Django Programming

1. Django Home

Django is a high-level Python web framework that promotes rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It focuses on automating as much as possible, providing reusable components for building web applications.

2. Django Intro

Django is a robust, full-stack web framework for Python, designed to simplify the creation of web applications by providing tools for everything from database management to user authentication.

3. Django Get Started

To get started with Django, you need to install it and create a virtual environment. Django helps you build web applications quickly and includes built-in tools for common tasks such as authentication, database migrations, and URL routing.

4. Create Virtual Environment

A virtual environment allows you to isolate your project’s dependencies, making it easier to manage different Python libraries. Use the following command to create a virtual environment:

python -m venv myenv
source myenv/bin/activate # For Mac/Linux
myenv\Scripts\activate # For Windows

5. Install Django

To install Django in your virtual environment, use pip to install the Django package. This will install the latest version of Django.

pip install django

6. Django Create Project

After installing Django, create a new project by running the following command. This will set up the necessary folder structure for your project.

django-admin startproject myproject

7. Django Create App

After creating a project, the next step is to create an app within that project. Apps are components of your Django project that handle specific tasks, such as managing user authentication or handling blog posts.

python manage.py startapp myapp

8. Django Views

Views in Django are Python functions that receive a web request and return a web response. A view can return HTML, a redirect, or JSON data.

from django.http import HttpResponse
def my_view(request):
  return HttpResponse("Hello, World!")

9. Django URLs

Django uses a URL configuration system that maps a URL to a specific view. The urls.py file contains all the URL patterns for your app.

from django.urls import path
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
  path('home/', views.home, name='home'),
]

10. Django Templates

Templates in Django allow you to separate your HTML from your Python code. They are used to dynamically generate HTML pages with data passed from views.

<h1>Hello, {{ name }}</h1>

11. Django Models

Models in Django define the structure of your database. They are Python classes that map to database tables and allow you to interact with the data using Django's ORM.

from django.db import models
class Post(models.Model):
  title = models.CharField(max_length=100)
  content = models.TextField()

12. Django Insert Data

To insert data into the database, you can create a new instance of a model and call the save() method to store it in the database.

post = Post(title='My First Post', content='This is the content of my first post')
post.save()

13. Django Update Data

To update data in the database, retrieve the model instance, modify its fields, and then call the save() method.

post = Post.objects.get(id=1)
post.title = 'Updated Title'
post.save()

14. Django Delete Data

To delete data, use the delete() method on a model instance.

post = Post.objects.get(id=1)
post.delete()

15. Django Update Model

To update your database schema, modify the model and then create and apply migrations using the makemigrations and migrate commands.

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

16. Display Data

To display data in templates, pass context from views to templates and use template tags to display the values.

def post_list(request):
  posts = Post.objects.all()
  return render(request, 'post_list.html', {'posts': posts})

17. Prep Template and View

Before displaying data, ensure that the template is correctly set up and the view is passing the right context. The template should access the context variables using {{ variable_name }} syntax.

19. Add Master Template

A master template in Django is a base template that contains common elements (like headers, footers, and navigation) shared by other templates. Use the {% block %} tag to define sections that can be replaced in child templates.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>My Django Project</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>Header Content</header>
    <main>
      {% block content %}{% endblock %}
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

20. Add Main Index Page

The main index page is typically the homepage of your site. You can define it by creating a view that renders a template (e.g., index.html) for the homepage.

from django.shortcuts import render
def index(request):
  return render(request, 'index.html')

21. Django 404 Template

The 404 template in Django is used to display a custom error page when a user tries to access a non-existent page. Create a 404.html template to handle these errors.

<h1>Page Not Found</h1>
<p>Sorry, the page you are looking for does not exist.</p>

22. Add Test View

A test view can be created to check that your views are rendering correctly. For example, you can create a simple view that returns a plain text response or an HTML page.

from django.http import HttpResponse
def test_view(request):
  return HttpResponse("This is a test view!")

23. Django Admin

Django provides an admin interface to manage your website’s data. You can access it by navigating to the /admin/ URL after creating a superuser account.

python manage.py createsuperuser

24. Create User

To create a user, use the Django admin interface or the createsuperuser command to generate a superuser who has access to the admin panel.

python manage.py createsuperuser
Username: admin
Email: admin@example.com
Password: ********

25. Include Models

Models are the heart of any Django application. To make a model accessible in the admin interface, register it in the admin.py file.

