django: cannot find static files - django

Question

I ran into this problem for quite some time and is having trouble solving this. Right now I am using django 1.2.4 and having the following settings:
AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE = 'customUsers.UserProfile'
TEMPLATE_STRING_IF_INVALID = 'Error generating variable'
DEBUG = True
TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG
ANONYMOUS_USER_ID = -1
AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = (
'django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend', # default
'guardian.backends.ObjectPermissionBackend',
)
MANAGERS = ADMINS
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = ("django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
"django.core.context_processors.debug",
"django.core.context_processors.i18n",
"django.core.context_processors.media",
# "django.core.context_processors.static", there is no this function in the file
"django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
"customUsers.user_cp_context.userCPContext")
USE_I18N = False
# If you set this to False, Django will not format dates, numbers and
# calendars according to the current locale
USE_L10N = True
# Absolute filesystem path to the directory that will hold user-uploaded files.
# Example: "/home/media/media.lawrence.com/"
MEDIA_ROOT = '/Users/carrier24sg/Documents/workspace/static_teachers/'
# URL that handles the media served from MEDIA_ROOT. Make sure to use a
# trailing slash if there is a path component (optional in other cases).
# Examples: "http://media.lawrence.com", "http://example.com/media/"
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
# URL prefix for admin media -- CSS, JavaScript and images. Make sure to use a
# trailing slash.
# Examples: "http://foo.com/media/", "/media/".
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX = '/media/admin/'
# Make this unique, and don't share it with anybody.
SECRET_KEY = '(grqejktuccy6!#5pr#535*vivl#lcv06=v*hvae#&6mx15nzt'
# List of callables that know how to import templates from various sources.
TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
# 'django.template.loaders.eggs.Loader',
)
MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
)
#ROOT_URLCONF = 'myproject.urls'
#TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
# Put strings here, like "/home/html/django_templates" or "C:/www/django/templates".
# Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.
# Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths.
# '/home/carrier24sg/webapps/django/myproject/templates'
#)
SITE_ID = 2
ROOT_URLCONF = 'teachers.urls'
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
'/Users/carrier24sg/Documents/workspace/templates',
'/Users/carrier24sg/Documents/workspace/teachers/templates'
)
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'customUsers',
'ConsentForm',
'teachers.consent_teachers',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.messages',
'conversation',
'teachers.student_profiling',
'south',
'guardian',
'persistent_messages',)
For some reasons I cannot serve static files like js and css. The output of the development server displays 404 error "GET /media/common/css/sidebar.css HTTP/1.1" 404 2202 I have tried entering the url for the static file on browser, instead of telling me that the file cannot be found(which i was expecting), I was shown the url-unmatched django debug page Using the URLconf defined in teachers.urls, Django tried these URL patterns, in this order: ......The current URL, media/js/conversation_load.js, didn't match any of these.
Question: why is django not reading the url http://127.0.0.1:8000/media/js/conversation_load.js like a request for static file?

Answer 1

for example, you have your "media" folder near settings.py
Then try:
from os import path
MEDIA_ROOT = path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'media')
Where "media" is you media folder name.
In urls.py:
from os import path
(r'^media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve', {'document_root': path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'media')}),

Answer 2

Have you added into your templates:
{% load staticfiles %}
This loads what's needed.