Python Error [Errno 36]: File name too long

Question

I searched for this error, but couldn't find out how to handle it. I am getting the following error, when trying to open a file:

[Errno 36] File name too long: '/var/www/FlaskApp/FlaskApp/templates/

Here is my simple code. I am trying to open a json file and render it with Flask into a website:

@app.route("/showjson/")
def showjson():
    SITE_ROOT = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
    data_in = open(os.path.join(SITE_ROOT, "static/data", "btc.json"), "r")
    data_out = ""
    for line in data_in:
        data_out += line.rstrip()
    data_in.close()
    return render_template(data_out)

Does anybody know a solution? Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You are passing the render_template function the entirety of your JSON file, when it is looking for the filename of a template file. This is why you are getting a file name is too long error.

You can use the send_from_directory function to send the JSON file. Import the function first:

from flask import send_from_directory

Then use it like so:

@app.route("/showjson/")
def showjson(path):
    SITE_ROOT = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
    return send_from_directory(os.path.join(SITE_ROOT, "static/data"), "btc.json")