staticfiles.txt

===================
The staticfiles app
===================

.. module:: django.contrib.staticfiles
   :synopsis: An app for handling static files.

``django.contrib.staticfiles`` collects static files from each of your
applications (and any other places you specify) into a single location that
can easily be served in production.

.. seealso::

    For an introduction to the static files app and some usage examples, see
    :doc:`/howto/static-files/index`. For guidelines on deploying static files,
    see :doc:`/howto/static-files/deployment`.

.. _staticfiles-settings:

Settings
========

.. highlight:: python

.. note::

    The following settings control the behavior of the staticfiles app.

.. setting:: STATICFILES_DIRS

STATICFILES_DIRS
----------------

Default: ``[]``

This setting defines the additional locations the staticfiles app will traverse
if the ``FileSystemFinder`` finder is enabled, e.g. if you use the
:djadmin:`collectstatic` or :djadmin:`findstatic` management command or use the
static file serving view.

This should be set to a list or tuple of strings that contain full paths to
your additional files directory(ies) e.g.::

    STATICFILES_DIRS = (
        "/home/special.polls.com/polls/static",
        "/home/polls.com/polls/static",
        "/opt/webfiles/common",
    )

Prefixes (optional)
"""""""""""""""""""

In case you want to refer to files in one of the locations with an additional
namespace, you can **optionally** provide a prefix as ``(prefix, path)``
tuples, e.g.::

    STATICFILES_DIRS = (
        # ...
        ("downloads", "/opt/webfiles/stats"),
    )

Example:

Assuming you have :setting:`STATIC_URL` set ``'/static/'``, the
:djadmin:`collectstatic` management command would collect the "stats" files
in a ``'downloads'`` subdirectory of :setting:`STATIC_ROOT`.

This would allow you to refer to the local file
``'/opt/webfiles/stats/polls_20101022.tar.gz'`` with
``'/static/downloads/polls_20101022.tar.gz'`` in your templates, e.g.:

.. code-block:: html+django

    <a href="{{ STATIC_URL }}downloads/polls_20101022.tar.gz">

.. setting:: STATICFILES_STORAGE

STATICFILES_STORAGE
-------------------

Default: ``'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'``

The file storage engine to use when collecting static files with the
:djadmin:`collectstatic` management command.

.. versionadded:: 1.4

A ready-to-use instance of the storage backend defined in this setting
can be found at ``django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.staticfiles_storage``.

For an example, see :ref:`staticfiles-from-cdn`.

.. setting:: STATICFILES_FINDERS

STATICFILES_FINDERS
-------------------

Default::

    ("django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder",
     "django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder")

The list of finder backends that know how to find static files in
various locations.

The default will find files stored in the :setting:`STATICFILES_DIRS` setting
(using ``django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder``) and in a
``static`` subdirectory of each app (using
``django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder``). If multiple
files with the same name are present, the first file that is found will be
used.

One finder is disabled by default:
``django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.DefaultStorageFinder``. If added to
your :setting:`STATICFILES_FINDERS` setting, it will look for static files in
the default file storage as defined by the :setting:`DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE`
setting.

.. note::

    When using the ``AppDirectoriesFinder`` finder, make sure your apps
    can be found by staticfiles. Simply add the app to the
    :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting of your site.

Static file finders are currently considered a private interface, and this
interface is thus undocumented.

Management Commands
===================

.. highlight:: console

``django.contrib.staticfiles`` exposes three management commands.

collectstatic
-------------

.. django-admin:: collectstatic

Collects the static files into :setting:`STATIC_ROOT`.

Duplicate file names are by default resolved in a similar way to how template
resolution works: the file that is first found in one of the specified
locations will be used. If you're confused, the :djadmin:`findstatic` command
can help show you which files are found.

Files are searched by using the :setting:`enabled finders
<STATICFILES_FINDERS>`. The default is to look in all locations defined in
:setting:`STATICFILES_DIRS` and in the ``'static'`` directory of apps
specified by the :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting.

.. versionadded:: 1.4

The :djadmin:`collectstatic` management command calls the
:meth:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage.post_process`
method of the :setting:`STATICFILES_STORAGE` after each run and passes
a list of paths that have been found by the management command. It also
receives all command line options of :djadmin:`collectstatic`. This is used
by the :class:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage`
by default.

Some commonly used options are:

.. django-admin-option:: --noinput

    Do NOT prompt the user for input of any kind.

.. django-admin-option:: -i <pattern>
.. django-admin-option:: --ignore <pattern>

    Ignore files or directories matching this glob-style pattern. Use multiple
    times to ignore more.

.. django-admin-option:: -n
.. django-admin-option:: --dry-run

    Do everything except modify the filesystem.

.. django-admin-option:: -c
.. django-admin-option:: --clear

    .. versionadded:: 1.4

    Clear the existing files before trying to copy or link the original file.

