Web Development with Django: Learn to build modern web applications with a Python-based framework

✍ Scribed by Ben Shaw, Saurabh Badhwar, Andrew Bird, Bharath Chandra K S, Chris Guest

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 826
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Learn how to create your own websites simply, safely, and quickly with Django by tackling practical activities based on realistic case studies

Key Features

• Understand Django functionality and the Model-View-Template (MVT) paradigm
• Create and iteratively build a book review website, adding features as you build your knowledge
• Explore advanced concepts such as REST API implementation and third-party module integration

Book Description

Do you want to develop reliable and secure applications which stand out from the crowd, rather than spending hours on boilerplate code? Then the Django framework is where you should begin. Often referred to as a 'batteries included' web development framework, Django comes with all the core features needed to build a standalone application.

Web Development with Django takes this philosophy and equips you with the knowledge and confidence to build real-world applications using Python.

Starting with the essential concepts of Django, you'll cover its major features by building a website called Bookr – a repository for book reviews. This end-to-end case study is split into a series of bitesize projects that are presented as exercises and activities, allowing you to challenge yourself in an enjoyable and attainable way.

As you progress, you'll learn various practical skills, including how to serve static files to add CSS, JavaScript, and images to your application, how to implement forms to accept user input, and how to manage sessions to ensure a reliable user experience. Throughout this book, you'll cover key daily tasks that are part of the development cycle of a real-world web application.

By the end of this book, you'll have the skills and confidence to creatively tackle your own ambitious projects with Django.

What you will learn

• Create a new application and add models to describe your data
• Use views and templates to control behavior and appearance
• Implement access control through authentication and permissions
• Develop practical web forms to add features such as file uploads
• Develop a RESTful API and JavaScript code that communicates with it
• Connect to a database such as PostgreSQL

Who this book is for

Web Development with Django is designed for programmers who want to gain web development skills with the Django framework. To fully understand the concepts explained in this book, you must have basic knowledge of Python programming, as well as familiarity with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Django
2. Models and Migrations
3. URL Mapping, Views, and Templates
4. Introduction to Django Admin
5. Serving Static Files
6. Forms
7. Advanced Form Validation and Model Forms
8. Media Serving and File Uploads
9. Sessions and Authentication
10. Advanced Django Admin and Customizations
11. Advanced Templating and Class Based Views
12. Building a REST API
13. Generating CSV, PDF, and Other Binary Files
14. Testing
15. Django Third-Party Libraries
16. Using a Frontend JavaScript Library with Django

