Not much to see here - just a repo with commits that document the steps I'm taking with my first foray in Django. This is an effort to familiarize myself with standard Django lingo and with the Django paradigm.
Read my commit history and the rest of this README to get a condensed understanding of the material that's covered in each part of this Django tutorial. My primary motivation for this repo is the desire to write about my learning process so that Future Me has a handy journal to re-read someday.
I could use my personal blog for this purpose, but I enjoy the challenge of keeping things focused, clear, and pithy - i.e., in the restrictive format of a commit message or a well-outlined README doc. Because learning is an iterative process, it makes sense to track it with Git. Per these guidelines, I stick with the imperative present tense in the commit message header. As for the body of each commit, I'm still experimenting with writing quality messages that explain more why than how. For this reason, the messages themselves are less contained, more freewheeling and varied in tone and tense.
Run tests for the Polls app with python manage.py test polls.
Run python manage.py shell to invoke the Python shell and interact with Django's test Client. (manage.py sets the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable, which gives Django the Python import path to mysite/settings.py.)
Interacting with django.test.Client allows you to simulate user interactions with code at the view level. It can be used in tests.py as well as in the shell. However, our tests.py file already uses the django.test.TestCase class, which comes with its own client. (Therefore, there's no need to import the test client class there.)
In the shell, you'll need to set up the test environment. setup_test_environment() installs a template renderer that allows us to examine attributes on responses that otherwise wouldn't be available (e.g., response.context). Note that setup_test_environment does not set up a test database.
>>> from django.test.utils import setup_test_environment
>>> setup_test_environment
After setting up the test environment, import the test client class, create an instance of the client, and get to testing!
>>> from django.test import Client
>>> client = Client()
# Get a response from '/'
>>> response = client.get('/')
Not Found: /
>>> response.status_code
404
>>> from django.urls import reverse
>>> response = client.get(reverse('polls:index'))
>>> response.status_code
200
>>> response.content
b'\n <ul>\n \n <li><a href="/polls/5/">Are you pretty parched?</a></li>\n \n <li><a href="/polls/4/">Do you happen to have a bucket or a hose, bro?</a></li>\n \n <li><a href="/polls/3/">Do you have any plankton?</a></li>\n \n <li><a href="/polls/2/">Want a chip, bro?</a></li>\n \n <li><a href="/polls/1/">WHAT'S UP, MATE?</a></li>\n \n </ul>\n\n'
>>> response.context['latest_question_list']
<QuerySet [<Question: Are you pretty parched?>, <Question: Do you happen to have a bucket or a hose, bro?>, <Question: Do you have any plankton?>, <Question: Want a chip, bro?>, <Question: WHAT'S UP, MATE?>]>
You can also interact with the object-relational mapper within the shell. (Sample questions and choices are inspired by this.)
# Import and make use of the Question and Choice models:
>>> from polls.models import Question, Choice
# Import other Django modules:
>>> from django.utils import timezone
# Create a new Question:
>>> q = Question(question_text="WHAT'S UP, MATE?",
pub_date=timezone.now())
# Save the object to the database:
>>> q.save()
# Access the ID for an object:
>>> q.id
# Access model field values via Python attributes:
>>> q.question_text
>>> q.pub_date
# Change values by resetting the attributes:
# (Make sure to call save() explicitly!)
>>> q.question_text = "WHAT'S NEW, MATE?"
>>> q.save()
# Return all class members:
>>> Question.objects.all()
>>> Choice.objects.all()
# Take advantage of Django's database lookup API:
>>> Question.objects.filter(id=1)
>>> Question.objects.filter(question_text__startswith='WHAT')
# Get the question that was published this year:
>>> current_year = timezone.now().year
>>> Question.objects.get(pub_date__year=current_year)
# (`get()` expects to find and return only one object, whereas
# `filter()` serves to return a QuerySet, i.e., a collection)
# Get the question that matches the given ID:
>>> Question.objects.get(id=1)
# Get the [same] question by primary-key lookup:
>>> q = Question.objects.get(pk=1)
# Access custom methods:
>>> q.was_published_recently()
# Return a question's choice_set:
>>> q.choice_set.all()
>>> q.choice_set.count()
# Call `create` on a question's choice_set:
>>> q.choice_set.create(choice_text="I'M BEACHED AS!", votes=0)
>>> q.choice_set.create(choice_text="I can't chew!", votes=0)
>>> q.choice_set.create(choice_text="I need to get wet, ASAP!", votes=0)
# (`create` constructs a new Choice object, does the INSERT statement,
# adds the choice to the set of available choices, and returns the new
# Choice object)
# Access a Choice object's related Question object:
# c = Choice.objects.get(pk=3)
# c.question
# Find all Choices for any question whose pub_date is in this year:
# Choice.objects.filter(question__pub_date__year=current_year)
# Delete a choice:
# c.delete()
-
Create an admin user with the following command:
python manage.py createsuperuser -
Follow the prompts to create login credentials for that user.
-
Start the development server with:
python manage.py runserver -
Go to
/admin/in your browser - e.g., http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/
To make the app modifiable in the admin interface, update its admin file to include an import and registration statement for each model:
# polls/admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Question, Choice
admin.site.register(Question)
admin.site.register(Choice)