Hello Web App Set Up Instructions

Start your Django project

We installed Django, now we can use Django to build all the starting files we need for our web app. In your command line (again, in your project folder with your environment activated):

$ django-admin startproject hellowebapp .

(The . at the end is important, don't forget it!)

This is going to start a Django project in your currect directory.

• django-admin: The script we'll be running.
• startproject: The specific utility we're using.
• hellowebapp: The name we're giving the project.
• .: The location where we're starting the project, with . denoting the current directory.

startproject will create these files and folders:

myhellowebapp/
    manage.py
    hellowebapp/
        __init__.py
        asgi.py
        settings.py
        urls.py
        wsgi.py

The myhellowebapp folder is your top level directory.

• manage.py: We won't edit this file, but will use this file in the command line to interact with your project. You'll see it in action soon.
• The inner hellowebapp folder holds your project.
• __init__.py: Ignorable — tells Python that this is a Python "package".
• asgi.py: Relates to deployment; we don't be using it.
• settings.py: Aptly named — contains your settings.
• urls.py: URL declarations for the project. Important and we'll go over this soon.
• wsgi.py: Not needed at this point until you deploy your project.

Create your Django app

A project can run many apps (all doing something distinct), but we're just going to focus on having one for now, which is all you'll need for a very long time.

In your top level folder (the one with manage.py in it), run this command:

$ django-admin startapp collection

Like before, django-admin is the script, startapp is the command, and collection is the name we're giving the app, which you can change if you wish.

startapp will create an additional folder and a few files:

myhellowebapp/
    manage.py
    collection/
        migrations/
        __init__.py
        admin.py
        apps.py
        models.py
        tests.py
        views.py
    hellowebapp/
        __init__.py
        settings.py
        urls.py
        wsgi.py

Note the additional "collection" folder in your project.

• migrations: A directory created to contain your database migrations (we'll cover this soon).
• __init__.py: Ignorable — again, Python just needs this empty file.
• admin.py: Contains admin codebits.
• apps.py: A file created by Django that we won't be using.
• models.py: Where you'll define your database eventually.
• tests.py: We'll eventually write tests to test your code for errors here.
• views.py: Where the logic goes that powers your website.

If that's a bit complicated, don't worry about it yet because we'll review it all later when we specifically start working with all those files.

Set up your database

Django has some fancypants utilities built in to keep your database manageable. This is where all your dynamic information is stored, including any content that your users add when they interact with your future app.

First, we need to make some quick edits to our models.py file, which was created in our collection directory. Copy this code and paste it in:

from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser

class User(AbstractUser):
    pass

The top line should already be in the file; the rest we added. So, what are we doing? Django has a way to store User information by default (usernames, passwords, etc.) But, if you wanted to add extra information to this default set of info in the future, you might run into issues down the line if we just went with the default. By putting in the above right at the start of your project, I'm giving you maximum flexibility for your future project.

Last thing we need to do is add one more bit to our settings.py — add this line to the bottom:

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'collection.User'

With this, we're telling Django to use the code we added in models.py by default (AUTH_USER_MODEL setting, pointing to "User" in our "collection" app).

Complete the set up of your database by creating what we call a "migration." We'll explain databases and migrations more in depth in Chapter 6; long story short, we're creating a history file for our database, and Django's makemigrations tool does this automatically for us.

Run this command in your terminal (in your top level folder; the one with manage.py in it):

$ python manage.py makemigrations

Django will create that history file, and then we need to apply that history file by running the migrate command. Type this in your terminal:

$ python manage.py migrate

Don't worry about understanding this just yet — we'll go over databases and migrations a bit more in the "Adding Dynamic Data" chapter of Hello Web App.

Start your local server

Want to see if everything worked? In your terminal, head over to your top level myhellowebapp folder (make sure you're in the same directory as manage.py) and run this command:

$ python manage.py runserver

...and you'll see the local Django development server starting, which'll serve your project to your computer.

$ python manage.py runserver
Validating models...

0 errors found
March 26, 2014 - 15:50:53
Django version 2.0.8, using settings 'mysite.settings'
Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

Now just head to your favorite web browser and visit http://localhost:8000, where you'll see a "Welcome to Django" page. Congrats on starting Django!

At this point you can continue working on the book. Best of luck and remember to use the discussion forum if you need any help!

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