.. django-admin-option:: -l
.. django-admin-option:: --link

    Create a symbolic link to each file instead of copying.

.. django-admin-option:: --no-post-process

    .. versionadded:: 1.4

    Don't call the
    :meth:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage.post_process`
    method of the configured :setting:`STATICFILES_STORAGE` storage backend.

.. django-admin-option:: --no-default-ignore

    Don't ignore the common private glob-style patterns ``'CVS'``, ``'.*'``
    and ``'*~'``.

For a full list of options, refer to the commands own help by running::

   $ python manage.py collectstatic --help

findstatic
----------

.. django-admin:: findstatic

Searches for one or more relative paths with the enabled finders.

For example::

   $ python manage.py findstatic css/base.css admin/js/core.js
   /home/special.polls.com/core/static/css/base.css
   /home/polls.com/core/static/css/base.css
   /home/polls.com/src/django/contrib/admin/media/js/core.js

By default, all matching locations are found. To only return the first match
for each relative path, use the ``--first`` option::

   $ python manage.py findstatic css/base.css --first
   /home/special.polls.com/core/static/css/base.css

This is a debugging aid; it'll show you exactly which static file will be
collected for a given path.

.. _staticfiles-runserver:

runserver
---------

.. django-admin:: runserver

Overrides the core :djadmin:`runserver` command if the ``staticfiles`` app
is :setting:`installed<INSTALLED_APPS>` and adds automatic serving of static
files and the following new options.

.. django-admin-option:: --nostatic

Use the ``--nostatic`` option to disable serving of static files with the
:doc:`staticfiles </ref/contrib/staticfiles>` app entirely. This option is
only available if the :doc:`staticfiles </ref/contrib/staticfiles>` app is
in your project's :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting.

Example usage::

    django-admin.py runserver --nostatic

.. django-admin-option:: --insecure

Use the ``--insecure`` option to force serving of static files with the
:doc:`staticfiles </ref/contrib/staticfiles>` app even if the :setting:`DEBUG`
setting is ``False``. By using this you acknowledge the fact that it's
**grossly inefficient** and probably **insecure**. This is only intended for
local development, should **never be used in production** and is only
available if the :doc:`staticfiles </ref/contrib/staticfiles>` app is
in your project's :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting. :djadmin:`runserver`
``--insecure`` doesn't work with
:class:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage`.

Example usage::

    django-admin.py runserver --insecure

Storages
========

StaticFilesStorage
------------------

.. class:: storage.StaticFilesStorage

    A subclass of the :class:`~django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage`
    storage backend that uses the :setting:`STATIC_ROOT` setting as the base
    file system location and the :setting:`STATIC_URL` setting respectively
    as the base URL.

    .. method:: post_process(paths, **options)

    .. versionadded:: 1.4

    This method is called by the :djadmin:`collectstatic` management command
    after each run and gets passed the local storages and paths of found
    files as a dictionary, as well as the command line options.

    The :class:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage`
    uses this behind the scenes to replace the paths with their hashed
    counterparts and update the cache appropriately.

CachedStaticFilesStorage
------------------------

.. class:: storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage

    .. versionadded:: 1.4

    A subclass of the :class:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage`
    storage backend which caches the files it saves by appending the MD5 hash
    of the file's content to the filename. For example, the file
    ``css/styles.css`` would also be saved as ``css/styles.55e7cbb9ba48.css``.

    The purpose of this storage is to keep serving the old files in case some
    pages still refer to those files, e.g. because they are cached by you or
    a 3rd party proxy server. Additionally, it's very helpful if you want to
    apply `far future Expires headers`_ to the deployed files to speed up the
    load time for subsequent page visits.

    The storage backend automatically replaces the paths found in the saved
    files matching other saved files with the path of the cached copy (using
    the :meth:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage.post_process`
    method). The regular expressions used to find those paths
    (``django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage.cached_patterns``)
    by default cover the `@import`_ rule and `url()`_ statement of `Cascading
    Style Sheets`_. For example, the ``'css/styles.css'`` file with the
    content

    .. code-block:: css+django

        @import url("../admin/css/base.css");

    would be replaced by calling the
    :meth:`~django.core.files.storage.Storage.url`
    method of the ``CachedStaticFilesStorage`` storage backend, ultimatively
    saving a ``'css/styles.55e7cbb9ba48.css'`` file with the following
    content:

    .. code-block:: css+django

        @import url("../admin/css/base.27e20196a850.css");

    To enable the ``CachedStaticFilesStorage`` you have to make sure the
    following requirements are met:

    * the :setting:`STATICFILES_STORAGE` setting is set to
      ``'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.CachedStaticFilesStorage'``
    * the :setting:`DEBUG` setting is set to ``False``
    * you use the ``staticfiles`` :ttag:`static<staticfiles-static>` template
      tag to refer to your static files in your templates
    * you've collected all your static files by using the
      :djadmin:`collectstatic` management command

    Since creating the MD5 hash can be a performance burden to your website
    during runtime, ``staticfiles`` will automatically try to cache the
    hashed name for each file path using Django's :doc:`caching
    framework</topics/cache>`. If you want to override certain options of the
    cache backend the storage uses, simply specify a custom entry in the
    :setting:`CACHES` setting named ``'staticfiles'``. It falls back to using
    the ``'default'`` cache backend.

