Creating App In Django And Making First Request

Jan. 31, 2023, 10:09 p.m.

django python

A Django app is a self-contained module in a Django web framework that encapsulates a specific functionality for a website. It consists of a collection of models, views, templates, and other components that are organized in a specific directory structure. The app can be reused in multiple projects and can be easily plugged into a Django project to add additional functionality. A Django project can consist of multiple apps, each of which contributes to the overall functionality of the website.

If you haven't install python and django you can start from here Installing python and django

For Quick Setup

Create a virtual environment

python -m venv env

Activate virtual environment

source env/bin/activate

Installing Django

Install python using pip command

pip install django

Creating your first Project

django-admin startproject projectname

Creating your first App

Change to project directory: "cd projectname"

django-admin startapp appname

you see app have its own file structure, hence it is independent of the project. To work with app we need to include it in project

projectname/projectname/settings.py

# Application definition
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    "whitenoise.runserver_nostatic",
    "django.contrib.sitemaps",
    "appname", # <-- add this 
]

Inside appname directory create a directory with name "templates"

This directory contains your html files

Now, Create a html file "home.html" in templates

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Document</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Hello World!</h1>
</body>
</html>

Create View

Create views in the views.py file of the app folder to handle HTTP requests

projectname/appname/views.py

from django.shortcuts import render

def home(request):
    return render(request, 'home.html')

Create Url

To access urls of app you need add app's urls in project's urls

projectname/projectname/urls.py

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

urlpatterns = [
     path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
     path('', include('appname.urls')), # <-- add this
]

Now create a file inside appname directory with name "urls.py"

projectname/appname/urls.py

from django.urls import path
from appname import views

urlpatterns = [
     path('', views.home, name='home'), # <-- add this
]

Start the development server

python manage.py runserver

Access the website at http://localhost:8000.