Uploaded Media files are only served after I reload the django server

Question

I'm quite new to django development, tired of searching for this particular case of mine.

I have django app running on my windows 10 with debug = False. I am just about to deploy my app to digital ocean droplet.

I am facing so many deployment and static + media file issues. I kind of figured out static files, they are fine, media files are also loaded.

But, when I upload a new image, access it directly, it says the resource I'm looking for isn't found. But it's 100% uploaded to media/images folder, and I can see it. Today, I think I found the some solution, I can access the media files only after I reload the django server. I want to know why is that?

My settings.py file

# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'livereload',
    'mnotes.apps.MnotesConfig',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'multiselectfield',

]

DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_SIZE = [100, 100]
DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_QUALITY = 75
DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_KEEP_META = True
DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_FORCE_FORMAT = 'JPEG'
DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_FORMAT_EXTENSIONS = {'JPEG': ".jpg"}
DJANGORESIZED_DEFAULT_NORMALIZE_ROTATION = True

CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = 'bootstrap4'

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
    'livereload.middleware.LiveReloadScript',
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',

]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'MarketingNotes.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'MarketingNotes.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}


# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'Asia/Seoul'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = False

SESSION_COOKIE_AGE = 60 * 60 * 24 * 30
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/howto/static-files/

STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'staticfiles'

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

MEDIA_ROOT =  os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')

MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = ( 'static/',  )

print(MEDIA_ROOT)
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
# Default primary key field type
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/settings/#default-auto-field

DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'

LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/'
LOGIN_URL = 'login'

And my wsgi.py because I changed it with WhiteNoise app for serving static + media files

import os

from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'MarketingNotes.settings')

application = get_wsgi_application()


from whitenoise import WhiteNoise

application = WhiteNoise(application, root='c:/Users/Peter/Django/MarketingNotes/mnotes/static')
application.add_files('c:/Users/Peter/Django/MarketingNotes/media', prefix='media/')

Then I tried to find some way of reloading the server when the user uploads an image, it kind of seems like a bad idea though, so, now, am I supposed to figure out some linux code to reload the gunicorn server in my droplet, or does django have anything to reload the server once the media folder is changed?

Sorry for my english

Answer 1

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static")
]
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'assets')
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'

Try to replace these settings in settings.py, if it doesn't works it means it's your IDE issue..

Answer 2

It is related with Whitenoise. Whitenoise only checks for static files at startup and so files added after the app starts won't be seen.

Since, Whitenose is not suitable for serving user-uploaded media files.

Please check Whitenose official docs. http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/latest/django.html#serving-media-files