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Post
admin.site.register(Post)

26. Set List Display

In the Django admin interface, you can customize how models are displayed by setting the list_display attribute in the model's admin class.

class PostAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
  list_display = ('title', 'author', 'date_posted')
admin.site.register(Post, PostAdmin)

27. Update Members

To update a model instance in the admin panel, you can navigate to the detail page for the instance and modify its fields.

28. Add Members

To add new members to the database, you can create new instances of the model in the Django admin interface or through the Django shell.

29. Delete Members

To delete members, navigate to the admin interface and click on the delete option for the specific model instance. Alternatively, you can use the delete() method in your views or models.

post = Post.objects.get(id=1)
post.delete()

30. Django Syntax

Django templates use a special syntax that is a mix of HTML and Python. The core components of the syntax include variables, tags, filters, and logic structures like loops and conditionals.

31. Django Variables

Django variables are placeholders used in templates that will be replaced by actual values during rendering. These variables are passed from the view to the template.

{{ user.username }}
{{ post.title }}

32. Django Tags

Django tags are used to implement logic in templates, such as loops, conditionals, and includes. Tags are written inside curly braces and percentage signs.

{% if user.is_authenticated %}
    Welcome, {{ user.username }}!
{% endif %}

33. Django If Else

The {% if %} tag in Django is used to check a condition and render content accordingly. The {% else %} tag is used to provide an alternative when the condition is false.

{% if user.is_authenticated %}
    Welcome back, {{ user.username }}!
{% else %}
    Please log in.
{% endif %}

34. Django For Loop

The {% for %} tag is used for iterating over lists or querysets. This tag allows you to generate dynamic content based on a collection of items.

{% for post in posts %}
    <li>{{ post.title }}</li>
{% endfor %}

35. Django Comment

Comments in Django templates are written inside {# #} tags. These are useful for adding non-executing notes in templates.

{# This is a comment #}

36. Django Include

The {% include %} tag is used to include the content of another template file within a template. This is helpful for reusing parts of templates, such as headers or footers.

{% include 'header.html' %}

37. QuerySets

QuerySets in Django represent a collection of database objects. They allow you to retrieve, filter, and manipulate data stored in the database using Python.

38. QuerySet Introduction

A QuerySet is a list-like object in Django that represents a collection of database records. It is lazy, meaning that it doesn’t hit the database until it is evaluated.

39. QuerySet Get

The get() method is used to retrieve a single object from the database that matches the given query. It raises an exception if no object or more than one object is found.

post = Post.objects.get(id=1)

40. QuerySet Filter

The filter() method is used to retrieve a list of objects that match the given filter criteria.

posts = Post.objects.filter(author='John')

41. QuerySet Order By

The order_by() method is used to sort the QuerySet based on one or more fields. You can use - to reverse the order.

posts = Post.objects.order_by('-date_posted')

42. Static Files

Static files in Django are used to serve CSS, JavaScript, and image files. These files are stored in a directory and referenced in templates using the static tag.

43. Add Static Files

To add static files in Django, create a static directory within each app and reference it in your templates using the {% static %} tag.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/style.css' %}">

44. Install WhiteNoise

WhiteNoise is a Django package that helps you serve static files efficiently. Install it using pip install whitenoise and configure it in your settings.py.

INSTALLED_APPS = ['whitenoise.runserver_nostatic', ...]

45. Collect Static Files

The collectstatic command is used to gather all static files into one directory, which can then be served in production.

python manage.py collectstatic

46. Add Global Static Files

To include global static files (e.g., CSS and JS files used throughout your site), place them in a static directory in the project root and configure Django to serve them.

47. Add Styles to the Project

Incorporating styles into your Django project helps improve the user interface. You can use external CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or write custom CSS to enhance the look of your application.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/style.css' %}">

48. PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a powerful, open-source relational database system. It is used to store and manage your application's data in a structured format, offering advanced features like transactions, indexing, and more.

49. PostgreSQL Intro

PostgreSQL is known for its extensibility and standards compliance. It supports a wide range of data types and is highly performant for large-scale applications.

