery-1.11.2.min.js.

But still, I got

127.0.0.1 - - [22/Dec/2014 11:26:30] "GET /js/jquery-1.11.2.min.js HTTP/1.1" 404 - 

Any help is appreciated.

EDIT
After stepping through the send_static_file method, I find out what's going on. Basically, I shouldn't use abspath as argument, flask has a judgement in send_static_file:

if os.path.isabs(filename) or \    filename == '..' or \    filename.startswith('../'):     raise NotFound() 

And since the filename I passed into is a abspath, flask raise NotFound().
It seems that what it supposed to be passed in is a relative path to self.static_folder(self is <Flask 'main'>), which, in my project, is Project_name/app/static. However, I didn't set static_folder myself which means flask thinks the static folder should be there.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do.

Answer 1

Finally got it working. use flask.send_from_directory

from flask import send_from_directory  @app.route('/js/<path:filename>') def serve_static(filename):     root_dir = os.path.dirname(os.getcwd())     return send_from_directory(os.path.join(root_dir, 'static', 'js'), filename) 

It is now clear to me that flask really hate people putting app.py or in my case main.py into a subdirectory. Use send_static_file only if your static folder is what flask thinks to be, i.e. a folder with name static in the same directory with app.py.

Answer 2

All you need to do is, pass the static_folder parameter to the initiator:

static_url_path – can be used to specify a different path for the static files on the web. Defaults to the name of the static_folder folder.

static_folder – the folder with static files that should be served at static_url_path. Defaults to the 'static' folder in the root path of the application.

app = Flask(__name__, static_folder=os.path.abspath('/foo/bar/zoo/')) 

Now, flask will look for a directory named static in /foo/bar/zoo from where to serve static files. You only use send_from_directory if you are serving media files which may not be in the same location as static files.