Building Websites with Django 🌐

Introduction

• Course focuses on building awesome websites with Django from the ground up.
• Starts as absolute beginners: intro to Django, basic web server setup, rendering templates, adding databases, authentication, search functionality.
• Second half: Features to turn the project into a full-fledged application like a discord clone for study groups.
• Example project at studybud.dev.

Project Overview: StudyBud.dev

• Homepage: Basic feed of different study rooms.
• Rooms: Hosts can set up topics, people can join and see participants and chats.
• Profile View: View host's profile, chat participants, search functionality.

Pre-requisites

• Basic understanding of Python syntax: variables, if/else, loops, classes.
• Basic understanding of HTML and CSS.

Setting Up Environment

Tools and Extensions

• Text Editor: VS Code recommended.
  • Extensions: Atom One Dark Pro theme, Prettier (auto code formatter), Auto Rename Tag.

Installing Python and Django

• Ensure Python is installed (python --version). Update if necessary.
• Install Django globally or use a virtual environment for isolation.
• Example: pip install virtualenv, virtualenv env, env\Scripts\activate.
• Install Django within the virtual environment: pip install django.
• Commands overview: python manage.py startproject, runserver, startapp.

Django Basics

Core Files Overview

• manage.py: Execute various Django commands.
• Database: Default SQLite.
• Settings.py: Key configuration for apps, middleware, templates, database, static files.
• Urls.py: URL routing configuration.
• wsgi.py and asgi.py: Server gateway interfaces.

Creating Django Apps

• Apps handle different parts of a project (e.g., users, posts).
• Example App: base. Configured in settings.

URL Routing

• Define routes in urls.py.
• Example: Create URLs for homepage and room detail pages with corresponding views.
• Use app-specific urls.py for better organization.

Rendering Templates

• Templates located in a directory specified in settings.py (e.g., templates folder).
• Use render method in views to render html templates.
• Example: render(request, 'home.html').

Template Inheritance

• Use base templates for layout consistency (block tags and extends keywords).
• Example: Create a main.html with navigation and base structure, extend in other templates.
• Example of block tag usage for content sections.

Working with Django Models

Creating Models

• Models.py: Define database tables as classes.
• Example: Room and Message models with relationships (ForeignKey).
• Commands: python manage.py makemigrations, migrate.

Admin Panel

• Register models in django admin for easy data management (admin.site.register(ModelName)).
• Example: Register Room and Message models in admin.py.

Querying Data

• Use Django ORM: Model.objects.all(), filter(), get(), exclude(), etc.
• Example: Query rooms and messages, pass data to views, render in templates.

CRUD Operations

Forms and Templates

• Use Django Model Forms or manually define forms in HTML.
• Handle form submissions in views: POST method, validate, save data, and redirect.
• Example: Create, read, update, delete operations for Room model.

User Authentication

• Login & Register: Use Django's built-in user authentication system.
• Create custom login forms and validate user credentials.
• Use decorators like @login_required for route protection.
• Example: Custom registration view with UserCreationForm.

Search Functionality

Implementing Basic Search

• Create search forms in templates (GET requests with search parameters).
• Filter data in views based on search query (e.g., icontains lookup).
• Example: Search study rooms by name, topic.

Advanced Filtering

• Use Django ORM and Q objects for complex queries (AND/OR conditions).

Dynamic URL Handling

• Handle dynamic URLs for detailed views (e.g., room detail page by ID).

Static Files and Theming

Configuring Static Files

• Specify static files location in settings.py (static and media roots).
• Load static files in templates (CSS, JS).
• Example: Add stylesheets and scripts to the base template.

Template Installation

• Integrate a pre-built theme by modifying Django templates.
• Convert static content in themes to Django template tags, loops, and variables (e.g., use {% static 'path/to/file.css' %}).

Signature Features

User Profiles

• Allow users to upload profile pictures (image fields with Pillow library).
• Customize user models or use one-to-one relationships for additional profile data.
• Ensure user-uploaded content is properly handled and stored (media root).

Advanced Topics

Working with APIs

• Utilize Django Rest Framework (DRF) to build APIs.
• Install DRF, create serializers, views, and urls for API endpoints.
• Example API: List rooms, get details of a specific room.

Deployment

• Considerations for deploying Django applications (e.g., database setup, static file handling).

Conclusion

• The course provides a comprehensive guide to building a Django application from scratch to deploying the completed project.
• Review key concepts, practice CRUD operations, test out search functionalities, and explore DRF for API setups.