Unable to use custom StaticFilesStorage

[Stodge]

I'm trying to add an extra directory for each app that will contain Javascript/CSS files. I created a custom storage.py in my app containing a copy of the code from Django's AppDirectoriesFinder class, but I changed source_dir from "static" to "catalog". I'll include the Django code with the modified source_dir so no-one has to check the source code:

class AppCatalogStorage(FileSystemStorage):
    """
    A file system storage backend that takes an app module and works
    for the ``catalog`` directory of it.
    """
    prefix = None
    source_dir = 'catalog'  <------- changed, was 'static'


    def __init__(self, app, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Returns a static file storage if available in the given app.
        """
        # app is the actual app module
        mod = import_module(app)
        mod_path = os.path.dirname(upath(mod.__file__))
        location = os.path.join(mod_path, self.source_dir)
        super(AppCatalogStorage, self).__init__(location, *args, **kwargs)

I added this to my settings file:

    STATICFILES_STORAGE = (

        'myapp.storage.AppCatalogStorage',
        'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'
    )

My understanding here is that I can then do:

(Assuming my app name is fred)

fred/catalog/js/someJavascript.js
fred/catalog/css/someStylesheet.css

I also assumed they would then be accessible as:

/static/fred/js/someJavascript.js
/static/fred/css/someStylesheet.css

However, neither file is available at the expected URL. Did I misunderstand something?

Thanks

[Stodge]

As usual, despite working on this for a while, the solution hits me after I post here.

I have to define a custom finder that uses my custom storage. Bingo!

class CatalogFinder(AppDirectoriesFinder):

    storage_class = AppCatalogStorage

    def __init__(self, apps=None, *args, **kwargs):
        super(CatalogFinder, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
    "django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder",
    "myapp.finders.CatalogFinder"
)

[Stodge]

There's a flaw in my plan as STATICFILES_STORAGE is a string and not a tuple. 

[James Schneider]

Quite honestly, instead of doing all of this work, why not just amend STATICFILES_DIRS with the location of your extra folder? Or just use the designated 'static/app_name' location for your JS files? Seems like a ton of trouble now and in the future to try and implement your own file structure. A symlink from catalog -> static/fred would also have the same effect if you are on a Linux system. 

-James