Django Overview

A bit about me

• Programmer @ 5Q Communications
• Hack on Django mostly full-time
• Dozen+ sites in production
• Calvin grad

A bit about Django

• Named after Django Reinhart, jazz guitarist
• Python 2.3+ (Not 3.x yet, aﬁak)
• BSD license
• djangoproject.com
• Current release: 1.1

Who uses it?
• NASA
• PBS
• NY Times
• LA Times
• National Geographic
• Discovery Channel

Features

• Object-Relational • i18n/unicode support
Mapper
• Cache framework
• MVC architecture
• Testing framework
• Templating Language
• Great docs (650+ pages)
• “Automatic” admins
• Friendly community
• Elegant urls

More Features

• Jython support • Built-in RSS/ATOM
• Geospacial content • Built-in site maps
(via GeoDjango)
• Send emails easily
• Built-in dev server
• “Signal” hooks
• Nice support
• Solid security emphasis
for forms

Projects and Apps
Settings: database, App Live anywhere in your
email, caching, etc. Project PYTHONPATH
App

HTML, CSS, App
images, etc. Templates
& Assets App

Typical Project Layout
project/
__init__.py
settings.py
manage.py
urls.py
templates/
static/
staff_members/
__init__.py
models.py
admin.py
views.py
urls.py
tests.py
templates/

Typical App Workﬂow

1. Create app
2. Create models.py and admin.py
3. ‘python manage.py syncdb’
4. Create urls.py and views.py

class StaffMemberGroup(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(blank=True, max_length=100)
order = models.IntegerField(blank=True, null=True)

class StaffMember(models.Model):
ﬁrst_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
last_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
title = models.CharField(blank=True, max_length=100)
bio = models.TextField(blank=True)
image = models.FileField(upload_to='bio_images', blank=True)
email = models.EmailField()
published = models.BooleanField()
staff_group = models.ForeignKey(StaffMemberGroup)

python manage.py syncdb

1. Create tables
2. Create basic indexes
3. Create intermediate tables
for m2m relationships

bob = StaffMember(ﬁrst_name=”Bob”, last_name=”Smith”)

members = StaffMember.objects.all()

ordered_members =
StaffMember.objects.all().order_by(‘last_name’)

published_members =
StaffMember.objects.ﬁlter(published=True)

groups = StaffMemberGroup.objects.all()

for group in groups:
print group.name
for member in group.staffmember_set.all():
print member.ﬁrst_name

class StaffMemberAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('last_name', 'first_name', 'email', 'published')
list_filter = ('published', 'staff_group')
search_fields = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'bio', 'title', 'email')
fieldsets = (
(None, {
'fields': (('first_name', 'last_name'), 'title', 'email', 'image', 'bio'),
'description': '',
}),
('Options', {
'fields': ('published', 'staff_group'),
})
)
admin.site.register(StaffMember, StaffMemberAdmin)

project urls.py
urlpatterns = patterns('',
(r'^staff_members/', include('grpug.staff_members.urls')),
(r'^admin/doc/', include('django.contrib.admindocs.urls')),
(r'^admin/(.*)', admin.site.root),
)

staff_members app urls.py:
urlpatterns = patterns('grpug.staff_members.views',
url(r'^$', 'show_staff_members', name='staff-members'),
)

def show_staff_members(request):
groups = StaffMemberGroup.objects.all()
return render_to_response(
'staff_member.html',
{'groups': groups}
)

staff_member.html
{% for group in groups %}
<h2>{{group.name}}</h2>
<ul>
{% for member in group.staffmember_set.all %}
<li>
<h3>{{member.ﬁrst_name}} {{member.last_name}}</h3>
<p>{{member.bio}}</p>
</li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>
{% endfor %}

staff_member.html
{% extends ‘base_site.html’ %}

{% block content %}
{% for group in groups %}
<h2>{{group.name}}</h2>
<ul>
{% for member in group.staffmember_set.all %}
<li>
<h3>{{member.ﬁrst_name}} {{member.last_name}}</h3>
<p>{{member.bio}}</p>
</li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>
{% endfor %}
{% endblock content %}

base_site.html
<html>
<body>
{% block content %}
{% endblock content %}
</body>
</html>

Middleware

• process_request(self, request)
• process_view(self, request, view_func,
view_args, view_kwargs)
• process_response(self, request, response)
• process_exception(self, request, exception)

Testing Framework

• doctests
• unit tests
• helpful stuff: ﬁxtures, email test, “client”

c = Client()
response = c.post(‘/login’, user_dict)

Some Warts
• No support for • REST/SOAP
multiple databases support lacking
• Poor environment • “Explicit” but still tightly
support (think rails) coupled for some things
• Template logic tags • No integrated
below average deployment toolchain
• No built-in migrations • CMS extras lacking
(wysiwyg, ﬁle browser...)
• Too big?

Rest of the stack

• Databases • Deployment
• SQLite • mod_python
• MySQL • mod_wsgi
• Postgresql • fast cgi
• Oracle

Tips
• virtualenv is your friend
• default settings.py is about 50% of what a
production site ends up requiring
• local_settings.py
• Don’t be afraid of lots of apps
• ‘South’ is a solid migrations tool

Docs, Books, People

• docs.djangoproject.com
• djangobook.com
• djangosnippets.com
• djangopeople.net
• djangosites.org

Code Samples

• http://bitbucket.org/btol45/grpug-example/

Django Overview

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