Try Django Series Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Goal: Help students learn and master Django web framework.
• Structure: Start from absolute basics and gradually introduce new concepts.
• Focus: Individual concepts in practical use cases, not building a full project.
• Excitement: Building a web application with a database is a rewarding experience.

Setting Up the Environment

• Common frustration: Setting up the system for Django development.
• Installation guide available at: joincfe.com/fromzero
• Code for the series available on GitHub: joincfe.com/github

Getting Started with Django

• Create a new virtual environment.
• Install Django using pip install Django==2.0.7 for consistency.
• Activate virtual environment:
  • Mac: source bin/activate
  • Windows: scripts/activate
• Importance of using a virtual environment to keep dependencies separate.

Creating a Django Project

• Use django-admin startproject <project_name> to create a new Django project.
• Run the development server using python manage.py runserver.
• Access the web application in a browser.

Setting Up a Text Editor

• Recommended text editors: Sublime Text, PyCharm.
• Open your project in the text editor for better code management.

Understanding settings.py

• BASE_DIR: Path to the project directory.
• SECRET_KEY: Unique key for security, should not be exposed in production.
• DEBUG: Set to True for development, change to False in production.
• INSTALLED_APPS: List of Django applications used in the project.
• MIDDLEWARE: Framework for handling requests and responses.
• DATABASES: Configuration for the database used.
• STATIC_URL: URL for serving static files.

Creating Django Apps

• Concept of Django apps: modular components of a larger project.
• Use python manage.py startapp <app_name> to create a new app.

Using the Admin Interface

• Create a superuser with python manage.py createsuperuser to access the admin interface.
• View and manage models through the Django admin dashboard.

Introduction to Django Models

• Define models in models.py to represent database tables.
• Use model fields to define data types (e.g., CharField, TextField, DecimalField).
• Important commands: makemigrations and migrate to apply changes to the database.

Working with Django Forms

• Create forms in forms.py for user input.
• Use model forms for easy integration with models.
• Handle form submissions in views and validate data.

Class Based Views vs Function Based Views

• Class based views offer organization and reusability.
• Use ListView, DetailView, CreateView, UpdateView, and DeleteView for common patterns.
• Override methods like get_context_data and get_object for customization.

URL Patterns and Namespacing

• Define URL patterns in urls.py for routing requests to views.
• Use namespacing to avoid conflicts between views in different apps.

Conclusion

• Recommended to practice creating, updating, and deleting data using Django’s ORM and views.
• Review and familiarize with Django documentation for deeper understanding.