Full Stack Web Developer BootCamp. (A course by Jose Portilla on Udemy) - Updated for recent versions of Python and Django

      Welcome to a step by step write up to creating a web application using Python (V3.10) and dJango (v4.1.5). While going through the course by Jose Portilla on Udemy for a full stack web development bootcamp by Jose Portilla, I realised that the course followed much older versions of python and Django. Hence, I noted updated findings and hope that it may help someone chart their path through a bit easily. I am skipping the parts in learning HTML/CSS/JavaScript etc and going straight to Section 16 (Django Level One Basics) of the course.

 

1.     Install Django using Python pip feature.

Command prompt: pip install django

2.     Create your project under your working directory. Let us call it "first_project".

Command prompt:  django-admin startproject first_project

This command will create the following files under the first_project directory - asgi.py, settings.py, urls,py and wsgi.py:

                         i.   __init__.py is empty, and lets python know that this directory can be treated as a package.

                       ii.   url.py store all urls for the project.

                      iii.   wsgi.py acts as the web server gateway interface. it helps deploy on Production.

                      iv.   manage.py - Associated with many commands as we build our web app.

 

3.     Change directory to first_project and run the server to host it on localhost/port 8000.

Command prompt: manage.py runserver.

Once you have confirmed that the site opens without any issues, close the server by pressing Ctrl + C.

 

4.     Create your Application with the name ‘first_app’.

Command Prompt: manage.py startapp first_app

This creates the first_app folder inside first_project, and has the following files:

i.       Migrations (folder) – Contains database specific information as it relates to the models.

ii.       __init__.py - Lets python know that this directory can be treated as a package.

iii.    admin.py - register your models here, which django will us with its admin interface.

iv.    apps.py - place application specific configurations

v.      models.py - store application's data models. Entities and Relationships between data

vi.    tests.py - series of functions to test code

vii.   views.py - series of functions that handle requests and responses.

 

5.     Register your application with your project.

i. Open first_project/settings.py.

ii Scroll down to [INSTALLED_APPS] section.

INSTALLED_APPS = [

    'django.contrib.admin',

    'django.contrib.auth',

    'django.contrib.contenttypes',

    'django.contrib.sessions',

    'django.contrib.messages',

    'django.contrib.staticfiles',

    'first_app'

]

Include first_app in installed Apps in the settings.py in the first_project folder as shown above.

6.     Create a view and map it the url.

i.    Open the first_app/views.py file and paste the code below for a very simple view.

from django.shortcuts import render

from django.http import HttpResponse

# Create your views here.

 

def index(request):

    return HttpResponse("Hello World")

 

ii.   Open the first_project/urls.py file and include this view in the router.

from django.contrib import admin

from django.urls import path

from first_app import views

urlpatterns = [

    path('', views.index, name='index'),

    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),

]

 

7.     Start the server

  Command Prompt: manage.py runserver

You should now see a screen like this.

 

 

8.     Separate Application and Project URL Mapping for modularity

i. Create a new file - ...first_app/urls.py

from django.urls import path

from first_app import views

urlpatterns = [

    path('', views.index, name='index'),

]

ii. Tell the first_project/url.py to use first_app url for the application. To do this, include the two lines in first_project/url.py

from django.contrib import admin

from django.urls import path

from first_app import views

from django.conf.urls import include

urlpatterns = [

    path('', views.index, name='index'),

    path('first_app/', include('first_app.urls')),

    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),

]

9.     Test  functionality for both - the home page and the first_app page.

Command Prompt: manage.py runserver

a.  The home page on http://127.0.0.1:8000 should show Hello World (as routed from first_project/urls.py)

 

b.     The page on http://127.0.0.1:8000/first_app should also show hello world, but this time, as routed from the first_app/urls.py

In the next blog, we will look at templates and static files.