50. Create AWS Account

To work with AWS services such as RDS for hosting your PostgreSQL database, you first need to create an account on AWS. Visit AWS to sign up.

51. Create Database in RDS

In AWS RDS (Relational Database Service), you can create a PostgreSQL database. This managed service takes care of backups, patches, and scaling automatically.

52. Connect to Database

Once your database is set up in RDS, you can connect to it using Django by configuring your settings.py file with the database credentials.

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
      'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
      'NAME': 'your_db_name',
      'USER': 'your_username',
      'PASSWORD': 'your_password',
      'HOST': 'your_db_host',
      'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

53. Add Members

In Django, adding members typically involves creating a model to store member data and using Django forms or admin interface to add entries to the database.

54. Deploy Django

Deploying a Django application involves moving it from your local environment to a live server, such as AWS or DigitalOcean, where it can be accessed publicly.

55. Elastic Beanstalk (EB)

AWS Elastic Beanstalk simplifies the deployment of web applications by managing the infrastructure for you. It supports multiple programming languages, including Python and Django.

56. Create requirements.txt

The requirements.txt file contains a list of all the dependencies required for your Django project to run. It’s used by pip to install these dependencies on a different environment.

pip freeze > requirements.txt

57. Create django.config

In AWS Elastic Beanstalk, you can create a django.config file to configure settings specific to your Django application. This file is placed in the .ebextensions directory.

58. Create .zip File

When deploying Django with Elastic Beanstalk, your project must be packaged into a .zip file that contains all your project files, including the requirements.txt and django.config.

59. Deploy with EB

Deploy your Django project to Elastic Beanstalk by uploading the .zip file through the EB CLI or AWS Management Console. Elastic Beanstalk handles the rest.

eb init
eb create
eb deploy

60. Update Project

Once your project is deployed, you can update it by making changes to your code locally and redeploying it to AWS Elastic Beanstalk using the EB CLI.

61. More Django

Django provides a wide array of additional features to help you build powerful web applications, including authentication, REST API support, security features, and more.

62. Add Slug Field

In Django, a slug is a URL-friendly version of a string, typically used in URLs for article titles or page names. You can add a slug field to your model and automatically generate it using Django’s slugify method.

slug = models.SlugField(unique=True)

63. Add Bootstrap 5

Bootstrap 5 is a popular CSS framework that helps you design responsive and modern web pages quickly. To integrate Bootstrap 5 into your Django project, you can include the Bootstrap CDN in your templates or download the files locally.

<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.1.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

64. Django References

Django documentation contains detailed references for all aspects of Django development, including models, views, templates, and more. It serves as a guide to understanding Django's functionality.

65. Template Tag Reference

Django's template tags provide the logic for displaying dynamic content in templates. The Template Tag Reference includes all the available tags you can use in your templates to add functionality like loops, conditionals, and more.

66. Filter Reference

Filters in Django templates allow you to modify the display of variables. The Filter Reference provides a complete list of filters like date, default, and length for customizing the output.

67. Field Lookups Reference

Django's QuerySets allow filtering data based on field lookups, such as exact matching, range filters, and more. The Field Lookups Reference includes the complete list of options available for querying and filtering data from the database.

68. Django Exercises

Django Exercises provide practical challenges for developers to practice and solidify their understanding of Django concepts such as models, views, templates, forms, and more. These exercises help reinforce your learning.

69. Django Compiler

The Django Compiler is a tool used for compiling templates, static files, and other resources within the Django project. This helps prepare the application for production and reduces errors during deployment.

70. Django Quiz

The Django Quiz tests your knowledge of Django's concepts, including models, views, templates, and other core features. It is a great way to assess your understanding and identify areas for improvement.

71. Django Syllabus

The Django Syllabus provides a comprehensive outline of the topics you will cover while learning Django. It includes fundamental concepts, intermediate features, and advanced techniques for developing web applications.

72. Django Study Plan

The Django Study Plan is a structured approach to learning Django. It breaks down topics into manageable chunks, ensuring you learn at a steady pace and master key aspects of Django development.

73. Django Server

Django Server refers to the development server that comes built-in with Django. It allows you to run and test your Django application locally before deploying it to a production environment.