Pinax Long Tutorial Slides

Pinax Long Tutorial PyCon 2010

Introduction ~10 minutes

Who are we? - James Tauber Pinax Founder CEO of Eldarion http://jtauber.com

Who are we? - Daniel Greenfeld Pinax Core Developer Software Engineer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate Author/Instructor for Holden Web, LLC (holdenweb.com) Developer for Eldarion http://pydanny.com

Tutorial Prerequisites
Basic understanding of Python
Basic understanding of Django
Laptop
Python 2.5.x or 2.6.x

History of Pinax 2008: James Tauber decides to stop repeating himself 0.5 — First official release 2009: First full year of Pinax 0.7 — Groups, Static Media, Move to pip and virtualenv, Section 508 2010: Today 0.9 — Next great thing

Philosophy of Pinax By integrating numerous reusable Django apps to take care of the things that many sites have in common, it lets you focus on what makes your site different. In other words... D on't R epeat Y ourself

What will we be doing? Installing Pinax Reviewing the core underlying layer Changing the look and feel Various Pinax tricks Building on what Python and Django gives us Deployment Community

Pinax Installation ~10 minutes

Where to get Pinax
http://pinaxproject.com/download/
USB key with bundle

virtualenv
Ian Bicking
Isolates all Pinax components from your global environment
virtual environments is used for dependency control
You can use multiple virtualenv/pinax-env
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv

pip
Ian Bicking
pip is a replacement for easy_install
All packages are downloaded before installation. Partially-completed installation doesn't occur as a result.
Supports requirement files for consistently creating environments of many packages.
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip

Core Underlying Components ~10 minutes

Core: Accounts Avatar Email Addresses Language OpenID Password Management Signup Timezone

Sign Up Options
Closed Sign Up
Private Beta
Optional email confirmation

Core: Groups Groups in Pinax are containers with user membership and content. They are a base on which to write your own app and plug in whatever content apps you need. Examples: Tribes (Wiki, Photos) Projects (Tasks, Wiki) Guilds (Events)

Core: Static Media Handling css, images, javascript Project vs Pinax Theme vs App level Separation of static media from user-contributed media. build_static management command for deployment

Pinax Projects ~10 minutes

Overview of the starter projects
boilerplate code
scaffolding to get started more quickly
already integrated apps
Examples:
basic_project
social_project
code_project
company_project (NEW)

Using pinax-admin List all the currently available projects in Pinax pinax-admin clone_project -l Cloning a project pinax-admin clone_project social_project djangofans

What is in a Pinax project?
apps directory
media directory
slightly extended manage.py
requirements.txt with project dependencies required to run
deploy directory for modpython, fastcgi, and wsgi.
templates directory with the blocking done
tests directory to help push you to test.

Pinax specific settings.py ~5 minutes

Some Pinax Settings SITE_NAME (used in some default templates) CONTACT_EMAIL (used in some default templates) PINAX_THEME (prefix for template resolution) ACCOUNT_OPEN_SIGNUP (can anyone join?) ACCOUNT_REQUIRED_EMAIL (is email address required?) ACCOUNT_EMAIL_VERIFICATION (must email be verified?) EMAIL_CONFIRMATION_DAYS (how long before expiry?) LOGIN_REDIRECT_URLNAME (first page to go after login)

Media/Static Files Settings MEDIA_URL / MEDIA_ROOT (URL and filesystem location for files uploaded/stored by Django only) STATIC_URL / STATIC_ROOT (URL and filesystem location for site assets such as CSS, JS and images) SERVE_MEDIA (Used in urls.py to hook-up MEDIA_URL and STATIC_URL used for development)

local_settings.py
Good place for environmental settings such as:
Databases

Debug
Media locations

Modification of core Pinax applications ~10 minutes

Profiles Frequently extended application You always want a custom field

Modification of core Pinax applications Before you change a core application: Can you accomplish your tasks with CSS? Can you accomplish your tasks with Javascript? Can you accomplish your tasks with template changes? Can you create a new application that does the work?

But my task needs a code/database change! pinax-env/lib/python2.x/site-packages/Pinax/pinax/apps/<app> pinax-env/src/Pinax/pinax/apps/<app> Don't make changes in Pinax itself!

