October 2017

Python and Django Notes

The task for today was to get everyone up and running with Django.

Setup

1. Install Python 3.
2. Install pip, the Python package manager.
3. Make sure python and pip are on your PATH. Mac/Linux users may have to use python3 and pip3.
4. Install virtualenv by entering the command pip install virtualenv. For this and other commands in this section, you might need to run using sudo.
5. Create a virtual environment for your Django installation:
   1. Navigate to the folder where you want your Django virtual environment to be saved.
   2. Create a new virtual environment: virtualenv hackenv
   3. To activate the virtual environment, type source hackenv/bin/activate (on Mac/Linux) or hackenv\Scripts\activate (on Windows). Your terminal prompt should change to reflect the fact that you are now in a virtualenv. (Note: You can deactivate the virtual environment at any time by typing deactivate.)
   4. Check which packages are installed in the virtualenv by typing pip freeze. There shouldn't be any listed right now.
   5. Install Django with pip install django.

Creating a New Django Project

1. Make sure you are in your virtualenv. Start a new Django project with django-admin startproject hack_test. This will create a new folder called hack_test in the current directory.
2. cd into the hack_test directory.
3. Start the development server with python manage.py runserver. Point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:8000 to see if it worked!

Adding a Webpage

Open up the hack_test folder in the editor/browser of your choice.

1. Your hack_test directory should have another hack_test directory inside of it. Inside of this folder, create yet another subfolder called templates.
2. Inside the templates folder, put a basic HTML page, say index.html.
3. Go to settings.py and add the following:
   • Add 'hack_test' to the INSTALLED_APPS list.
   • Add the following variable: TEMPLATE_DIRS = (os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates/'),)