Get the file path for a static file in django code

Question

I have a django application that sends off an email containing image files as MIME attachments. The emails are sent from views.py, but in order to attach the files, I need to get the full path name of the image(s), so python can open them. These files are in the static folder in my app, but I can't seem to find a way that I can get the full path of the file on the filesystem that works in development mode - It works fine in production after collecting static, but in dev, it can't find the file as the static files are served from individual app folders in development.

Answer 1

Use finders-module of Django

from django.contrib.staticfiles import finders  result = finders.find('css/base.css') searched_locations = finders.searched_locations 

String result is the file-system path, and if not found, double check searched_locations

Answer 2

project_dir.url add to the end of file

if DEBUG:     urlpatterns += patterns(         '',         url(r'^media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve',             {'document_root': MEDIA_ROOT}),          url(r'^static/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve',             {'document_root': STATIC_ROOT}), ) 

project_dir.settings

STATICFILES_DIRS = (     os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'), ) STATICFILES_FINDERS = (     'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',     'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder', ) STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static_debug') STATIC_URL = '/static/'  MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media') MEDIA_URL = '/media/' 

make dirs media & static_debug (add them to .gitignore)

project_dir/     static/         image.jpg     settings.py     urls.py apps/     __init__.py     some_app/         static/             some_app/                 css/                     style.css media/ static_debug/ 

Now you can run project or directly

python manage.py collectstatic 

access from views

from django.templatetags.static import static  static('image.jpg') static('some_app/css/style.css') 

access from templates

{% load staticfiles %}  {% static 'image.jpg' %} {% static 'some_app/css/style.css' %}