But my task needs a code/database change! Option 1: Use the apps directory of your project cd apps/ django-admin.py startapp profiles Option 2: Use virtualenv/pip Create a stand alone app (best done eggified) pip install -e my-app

Adding Django applications ~10 minutes

Won't conversion be hard? Remember: Pinax is just Django with an opinion pip install <django-app> (Don't forget to add it to your requirements.txt file) make changes to INSTALLED_APPS, etc in settings.py make template changes

Modification of templates ~10 minutes

Customize templates, don't change them cp -r site-packages/pinax/templates/default/profiles my-project/templates Don't edit the Pinax templates directory!

Themes in Pinax Change your look and feel by just changing settings.py! PINAX_THEME = "default" But only one theme is currently shipped with Pinax PINAX_THEME = "default"

Changing the logo Step 1: Add your image to <my-project>/media Step 2: In <my-project>/templates/site_base.html in the logo_link_image block change the name of the logo image to match your own. (but really you should be making more style changes than just the logo)

Handy Pinax template blocks
head_title
extra_head
extra_body
Loads after main body. Good for custom Javascript

footer

Changing the look and feel ~10 minutes

base.html versus site_base.html
If you are writing a theme to be used across multiple sites, you
should modify base.html, not site_base.html.
If you want to keep a particular theme but modify content for a
specific site, you should modify site_base.html.

Adding and removing tabs
In site_base.html add a new li in the right_tabs block. Make sure that li has and id specific to that to that tab, e.g. tab_myapp
Create a myapps/base.html template that all pages under that tab will extend. Make sure it defines a block body_class with contentmyapp
edit the CSS file (site_tabs.css if it exists) and at the appropriate points add the selectors:
body.myapp #tab_myapp
body.myapp #tab_myapp a
see http://pinaxproject.com/docs/dev/tabs.html for more information

Adding CSS In templates/site_base.html {% block extra_head_base %}: <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ MEDIA_URL }}custom.css" /> mkdir site_media mkdir site_media/media touch custom.css body { background-color: #000; }

Changing Avatar defaults ~10 minutes

django-avatar by default uses Gravatar Pros: Gravatars follow a user's account name across the Internet Means users get a default avatar anywhere Cons: You might not want the default Gravatar avatar image You might not want to lock user avatars into a single service

Changing the default Gravatar logo In settings.py AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL = STATIC_URL + "<our_custom_avatar.jpg>" AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP = False

django-groups ~10 minutes

What are groups? Groups in are containers with user membership and content. Example: A project with tasks and wiki A guild with a forum and events

What does django-groups give you?
Base model on which to build your group app
A way to do all your URL routing so you get to the right content objects for the group.
Nested group support (group apps can be content object apps at the same time)

Creating a group app
Adding content objects is simple:
from groups.bridge import ContentBridge
bridge = ContentBridge(Project)
urlpatterns = patterns("", ...) # URLs for the group views
urlpatterns += bridge.include_urls("topics.urls", r"^project/(?P<project_slug>[-w]+)/topics/")
Group model interface is simple:
member_queryset (needed if member m2m is named other than members)
user_is_member
get_url_kwargs

Creating content object apps
Most bits must be aware of group association. Views, forms, model and template context.
By 0.9 most all major apps will support group protocol for content apps.
Apps don't need to depend on django-groups
Protocol bits of note
ContentBridge
get_group
reverse
Group model instance
content_objects(Model, [ join=[...] ])
Template context
{% extends group_base|default:"site_base.html" %}

Looking at django-groups pinax-admin clone_project sample_group_project sgp cd sgp python manage.py syncdb python manage.py runserver

django-uni-form ~10 minutes

What is Section 508?
Rules for making technology theoretically accessible by individuals with disability.
Easy to implement if you know how.
Unfortunately doesn't actually force software to be accessible to the disabled.
Enforceable across all government agencies or organizations accepting money from government agencies.

Why do we care?
US Government work requires it.
Disability software is said to be a $170 billion a year industry.
Open source tends to support accessibility/usability well.
Its the right thing to do!

Django forms rock!

