First Django App | Introduction To Django

Introduction

Django is a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a simple Django app from scratch.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before we start building our Django app, we need to set up our development environment. Follow these steps to install Django:

1. Create a virtual environment:

python -m venv myenv

2. Activate the virtual environment:

source myenv/bin/activate

3. Install Django:

pip install django

Creating a Django Project

Next, we will create a new Django project. A project is a collection of configurations and apps for a web application. Run the following command to create a new project:

django-admin startproject myproject

This will create a directory named myproject with the necessary files and directories.

Creating a Django App

Now that we have a Django project, we can create our first app. An app is a web application that does something, such as a blog, a forum, or a poll system. Navigate to the project directory and run the following command:

cd myproject

python manage.py startapp myapp

This will create a directory named myapp with the necessary files and directories.

Configuring the App

To include our app in the project, we need to add it to the INSTALLED_APPS list in the settings.py file:

# myproject/settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'myapp',
]

Creating a View

A view function is a Python function that takes a web request and returns a web response. Create a view in myapp/views.py:

# myapp/views.py

from django.http import HttpResponse

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

Mapping URLs

To call the view, we need to map it to a URL. Create a urls.py file in the myapp directory:

# myapp/urls.py

from django.urls import path
from . import views

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

Then include this URLconf in the project’s urls.py file:

# myproject/urls.py

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

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

Running the Server

Now, we can run the development server to see our app in action. Run the following command:

python manage.py runserver

Open a web browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:8000/myapp/. You should see the message "Hello, world. You're at the myapp index."

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have created your first Django app. This tutorial covered the basics of setting up a Django project, creating an app, and configuring URLs and views. From here, you can explore more advanced features of Django to build powerful web applications.

Writing Your First Django App