Fixed #4278 -- Added a dirs parameter to a few functions to override TEMPLATE_DIRS.

* django.template.loader.get_template()
* django.template.loader.select_template()
* django.shortcuts.render()
* django.shortcuts.render_to_response()

Thanks amcnabb for the suggestion.

3 files changed, 57 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/docs/ref/templates/api.txt b/docs/ref/templates/api.txt
index b0fc94040a..b3e49b6773 100644
--- a/docs/ref/templates/api.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/templates/api.txt
@@ -594,17 +594,31 @@ The Python API
 
 ``django.template.loader`` has two functions to load templates from files:
 
-.. function:: get_template(template_name)
+.. function:: get_template(template_name[, dirs])
 
     ``get_template`` returns the compiled template (a ``Template`` object) for
     the template with the given name. If the template doesn't exist, it raises
     ``django.template.TemplateDoesNotExist``.
 
-.. function:: select_template(template_name_list)
+    To override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the ``dirs``
+    parameter. The ``dirs`` parameter may be a tuple or list.
+
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.7
+
+       The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
+
+.. function:: select_template(template_name_list[, dirs])
 
     ``select_template`` is just like ``get_template``, except it takes a list
     of template names. Of the list, it returns the first template that exists.
 
+    To override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the ``dirs``
+    parameter. The ``dirs`` parameter may be a tuple or list.
+
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.7
+
+       The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
+
 For example, if you call ``get_template('story_detail.html')`` and have the
 above :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, here are the files Django will look for,
 in order:
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.7.txt b/docs/releases/1.7.txt
index 685efe04b3..bd22b5513f 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.7.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.7.txt
@@ -285,6 +285,14 @@ Templates
 * ``TypeError`` exceptions are not longer silenced when raised during the
   rendering of a template.
 
+* The following functions now accept a ``dirs`` parameter which is a list or
+  tuple to override :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS`:
+
+  * :func:`django.template.loader.get_template()`
+  * :func:`django.template.loader.select_template()`
+  * :func:`django.shortcuts.render()`
+  * :func:`django.shortcuts.render_to_response()`
+
 Tests
 ^^^^^
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
index 8a80affb2a..27e8817884 100644
--- a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ introduce controlled coupling for convenience's sake.
 ``render``
 ==========
 
-.. function:: render(request, template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, content_type][, status][, current_app])
+.. function:: render(request, template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, content_type][, status][, current_app][, dirs])
 
    Combines a given template with a given context dictionary and returns an
    :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object with that rendered text.
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ Optional arguments
     :ref:`namespaced URL resolution strategy <topics-http-reversing-url-namespaces>`
     for more information.
 
+``dirs``
+    A tuple or list of values to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 1.7
+
+   The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
+
 Example
 -------
 
@@ -83,11 +90,19 @@ This example is equivalent to::
         return HttpResponse(t.render(c),
             content_type="application/xhtml+xml")
 
+If you want to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the
+``dirs`` parameter::
+
+    from django.shortcuts import render
+
+    def my_view(request):
+        # View code here...
+        return render(request, 'index.html', dirs=('custom_templates',))
 
 ``render_to_response``
 ======================
 
-.. function:: render_to_response(template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, content_type])
+.. function:: render_to_response(template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, content_type][, dirs])
 
    Renders a given template with a given context dictionary and returns an
    :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object with that rendered text.
@@ -125,6 +140,13 @@ Optional arguments
     The MIME type to use for the resulting document. Defaults to the value of
     the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
 
+``dirs``
+    A tuple or list of values to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 1.7
+
+   The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
+
 Example
 -------
 
@@ -150,6 +172,15 @@ This example is equivalent to::
         return HttpResponse(t.render(c),
             content_type="application/xhtml+xml")
 
+If you want to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the
+``dirs`` parameter::
+
+    from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
+
+    def my_view(request):
+        # View code here...
+        return render_to_response('index.html', dirs=('custom_templates',))
+
 ``redirect``
 ============