Back
Mar 4, 2011

Css sprite generation

I've created this small sprite to create css sprites. It glues images from directory directory into single file and generates corresponding css.

#!/usr/bin/python

import os
import os.path as p
import Image


css_inline_item_template = '''
%(selector)s {
    background: url(%(url)s) no-repeat -%(xpos)spx -%(ypos)spx;
    width: %(width)spx;
    height: %(height)spx;
}
'''

css_base_template = '''
%(base_selector)s {
    background-image: url(%(url)s);
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
'''

css_base_item_template = '''
%(selector)s {
    background-position: -%(xpos)spx -%(ypos)spx;
    width: %(width)spx;
    height: %(height)spx;
}
'''


def generate_sprite(images, margin=10):
    def _basename(path):
        return p.splitext(p.basename(path))[0]

    data = []

    master_height = max(*[i.size[1] for i in images])
    master_width = sum([i.size[0] for i in images]) + margin * (len(images) - 1)

    sprite = Image.new(
        mode='RGBA',
        size=(master_width, master_height),
        color=(0,0,0,0))  # fully transparent

    location = 0
    for image in images:
        if 'transparency' in image.info:
            raise Exception('Incorrect transparency mode: ' + image.filename)

        sprite.paste(image,(location, 0))
        data.append({
            'xpos': location,
            'ypos': 0,
            'dir': _basename(p.dirname(image.filename)),
            'file': _basename(image.filename),
            'width': image.size[0],
            'height': image.size[1],
        })
        location += image.size[0] + margin

    return sprite, data


def render_css(base_template, item_template, css_data, sprite_url, base_selector, selector):
    base_info = {
        'base_selector': base_selector,
        'url': sprite_url,
    }
    base_css = base_template % base_info

    items_css = '\n'.join([
        item_template % dict([('selector', selector % image_data)]
            + image_data.items()
            + base_info.items())
        for image_data in css_data])

    return base_css + items_css


def create_sprite_and_css(images_dir, css_output, sprite_output,
        selector='.%(file)s', base_selector='.sprite', url=None, inline=False):
    images = [Image.open(p.join(images_dir, filename))
                for filename in os.listdir(images_dir)
                if not filename.startswith('.')]

    sprite, css_data = generate_sprite(images)
    sprite.save(sprite_output)

    sprite_url = url or p.basename(sprite_output)
    if inline:
        css = render_css('', css_inline_item_template, css_data, sprite_url, base_selector, selector)
    else:
        css = render_css(css_base_template, css_base_item_template, css_data, sprite_url, base_selector, selector)

    css_file = open(css_output, 'w')
    css_file.write(css)
    css_file.close()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    from optparse import OptionParser

    usage = "usage: %prog [options] images_dir css_output sprite_output"
    parser = OptionParser(usage=usage)
    parser.add_option("-i", "--inline", action="store_true", dest="inline", default=False,
                      help="When set, image url will be put in css rule for every item.")
    parser.add_option("-s", "--selector", dest="selector", default='.%(file)s',
                      help="Selector template. You can use dir, file, width, height here.")
    parser.add_option("-S", "--base-selector", dest="base_selector", default='.sprite',
                      help="Base selector template for base css rule (when -i is not set).")
    parser.add_option("-u", "--url", dest="url", default='',
                      help="Css rule Image url template.")

    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()

    if len(args) < 3:
        print 'You must provide all 3 arguments.'
    else:
        images_dir, css_output, sprite_output = [p.realpath(arg) for arg in args]
        create_sprite_and_css(images_dir, css_output, sprite_output,
                selector=options.selector,
                base_selector=options.base_selector,
                inline=options.inline,
                url=options.url)

Update

This article is pretty old. Now it's better to use something integrated to your build process, like grunt or webassets.

Subscribe for the news and updates

More thoughts
May 26, 2017Technology
Tutorial: Django User Registration and Authentication

In this beginners friends article I'll explain how to make authentication with Google account on your Django site and how to make authentication for you REST API.

Mar 12, 2017Technology
Creating a chat with Django Channels

Nowadays, when every second large company has developed its own instant messenger, in the era of iMessages, Slack, Hipchat, Messager, Google Allo, Zulip and others, I will tell you how to keep up with the trend and write your own chat, using django-channels 0.17.3, django 1.10.x, python 3.5.x.

Jan 12, 2017Technology
Making Custom Report Tables Using AngularJS and Django

In this article I will tell you how to create an interactive interface with a widely customized visual look and different filtering to view reports.

Jan 9, 2017Technology
How to Use GraphQL with Django

GraphQL is a very powerful library, which is not difficult to understand. GraphQL will help to write simple and clear REST API to suit every taste and meet any requirements.

Jun 25, 2011Technology
Ajax blocks in Django

Quite often we have to write paginated or filtered blocks of information on page. I created a decorator that would automate this process.

Mar 6, 2010TechnologyManagement
Supplementing settings in settings_local

For local project settings, I use old trick with settings_local file:try:from settings_local import \*except ImportError:passSo in settings_local.py we can override variables from settings.py. I didn't know how to supplement them. For example how to add line to INSTALLED_APPS without copying whole list.Yesterday I finally understood that I can import settings from settings_local:# settings_local.pyfrom settings import \*INSTALLED_APPS += (# ...)