Django Tutorial | Not a Movie, but a Python Framework to Create Websites

See the code of the tutorial in this GitHub repo.

Set up your Machine

What do I need to start a Django project?

• It is recommended that you create a new environment
• And that you have Anaconda installed. If not, click here to download & install

• You need to install the library in your terminal (use Anaconda Prompt for Windows Users):

    conda create -n django_env django
    conda activate django_env
  

Start the Django Project

Ok, you got it. What's next?

• Open a Code Editor application to start working more comfortable with the project
• I use Visual Studio Code (aka VSCode), you may download & install it here

What should I do within VSCode?

• You will use the Django CLI installed with the Django package already
• To create the standard folders and files you need for the application

• Type the following line within the terminal:

    django-admin startproject shop
  

What should I see on my computer after this?

1. If you open your user folder, you will see that
2. A folder shop has been created
3. drag & drop it to VSCode
4. Now check the folder structure and familiarize yourself with the files & folders
   • The folder structure should look like this ↓

- shop/
    - manage.py
    - shop/
        - __init__.py
        - settings.py
        - urls.py
        - asgi.py
        - wsgi.py

Do I need to study all of them?

• No, just go with the flow, and you'll get to understand everything at the end

See the Default Django Website

Ok, what's the next step?

• You'll probably want to see your Django App up and running, right?
• Then, go over the terminal and write the following ↓

cd shop
python manage.py runserver

• A local server has opened in http://127.0.0.1:8000/, open it in a web browser
• Which references the localhost and you should see something like this ↓

What if I try another URL like 127.0.0.1:8000/products?

• You will receive an error because
• You didn't tell Django what to do when you go to 127.0.0.1:8000/products

How can I tell that to Django?

Create an App within the shop Django Project

• With the following line of code ↓

    python manage.py startup products
  

The URL

• Create an URL within the file shop > urls.py

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include # modified


urlpatterns = [
    path('products/', include('products.urls')), # added
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
]

The View

1. Create a View (HTML Code) to be recognised when you go to the URL 127.0.0.1:8000/products

2. Within the file shop > products > views.py

from django.http import HttpResponse


def view_for_products(request):
    return HttpResponse("This function will render `HTML` code that makes you see this <p style='color: red'>text in red</p>.")

• See this tutorial if you want to know a bit more about HTML

• Call the function view_for_products when you click on 127.0.0.1:8000/products

• You need to create the file urls.py within products → shop > products > urls.py

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('', views.view_for_products, name='index'),
]

Connecting Project URLs with App URLs

Why do we reference the URLs in two files? One in shop/urls.py folder and the other in products/urls.py?

• It is a best practice to have a Django project separated by different Apps
• In this case, we created the products App
• In our the file shop/urls.py, you reference the products.py URLs here ↓

urlpatterns = [
    path('products/', include('products.urls')), #here
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
]

• So that at the time you navigate to https://127.0.0.1:8000/products
• You will have access to the URLs defined in shop/products/urls.py
• For example, let's create another View in shop/products/views.py ↓

def new_view(request):
    return HttpResponse('This is the <strong>new view</strong>')

• And reference it in the file shop/products/urls.py

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('', views.view_for_products, name='index'),
    path('pepa', views.new_view, name='pepa'), # new url
]

• We don't need to reference the View in shop/urls.py since
• we can access all URLs in shop/products/urls.py at the time we wrote
• include('products.urls') in the file shop/urls.py
• Try to go to 127.0.0.1:8000/products/pepa

Summary

So, each time I want to create a different HTML, do I need to create a View?

• Yes, it's how the Model View Template (MVT) works ↓

• You introduce an URL

• The URL activates a View
• And HTML code gets rendered in the website

Why don't you mention anything about the model?

• Well, that's something to cover in the following article 🔥 COMING SOON!

Any doubts?

Let me know in the comments; I'd be happy to help!