Overview

This article will explain how to download and use the Python Django Framework to create a sample application from the official Django documentation (1).

Materials

Python
Python Packages Needed: Django

Downloading Django

To use Django, it needs to be downloaded:

pip install Django

To upgrade an old version of Django on any computer, type the following command:

pip install django --upgrade

Running Django by First Creating a Project

Go to a new directory and enter the command:

django-admin startproject project_name

The "django-admin startproject project_name" command creates a folder with the name that is specified after startproject. In this tutorial, the folder that contains all the basic files in order to deploy a Django application to production is called "mysite", though, as stated before, it can be named anything.

The following files are made in the chosen directory:

manage.py
mysite - Another folder within mysite is made that contains the following files:
- __init__.py
- asgi.py
- settings.py
- urls.py
- wsgi.py

To run a sample Django application, run:

python manage.py runserver

After running the server, a "db.sqlite3" file is automatically created.

To change the ip or port number for the Django application, it can be specified after runserver

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

Creating an Application in Django

To create an application, write the command in the same directory as the "manage.py" file:

python manage.py startapp app_name

This command to make an application is different from making a project since the word "startapp" is used instead of "startproject". Another folder with the specified app_name will be created.

Editing the views.py File in the Application Folder

from django.shortcuts import render

# Create your views here.
from django.http import HttpResponse

def index(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello, world. You're at the polls index.")

Making and Editing a urls.py File in the Application Folder

from django.urls import path

from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path("", views.index, name="index"),
]

Editing the urls.py File in the Project Folder

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
    path("polls/", include("polls.urls")),
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
]