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Steps for creating basic Django project
Django Requires Python
To check if your system has Python installed, run this command in the command prompt:
python --version
If Python is installed, you will get a result with the version number, like this
Python 3.9.2
If you find that you do not have Python installed on your computer, then you can download it for
free from the following website: https://www.python.org/
PIP
To install Django, you must use a package manager like PIP, which is included in Python from
version 3.4.
To check if your system has PIP installed, run this command in the command prompt:
pip --version
If PIP is installed, you will get a result with the version number.
For me, on a windows machine, the result looks like this:
pip 20.2.3 from c:\python39\lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.9)
If you do not have PIP installed, you can download and install it from this
page: https://pypi.org/project/pip/
Virtual Environment
It is suggested to have a dedicated virtual environment for each Django project
nd one way to manage a virtual environment is venv, which is included in Python.
The name of the virtual environment is your choice, in this tutorial we will call it myworld.
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Type the following in the command prompt, remember to navigate to where you want to create
your project:
Windows:
py -m venv myworld
Unix/MacOS:
python -m venv myworld
This will set up a virtual environment, and create a folder named "myworld" with subfolders and
files, like this:
myworld
Include
Lib
Scripts
pyvenv.cfg
Then you have to activate the environment, by typing this command:
Windows:
myworld\Scripts\activate.bat
Unix/MacOS:
source myworld/bin/activate
Once the environment is activated, you will see this result in the command prompt:
Windows:
(myworld) C:\Users\Your Name>
Unix/MacOS:
(myworld) ... $
Note: You must activate the virtual environment every time you open the command prompt to
work on your project.
Install Django
Now, that we have created a virtual environment, we are ready to install Django.
Note: Remember to install Django while you are in the virtual environment!
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Django is installed using pip, with this command:
Windows:
(myworld) C:\Users\Your Name>py -m pip install Django
Unix/MacOS:
(myworld) ... $ python -m pip install Django
Which will give a result that looks like this (at least on my Windows machine):
Collecting Django
Downloading Django-4.0.3-py3-none-any.whl (8.0 MB)
|████████████████████████████████| 8.0 MB 2.2 MB/s
Collecting sqlparse>=0.2.2
Using cached sqlparse-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl (42 kB)
Collecting asgiref<4,>=3.4.1
Downloading asgiref-3.5.0-py3-none-any.whl (22 kB)
Collecting tzdata; sys_platform == "win32"
Downloading tzdata-2021.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl (339 kB)
|████████████████████████████████| 339 kB 6.4 MB/s
Installing collected packages: sqlparse, asgiref, tzdata, Django
Successfully installed Django-4.0.3 asgiref-3.5.0 sqlparse-0.4.2 tzdata-2021.5
WARNING: You are using pip version 20.2.3; however, version 22.3 is available.
You should consider upgrading via the 'C:\Users\Your Name\myworld\Scripts\python.exe -m pip
install --upgrade pip' command.
That's it! Now you have installed Django in your new project, running in a virtual environment!
Windows, Mac, or Unix?
You can run this project on either one. There are some small differences, like when writing
commands in the command prompt, Windows uses py as the first word in the command line,
while Unix and MacOS use python:
Windows:
py --version
Unix/MacOS:
python --version
In the rest of this tutorial, we will be using the Windows command.
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Check Django Version
You can check if Django is installed by asking for its version number like this:
(myworld) C:\Users\Your Name>django-admin --version
If Django is installed, you will get a result with the version number:
4.1.2
Django Create Project
My First Project
Once you have come up with a suitable name for your Django project, like mine: my_tennis_club,
navigate to where in the file system you want to store the code (in the virtual environment), I will
navigate to the myworld folder, and run this command in the command prompt:
django-admin startproject my_tennis_club
Django creates a my_tennis_club folder on my computer, with this content:
my_tennis_club
manage.py
my_tennis_club/
__init__.py
asgi.py
settings.py
urls.py
wsgi.py
These are all files and folders with a specific meaning, you will learn about some of them later in
this tutorial, but for now, it is more important to know that this is the location of your project, and
that you can start building applications in it.
Run the Django Project
Now that you have a Django project, you can run it, and see what it looks like in a browser.
Navigate to the /my_tennis_club folder and execute this command in the command prompt:
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py manage.py runserver
Which will produce this result:
Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Performing system checks...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
You have 18 unapplied migration(s). Your project may not work properly until you apply the
migrations for app(s): admin, auth, contenttypes, sessions.
Run 'python manage.py migrate' to apply them.
October 27, 2022 - 13:03:14
Django version 4.1.2, using settings 'my_tennis_club.settings'
Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.
Open a new browser window and type 127.0.0.1:8000 in the address bar.
The result:
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Django Create App
What is an App?
An app is a web application that has a specific meaning in your project, like a home page, a
contact form, or a members database.
In this tutorial we will create an app that allows us to list and register members in a database.
But first, let's just create a simple Django app that displays "Hello World!".
Create App
I will name my app members.
Start by navigating to the selected location where you want to store the app, in my case
the my_tennis_club folder, and run the command below.
If the server is still running, and you are not able to write commands, press [CTRL] [BREAK], or
[CTRL] [C] to stop the server and you should be back in the virtual environment.
py manage.py startapp members
Django creates a folder named members in my project, with this content:
my_tennis_club
manage.py
my_tennis_club/
members/
migrations/
__init__.py
__init__.py
admin.py
apps.py
models.py
tests.py
views.py
These are all files and folders with a specific meaning. You will learn about most of them later in
this tutorial.
First, take a look at the file called views.py.
This is where we gather the information we need to send back a proper response.
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Django Views
Views
Django views are Python functions that takes http requests and returns http response, like HTML
documents.
A web page that uses Django is full of views with different tasks and missions.
Views are usually put in a file called views.py located on your app's folder.
There is a views.py in your members folder that looks like this:
my_tennis_club/members/views.py:
from django.shortcuts import render
# Create your views here.
Find it and open it, and replace the content with this:
my_tennis_club/members/views.py:
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.http import HttpResponse
def members(request):
return HttpResponse("Hello world!")
Note: The name of the view does not have to be the same as the application.
I call it members because I think it fits well in this context.
This is a simple example on how to send a response back to the browser.
Django URLs
Create a file named urls.py in the same folder as the views.py file, and type this code in it:
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my_tennis_club/members/urls.py:
from django.urls import path
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
path('members/', views.members, name='members'),
The urls.py file you just created is specific for the members application. We have to do some
routing in the root directory my_tennis_club as well. This may seem complicated, but for now, just
follow the instructions below.
There is a file called urls.py on the my_tennis_club folder, open that file and add the include module
in the import statement, and also add a path() function in the urlpatterns[] list, with arguments that
will route users that comes in via 127.0.0.1:8000/.
Then your file will look like this:
my_tennis_club/my_tennis_club/urls.py:
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import include, path
urlpatterns = [
path('', include('members.urls')),
path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
If the server is not running, navigate to the /my_tennis_club folder and execute this command in the
command prompt:
py manage.py runserver
In the browser window, type 127.0.0.1:8000/members/ in the address bar.
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