Trouble accessing private folder in web2py

Question

My web2py application is designed to use a json key from a file stored in my 'private' folder. However, I am having issues accessing this file because request.folder returns None.

This is the bit of code that isn't working for me:

import os
from gluon.globals import Request


def my_function():    

    request = Request()

    json_file = open(os.path.join('request.folder', 'private', 'quote_generator.json')) 

Answer 1

For code inside a web2py application that will be handling HTTP requests, you should not be creating your own Request object -- the web2py execution environment already includes a Request object and populates it with a number of attributes, including request.folder (when you create a new Request object from scratch, it does not have a folder attribute).

If a function in a module needs access to the request object, you should either pass it explicitly as an argument or use the method described here :

from gluon import current

def my_function():
    json_file = open(os.path.join(current.request.folder,
                                  'private', 'quote_generator.json'))

Alternatively, passing request as an argument:

def my_function(request):
    json_file = open(os.path.join(request.folder,
                                  'private', 'quote_generator.json'))

In that case, when calling the above function from a web2py model, controller, or view, you would have to pass in the request object.

Finally, note that when you call os.path.join , you would not put request.folder in quotes, as that would result in the string literal "request.folder" being added to the path.