**Course Title:** Mastering Django Framework: Building Scalable Web Applications **Section Title:** Static Files and Media Management **Topic:** Serving media files and user uploads In this topic, we will explore how to serve media files and user uploads in a Django application. This includes handling static files, serving user-uploaded files, and managing media files. ### Serving Static Files Static files are files that do not change frequently, such as CSS, JavaScript, and image files. Django provides a built-in way to serve static files using the `static` template tag and the `staticfiles` app. #### Step 1: Configure Static Files To serve static files, you need to configure the `staticfiles` app in your Django project. Add the following lines to your `settings.py` file: ```python STATIC_URL = '/static/' STATICFILES_DIRS = [ os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'), ] ``` The `STATIC_URL` setting specifies the URL prefix for static files, and the `STATICFILES_DIRS` setting specifies the directories where Django will look for static files. #### Step 2: Create a Static Directory Create a `static` directory in your project directory and add your static files to it. For example, you can create a `static/css`, `static/js`, and `static/images` directories. #### Step 3: Use the `static` Template Tag To serve static files in your templates, use the `static` template tag. For example: ```html <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{% static 'css/style.css' %}"> ``` ### Serving User-Uploaded Files To serve user-uploaded files, you need to use the `FileField` or `ImageField` in your models to store the files. Then, you can use the `File` object to serve the files. #### Step 1: Create a Model with a FileField Create a model with a `FileField` or `ImageField` to store the user-uploaded files. For example: ```python from django.db import models class UserUpload(models.Model): file = models.FileField(upload_to='uploads/') ``` #### Step 2: Save the File When a user uploads a file, save the file to the `FileField` or `ImageField`. For example: ```python from django.http import HttpResponse from django.shortcuts import render from .models import UserUpload def upload_file(request): if request.method == 'POST': file = request.FILES['file'] user_upload = UserUpload(file=file) user_upload.save() return HttpResponse('File uploaded successfully') return render(request, 'upload.html') ``` #### Step 3: Serve the File To serve the file, use the `File` object to serve the file. For example: ```python from django.http import HttpResponse from django.shortcuts import render from .models import UserUpload def serve_file(request, pk): user_upload = UserUpload.objects.get(pk=pk) response = HttpResponse(user_upload.file, content_type='application/octet-stream') response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="%s"' % user_upload.file.name return response ``` ### Using Cloud Storage for Media Files Using cloud storage for media files can help reduce the load on your server and improve performance. You can use services like AWS S3 or Azure to store your media files. For example, you can use the `boto3` library to interact with AWS S3. Here's an example of how to upload a file to AWS S3: ```python import boto3 s3 = boto3.client('s3') def upload_file_to_s3(file): s3.put_object(Body=file, Bucket='your-bucket-name', Key='path/to/file') ``` You can also use the `azure-storage-blob` library to interact with Azure Blob Storage. Here's an example of how to upload a file to Azure Blob Storage: ```python from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient blob_service_client = BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string('your-connection-string') blob_client = blob_service_client.get_blob_client(container='your-container-name', blob='path/to/file') def upload_file_to_azure(file): blob_client.upload_blob(file, overwrite=True) ``` In the next topic, we will cover how to use cloud storage for media files (AWS S3, Azure).