How to serve static files for local development in Django 1.4

Question

I just downloaded the latest Django version (1.4.1), and I can't figure out how to serve css files when developing locally using runserver. I've read the relevant Django docs on static files and many, many questions & answers here... sounds like it's supposed to be more or less automatic, but it's not working for me.

I'm working on the polls app from the tutorial.

404 from the log

[27/Apr/2012 01:04:09] "GET /polls/ HTTP/1.1" 200 210
[27/Apr/2012 01:04:09] "GET /polls/css/styles.css HTTP/1.1" 404 2596 

Directory structure

mysite
|-- manage.py
|-- mysite
    |-- __init__.py
    |-- settings.py
    |-- urls.py
    |-- wsgi.py
|-- polls
    |-- __init__.py
    |-- models.py
    |-- tests.py
    |-- views.py
    |-- static
        |-- css
            |-- styles.css
|-- templates
    |-- polls
        |-- index.html

index.html

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{{ STATIC_URL }}css/styles.css">

settings.py

MEDIA_ROOT = ''
MEDIA_URL = ''
STATIC_ROOT = ''
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = ()
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
)
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
"django.core.context_processors.auth",
"django.core.context_processors.debug",
"django.core.context_processors.i18n",
"django.core.context_processors.media",
'django.core.context_processors.static',
)

^^^ I didn't have the TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS variable in settings.py when I started the project and had to add it manually - should I be worried about that?

STATICFILES_DIRS is empty, because the css file is in a directory named static within the polls app, which is where Django looks for it automatically - right?

I also have django.contrib.staticfiles in my INSTALLED_APPS.

urls.py

I saw in the docs that this solution works for local development servers other than runserver - sounds like it shouldn't be necessary otherwise, right? (I currently have it commented out.)

EDIT: I uncommented these lines, but did not see a change - still getting the same 404 on the css file

from django.contrib.staticfiles.urls import staticfiles_urlpatterns
urlpatterns += staticfiles_urlpatterns()

Do I have my directory structure set up wrong? Am I missing necessary settings in settings.py? Any help would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

---

EDIT:

I took Mark's suggestion and read up on RequestContext. Changing my view from:

return render_to_response('polls/index.html', {'latest_poll_list': latest_poll_list})

to

from django.template import RequestContext
...
return render_to_response('polls/index.html', {'latest_poll_list': latest_poll_list}, context_instance=RequestContext(request))

got the /static/ url to register:

[27/Apr/2012 13:56:55] "GET /static/css/styles.css HTTP/1.1" 200 19

This fixes the problem.

Answer 1

In order to use STATIC_URL in the template you need to be sure you are using a RequestContext along with adding 'django.core.context_processors.static' to TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS. This is done for you if you are using the render shortcut. If you are not using a RequestContext then you can use the {% get_static_prefix %} template tag from the staticfiles template tag library. This is detailed in the docs here: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/ref/contrib/staticfiles/#other-helpers