What is the path for TEMPLATE_DIRS in django settings.py when using virtualenv

Question

I am using virtualenv and I want to know what the TEMPLATE_DIRS in settings.py should be, for example if I make a templates folder in the root of m

Answer 1

You need to specify the absolute path to your template folder. Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.

For example, if your project folder is "/home/djangouser/projects/myproject" (Linux) or 'C:\projects\myproject\' (Windows), your TEMPLATE_DIRS looks like this:

    # for Linux
    TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
        '/home/djangouser/projects/myproject/templates/',
    )

    # or for Windows; use forward slashes!
    TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
        'C:/projects/myproject/templates/',
    )

Alternatively you can use the specified PROJECT_ROOT variable and generate the absolute path by joining it with the relative path to your template folder. This has the advantage that you only need to change your PROJECT_ROOT, if you copy the project to a different location. You need to import the os module to make it work:

# add at the beginning of settings.py
import os

# ...

TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'templates/'),
)