help, django-admin-tools wont work! - django

Question

am installing the django-admin-tools module to enhance the default django admin with custom dashboard and menus. I have read the docs like a bazillion times
Set up everything the way docs say, but am still merely seeing the Django Admin the SAME WAY is was before I'd even though of django-admin-tools.
What could be wrong?
Am running Django 1.3 and using OpenSuse 11.3
If it helps, the order of apps in my settings.py is like:
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'admin_tools',
'django.contrib.admin',
'admin_tools.theming',
'admin_tools.menu',
'admin_tools.dashboard',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
#'grappelli', #for a sweet django admin look
# 'django.contrib.admindocs',
'django_extensions',
'fpui', #the footprint front-end ui app
)
More Parts of my settings.py in relation to this problem:
ROOTDIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
ADMIN_TOOLS_MEDIA_URL = ROOTDIR + '/media/admin_tools/'
MEDIA_ROOT = ROOTDIR + '/media/admin_tools/'
ADMIN_TOOLS_THEMING_CSS = 'css/theming.css'
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX = '/static/admin/'
ADMIN_TOOLS_INDEX_DASHBOARD = 'footprint.dashboard.CustomIndexDashboard'
ADMIN_TOOLS_APP_INDEX_DASHBOARD = 'footprint.dashboard.CustomAppIndexDashboard'
ADMIN_TOOLS_MENU = 'footprint.menu.CustomMenu'
STATIC_ROOT = ROOTDIR + '/fpui/static/'
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
# Additional locations of static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
)
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.DefaultStorageFinder',
)

Answer 1

Had the same problem and finally managed to make it work.
I think your INSTALLED_APPS are ordered correctly - the admin_tools should be before django.contrib.admin. To be absolutely sure push django.contrib.admin below other admin_tools apps too.
The problem is probably somewhere in the other configurations; mine was that admin_tools couldn't access my templates and was running the regular admin instead.
Try the below:
ROOTDIR = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(ROOTDIR,'media')
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT,'media/static')
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX = '/static/admin/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
)
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.DefaultStorageFinder',
)
TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
)
ROOT_URLCONF = 'your_project_name.urls'
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
os.path.join( PROJECT_ROOT, 'templates' ),
)
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',
)
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
'django.core.context_processors.auth',
'django.core.context_processors.debug',
'django.core.context_processors.i18n',
'django.core.context_processors.media',
'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
'django.core.context_processors.request',
)
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'admin_tools',
'admin_tools.theming',
'admin_tools.menu',
'admin_tools.dashboard',
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
#'grappelli', #for a sweet django admin look
# 'django.contrib.admindocs',
'django_extensions',
'fpui', #the footprint front-end ui app
)
Note that I used realpath for ROOTDIR so that symbolic links may be resolved if there are any. Replace the your_project_name with your project name in ROOT_URLCONF.
Other parameters such as ADMIN_TOOLS_INDEX_DASHBOARD, ADMIN_TOOLS_APP_INDEX_DASHBOARD and ADMIN_TOOLS_APP_INDEX_DASHBOARD are optional, remove them for now so they won't affect the default configuration.
Of course also make sure your urls.py is configured as in the admin_tools guide.
Good luck

Answer 2

Check out the order of your INSTALLED_APPS; It might help if you place the django.contrib.admin just below the django-admin-tools, the order here is used for choosing the right /templates/admin directory.

Answer 3

A little bit late, but I had the same problem, which turned out to be caused by the following circumstance: before installing admin-tools I had overridden one of the admin templates (base-site.html) by putting a modified version in my_project/templates/admin. So it would always use this template instead of the admin_tools one. After removing the custom template it worked.