Moving closer to portable Django apps I decided to relocate template files from
djangoprojectroot/templates/APP/ to djangoprojectroot/APP/templates/ I like it better because it keeps all APP-related files together. Immediately I encountered three problems: 1) Before the move I referred to templates using "APP/filename.html" string. Now I have to use "filename.html". I had to change all extends/includes template tags, and modify views. Somehow I expected that "APP" in "APP/filename.html" will hint to where to look for the file => in "djangoprojectroot/APP/templates/" directory. Anyway I like "filename.html" better because it is immune to application renaming. 2) All generic views were broken immediately, because by default they look for "APP/filename.html" templates. There are two ways to fix it: a) Place files like that: djangoprojectroot/APP/templates/APP/filename.html b) Use template_name parameter. I went with the latter, which clutters urls.py, but otherwise it is an acceptable solution, and it is immune to app renaming too. 3) It turned out that all template names should be unique. E.g., if I want to use "index.html", and there are two different files with this name in different applications, the template loader will use the first one according to the order of applications in INSTALLED_APPS. Checkmate. #3 renders the whole idea of keeping templates within application directories useless due to the risk of possible name clashes between applications. Switching to djangoprojectroot/APP/templates/APP/ is not immune to application renaming --- if you want to install your app with different name you have to change the name of the second APP subdirectory as well, and modify templates and views, or suffer a possible clash. But the problem is not about extra subdirectories. It is about keeping your template names unique. You can use "APP/filename.html" convention, or "APP_filename.html" convention, or anything else to make them unique (random numbers anyone?). It looks natural to separate templates into logical namespaces with some explicit mechanism of template overriding. There is a ticket #1586 (http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/1586), which within one month was closed twice already. I understand it was confusing. It prevented one application to override templates for another application. Personally I find it confusing when some application overrides templates of 3rd-party applications: I should check all installed apps to see, if this is the case. And I should know all template names, which can be used by any given application. If that solution was unsatisfactory, probably we should find another one. Let me modify it a little bit. One possible way to fix #1586 is to require all overriding templates to be in the global "templates" directory. In this case the search path for "APP/filename.html" looks like that: 1) try djangoprojectroot/templates/APP/filename.html or other project-level locations --- use it to override templates 2) try djangoprojectroot/APP/templates/filename.html or other APP-specific locations (e.g., an .egg) 3) fail It makes template overriding explicit. You always know where to look --- just in two places really. It is super easy to implement. I understand that it is a compromise. It prevents having a self content application, which overrides another self-content application --- you have to do a project-level change (copy files to "templates" directory). I would love to hear better ideas! Thoughts? What additional problems should be addressed by the acceptable solution? Thanks, Eugene --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers" group. To post to this group, send email to django-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
