Static URLs in Python Flask

[CoderElijah]

Question:
How do I create a separate URL for each item in a list in Flask?

I’m trying to archive some of the fun things PikaBot2005 said and I was hoping to not have to manually create a URL for each document. Basically, the goal is to take a list I made of file names and create a separate URL for each file, sending its content to a webpage.

Currently only the first file listed on the main page works. I don’t even know why it works because there are spaces in the URL. I’m learning Flask but have a pretty good understanding of Python as a whole; please help me.

Repl link:
https://replit.com/@CoderElijah/PikaBot-Quotes

[dragonhunter1]

All static files in flask will be served if they are under the static directory, although you can configure this. A flask structure usually looks like this:

• app.py
• static
  • myimage.png
  • style.css
  • etc.

Hope this helps!

[CoderElijah]

What I want is the URL to be the name of the files in /static/pikaDocs. I also want the data in render_template to be the contents of that file. I know how to do this manually but I really want a for loop or something so that it’s easier to add to.
EDIT: More specifically, the URL of the HTML page needs to be the name of the text file.

[bigminiboss]

ooh yeah you can do a path route and send a static file. Like this:

from flask import Flask, send_file

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/<path:path>')
def return_file(path):
    return send_file(path)

app.run("0.0.0.0")

[dragonhunter1]

What you did here:

@app.route('/docs/<string:docTitle>')
def docs(docTitle):
  for docTitle in pikaDocs:
    with open(f"static/pikaDocs/{docTitle}") as document:
      document = document.readlines()
      return render_template("document.html", title=docTitle, document=document)

Was right, except for the for loop, remove that. It is unnecessary, I also recommend not putting the docs in static, as then they can be shown publicly without the html.

[CoderElijah]

Really I was that close? That’s kinda sad. It works now. I’ll move the folder once I get the rest of this figured out (I don’t find it urgent). I have two questions though.

1. How do the parameters work in the Flask @app.route() functions?
2. How do I fix the spaces in the URLs? I’m fine replacing them with underscores. I might just have to rename the files. I could even have the program do that.

I seriously have no idea why it works now. How does it know what docTitle is? I have no idea where that gets assigned, just where it gets used.

@app.route('/docs/<string:docTitle>')
def docs(docTitle):
  with open(f"static/pikaDocs/{docTitle}") as document:
    document = document.readlines()
    return render_template("document.html", title=docTitle, document=document)

[CoderElijah]

Okay I figured it out. The URL is supplying the file name. I’m going to do something to fix the spaces in the URL (probably rename the files). Thanks for the help!

[CoderElijah]

I got it working. I fixed the spaces in the URLs.
https://replit.com/@CoderElijah/PikaBot-Archives#main.py