    .. method:: file_hash(name, content=None)

    .. versionadded:: 1.5

    The method that is used when creating the hashed name of a file.
    Needs to return a hash for the given file name and content.
    By default it calculates a MD5 hash from the content's chunks as
    mentioned above.

.. _`far future Expires headers`: http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html#expires
.. _`@import`: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/cascade.html#at-import
.. _`url()`: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/syndata.html#uri
.. _`Cascading Style Sheets`: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/

.. currentmodule:: django.contrib.staticfiles.templatetags.staticfiles

Template tags
=============

static
------

.. templatetag:: staticfiles-static

.. versionadded:: 1.4

Uses the configured :setting:`STATICFILES_STORAGE` storage to create the
full URL for the given relative path, e.g.:

.. code-block:: html+django

    {% load static from staticfiles %}
    <img src="{% static "images/hi.jpg" %}" alt="Hi!" />

The previous example is equal to calling the ``url`` method of an instance of
:setting:`STATICFILES_STORAGE` with ``"images/hi.jpg"``. This is especially
useful when using a non-local storage backend to deploy files as documented
in :ref:`staticfiles-from-cdn`.

.. versionadded:: 1.5

If you'd like to retrieve a static URL without displaying it, you can use a
slightly different call:

.. code-block:: html+django

    {% load static from staticfiles %}
    {% static "images/hi.jpg" as myphoto %}
    <img src="{{ myphoto }}" alt="Hi!" />

Other Helpers
=============

There are a few other helpers outside of the
:mod:`staticfiles <django.contrib.staticfiles>` app to work with static
files:

- The :func:`django.core.context_processors.static` context processor
  which adds :setting:`STATIC_URL` to every template context rendered
  with :class:`~django.template.RequestContext` contexts.

- The builtin template tag :ttag:`static` which takes a path and
  urljoins it with the static prefix :setting:`STATIC_URL`.

- The builtin template tag :ttag:`get_static_prefix` which populates a
  template variable with the static prefix :setting:`STATIC_URL` to be
  used as a variable or directly.

- The similar template tag :ttag:`get_media_prefix` which works like
  :ttag:`get_static_prefix` but uses :setting:`MEDIA_URL`.

.. _staticfiles-development-view:

Static file development view
----------------------------

.. currentmodule:: django.contrib.staticfiles

The static files tools are mostly designed to help with getting static files
successfully deployed into production. This usually means a separate,
dedicated static file server, which is a lot of overhead to mess with when
developing locally. Thus, the ``staticfiles`` app ships with a
**quick and dirty helper view** that you can use to serve files locally in
development.

.. highlight:: python

.. function:: views.serve(request, path)

This view function serves static files in development.

.. warning::

    This view will only work if :setting:`DEBUG` is ``True``.

    That's because this view is **grossly inefficient** and probably
    **insecure**. This is only intended for local development, and should
    **never be used in production**.

This view is automatically enabled by :djadmin:`runserver` (with a
:setting:`DEBUG` setting set to ``True``). To use the view with a different
local development server, add the following snippet to the end of your
primary URL configuration::

   from django.conf import settings

   if settings.DEBUG:
       urlpatterns += patterns('django.contrib.staticfiles.views',
           url(r'^static/(?P<path>.*)$', 'serve'),
       )

Note, the beginning of the pattern (``r'^static/'``) should be your
:setting:`STATIC_URL` setting.

Since this is a bit finicky, there's also a helper function that'll do this for
you:

.. function:: urls.staticfiles_urlpatterns()

This will return the proper URL pattern for serving static files to your
already defined pattern list. Use it like this::

   from django.contrib.staticfiles.urls import staticfiles_urlpatterns

   # ... the rest of your URLconf here ...

   urlpatterns += staticfiles_urlpatterns()

This will inspect your :setting:`STATIC_URL` setting and wire up the view
to serve static files accordingly. Don't forget to set the
:setting:`STATICFILES_DIRS` setting appropriately to let
``django.contrib.staticfiles`` know where to look for files in addition to
files in app directories.

.. warning::

    This helper function will only work if :setting:`DEBUG` is ``True``
    and your :setting:`STATIC_URL` setting is neither empty nor a full
    URL such as ``http://static.example.com/``.

    That's because this view is **grossly inefficient** and probably
    **insecure**. This is only intended for local development, and should
    **never be used in production**.