Tables are for tabular data

In Section 508, some tabular forms are allowed

Out of the box pretty Django forms are tabular

Django Uni-Form = Django forms docs + template tag + Uni-Form css/js forms library

Basic Usage

Advanced Django Uni-Form ~10 minutes

Making form generation easier {% load uni_form_tags %} {% with form.helper as helper %} {% uni_form form helper %} {% endwith %}

Adding action handlers {% load uni_form_tags %} {% with form.helper as helper %} {% uni_form form helper %} {% endwith %}

Media Handling ~10 minutes

Static Files
css, images, javascript
Separation of static media from user-contributed media.
build_static management command for deployment
STATIC_URL context variable
SERVE_MEDIA for development

Static media is good Caching Security Separating servers

build_static tool python manage.py help build_static Copy static media files from apps and other locations in a single location. --dry-run (don't copy but show what will be done) --link (create symlinks rather than copy) Project vs Pinax Theme vs App level

STATIC_URL
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = [
"staticfiles.context_processors.static_url",
]
(be sure to use RequestContext)
<link href="{{ STATIC_URL }}css/polls.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

STATICFILES_DIRS
Defines resolution order for static media handling
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, "media"),
os.path.join(PINAX_ROOT, "media", PINAX_THEME),
]

Serving Static Files During Development
from django.conf import settings
if settings.SERVE_MEDIA:

urlpatterns += patterns("",
(r"", include("staticfiles.urls")),
)

JavaScript, jQuery and Pinax ~5 minutes

Why was jQuery chosen for Pinax? Because Pinax has an opinion But you can still use YUI, Mootools, or plain old JavaScript

Best practice for JavaScript use

django-ajax-validation ~5 minutes

django-ajax-validation In urls.py: from my_app.forms import MyAppForm (r"^validate/$", "ajax_validation.views.validate", { "form_class": MyAppForm, "callback": lambda request, *args, **kwargs: {"user": request.user} }, "myapp_form_validate"),

django-ajax-validation
in templates/my-app/edit.html:
{% block extra_body %}
{% load jquery_validation %}
{% include_validation %}
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function(){
$('#myapp_form').validate('{% url myapp_form_validate %}', {type: 'uni_form'});
});
</script>
{% endblock %}

django-pagination ~2 minutes

django-pagination
{% load pagination_tags %}
...
{% autopaginate results 10 %}
...

{% paginate %}
style with CSS:
.pagination, .page, .page.selected, .page-prev, .page-next

Testing your Pinax application ~5 minutes

Why should you bother testing? "Untested code is broken code" Martin Aspelli "Code without tests is broken as designed" Jacob Kaplan-Moss "All the cool kids are doing tests" Chris Shenton "If I go to another testing talk I'm going to die" Daniel Greenfeld

Pinax Deployment ~10 minutes

What Pinax gives you
Each project has a deploy/ directory
deploy/ contains working mod_wsgi, FastCGI and mod_python deployment files.
Much of Pinax has been designed to be a simple deployment with the way we've constructed settings.

Example Apache config
<VirtualHost *:8001>
ServerName eldarion.com

WSGIDaemonProcess eldarion.com user=eldarion group=eldarion processes=1 threads=25 python-path=/home/eldarion/virtualenvs/eldarion_project/lib/python2.5/site-packages
WSGIProcessGroup eldarion.com

WSGIScriptAlias / /home/eldarion/webapps/eldarion.com/eldarion_project/deploy/pinax.wsgi
<Directory /home/eldarion/webapps/eldarion.com/eldarion_project/deploy>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/eldarion.com.error.log
LogLevel warn
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/eldarion.com.access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Things to remember when deploying
Setup cron jobs for clearing mail queue and notification queue
Recommended to create a maintenance.wsgi script that you can simply cp over pinax.wsgi to take the site down for deployment (don't forget to actually do this)
Always remember to run build_static before claiming your deployment is complete

Community ~10 minutes

How to communicate
1. Don't be ' that guy '.
2. Be friendly.
3. Be patient.
4. Tell us your operating system and version of Python.
5. Use a pasting service for code or shell statements:
dpaste.de
code.pinaxproject.com

Finding Help
Documentation:
http://pinaxproject.com/docs/0.7/
http://pinaxproject.com/docs/dev/
IRC:
#pinax
Mailing List:
http://groups.google.com/group/pinax-users

Contributing back
http://code.pinaxproject.com
Task tracker and wiki for the Pinax project
Search the tickets before creating a new ticket
http://github.com/pinax/pinax
Fork and submit pull requests
Tests and documentation are required
Documentation must be in restructured text

Contributing back - Modular Efforts
For stand-alone Django or Python efforts:
Documentation and tests are required
Make your work modular and easy to use
Put your finished work on PyPI

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Pinax Long Tutorial Slides

by Daniel Greenfeld on Mar 30, 2010

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