StaticFiles support for directories other than "statics"

[bram2000]

Checklist

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• [X - tried to get feedback but no replies] I discussed this idea on the community chat and feedback is positive.

Is your feature related to a problem? Please describe.

I want to be able to serve static files from arbitrary locations within a python package but I can't because currently it looks in a statics folder which is hardcoded.

Describe the solution you would like.

I'd like to be able to pass as a parameter the path within the python package to look in for the static files.

Describe alternatives you considered

I've considered changing the location of my packaged files to statics but this will have knock on effects across other systems, and statics itself is non-standard as far as I can tell.

Additional context

[BeatSlayer]

That's already supported.

Check the docs here: https://www.starlette.io/staticfiles/

[bram2000]

That's already supported.

Check the docs here: https://www.starlette.io/staticfiles/

I don’t think it is. I want to use the package argument but specify a directory within that package instead of being forced to use statics

[stephane]

@bram2000 yes, I don't know why this directory is hard-coded.
https://github.com/encode/starlette/blob/master/starlette/staticfiles.py#L76
Do you think the directory argument could be used?

There is also a copy/paste issue in the following assert message:
https://github.com/stephane/starlette/commit/4795244701298033169bcf1c0840e2badbd07dda

The line https://github.com/encode/starlette/blob/master/starlette/staticfiles.py#L56 prevents me to use a symbolic link for my static files... Thank you@HanDDol

[HanDDol]

The line https://github.com/encode/starlette/blob/master/starlette/staticfiles.py#L56 prevents me to use a symbolic link for my static files...

@stephane
In my case, i added check_dir=FALSE in StaticFiles constructor and it works.

[stephane]

@HanDDol oh, you're right! How could I have missed it? 🤣

[paulmsmith]

I've just hit this issue. I've tried the check_dir=False suggestion from @HanDDol but that didn't work for me. Do you have an example @HanDDol?

I think @bram2000's suggestion would be idea to account for packages that don't follow the 'statics' convention. (if it is a convention).

[paulmsmith]

I found that by simply creating an empty directory called statics inside the dependancy this then worked and seemed to allow me to reference things in static within the dependancy. This feels like bug to me and as @bram2000 said, would be helpful if you could pass a parameter specifying the directory within a dependancy you need to include things from.

[florimondmanca]

Hi folks, we're considering #1350 and the following API to address this use case…

routes=[
    ...
    Mount('/static', app=StaticFiles(packages=['bootstrap4', ('mypackage', 'dist')]), name="static"),
]

That is, we'll be able to specify a root directory to look into as a 2-tuple (<package_name>, <dir>) form, where the single string "<package_name>" uses the current default, "statics".

Any thoughts or comments welcome on the PR before we move on and merge. :-)