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
FM
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction to Django
Introduction
Scaffolding a Django Project and App
Exercise 1.01: Creating a Project and App, and Starting the Dev Server
Model View Template
Models
Views
Templates
MVT in Practice
Introduction to HTTP
Processing a Request
Django Project
The myproject Directory
Django Development Server
Django Apps
PyCharm Setup
Exercise 1.02: Project Setup in PyCharm
View Details
URL Mapping Detail
Exercise 1.03: Writing a View and Mapping a URL to It
GET, POST, and QueryDict Objects
Exercise 1.04: Exploring GET Values and QueryDict
Exploring Django Settings
Using Settings in Your Code
Finding HTML Templates in App Directories
Exercise 1.05: Creating a Templates Directory and a Base Template
Rendering a Template with the render Function
Exercise 1.06: Rendering a Template in a View
Rendering Variables in Templates
Exercise 1.07: Using Variables in Templates
Debugging and Dealing with Errors
Exceptions
Exercise 1.08: Generating and Viewing Exceptions
Debugging
Exercise 1.09: Debugging Your Code
Activity 1.01: Creating a Site Welcome Screen
Activity 1.02: Book Search Scaffold
Summary
Chapter 2: Models and Migrations
Introduction
Databases
Relational Databases
Non-Relational Databases
Database Operations Using SQL
Data Types in Relational databases
Exercise 2.01: Creating a Book Database
SQL CRUD Operations
SQL Create Operations
SQL Read Operations
SQL Update Operations
SQL Delete Operations
Django ORM
Database Configuration and Creating Django Applications
Django Apps
Django Migration
Creating Django Models and Migrations
Field Types
Field Options
Primary Keys
Relationships
Many to One
Many to Many
One-to-One Relationships
Adding the Review Model
Model Methods
Migrating the Reviews App
Django’s Database CRUD Operations
Exercise 2.02: Creating an Entry in the Bookr Database
Exercise 2.03: Using the create() Method to Create an Entry
Creating an Object with a Foreign Key
Exercise 2.04: Creating Records for a Many-to-One Relationship
Exercise 2.05: Creating Records with Many-to-Many Relationships
Exercise 2.06: A Many-to-Many Relationship Using the add() Method
Using create() and set() Methods for Many-to-Many Relationships
Read Operations
Exercise 2.07: Using the get() Method to Retrieve an Object
Returning an Object Using the get() Method
Exercise 2.08: Using the all() Method to Retrieve a Set of Objects
Retrieving Objects by Filtering
Exercise 2.09: Using the filter() Method to Retrieve Objects
Filtering by Field Lookups
Using Pattern Matching for Filtering Operations
Retrieving Objects by Excluding
Retrieving Objects Using the order_by() Method
Querying Across Relationships
Querying Using Foreign Keys
Querying Using Model Name
Querying Across Foreign Key Relationships Using the Object Instance
Exercise 2.10: Querying Across a Many-to-Many Relationship Using Field Lookup
Exercise 2.11: A Many-to-Many Query Using Objects
Exercise 2.12: A Many-to-Many Query Using the set() Method
Exercise 2.13: Using the update() Method
Exercise 2.14: Using the delete() Method
Activity 2.01: Create Models for a Project Management Application
Populating the Bookr Project’s Database
Summary
Chapter 3: URL Mapping, Views, and Templates
Introduction
Function-Based Views
Class-Based Views
URL Configuration
Exercise 3.01: Implementing a Simple Function-Based View
Templates
Exercise 3.02: Using Templates to Display a Greeting Message
Django Template Language
Template Variables
Template Tags
Comments
Filters
Exercise 3.03: Displaying a List of Books and Reviews
Template Inheritance
Template Styling with Bootstrap
Exercise 3.04: Adding Template Inheritance and a Bootstrap Navigation Bar
Activity 3.01: Implement the Book Details View
Summary
Chapter 4: Introduction to Django Admin
Introduction
Creating a Superuser Account
Exercise 4.01: Creating a Superuser Account
CRUD Operations Using the Django Admin App
Create
Retrieve
Update
Delete
Users and Groups
Exercise 4.02: Adding and Modifying Users and Groups through the Admin app
Registering the Reviews Model
Change Lists
The Publisher Change Page
The Book Change Page
Exercise 4.03: Foreign Keys and Deletion Behavior in the Admin App
Customizing the Admin Interface
Site-Wide Django Admin Customizations
Examining the AdminSite object from the Python Shell
Subclassing AdminSite
Activity 4.01: Customizing the SiteAdmin
Customizing the ModelAdmin Classes
The List Display Fields
The Filter
Exercise 4.04: Adding a Date list_filter and date_hierarchy
The Search Bar
Excluding and Grouping Fields
Activity 4.02: Customizing the Model Admins
Summary
Chapter 5: Serving Static Files
Introduction
Static File Serving
Introduction to Static File Finders
Static File Finders: Use During a Request
AppDirectoriesFinder
Static File Namespacing
Exercise 5.01: Serving a File from an App Directory
Generating Static URLs with the static Template Tag
Exercise 5.02: Using the static Template Tag
FileSystemFinder
Exercise 5.03: Serving from a Project static Directory
Static File Finders: Use During collectstatic
Exercise 5.04: Collecting Static Files for Production
STATICFILES_DIRS Prefixed Mode
The findstatic Command
Exercise 5.05: Finding Files Using findstatic
Serving the Latest Files (for Cache Invalidation)
Exercise 5.06: Exploring the ManifestFilesStorage Storage Engine
Custom Storage Engines
Activity 5.01: Adding a reviews Logo
Activity 5.02: CSS Enhancements
Activity 5.03: Adding a Global Logo
Summary
Chapter 6: Forms
Introduction
What Is a Form?
The

Element
Types of Inputs
Exercise 6.01: Building a Form in HTML
Form Security with Cross-Site Request Forgery Protection
Accessing Data in the View
Exercise 6.02: Working with POST Data in a View
Choosing between GET and POST
Why Use GET When We Can Put Parameters in the URL?
The Django Forms Library
Defining a Form
Rendering a Form in a Template
Exercise 6.03: Building and Rendering a Django Form
Validating Forms and Retrieving Python Values
Exercise 6.04: Validating Forms in a View
Built-In Field Validation
Exercise 6.05: Adding Extra Field Validation
Activity 6.01: Book Searching
Summary
Chapter 7: Advanced Form Validation and Model Forms
Introduction
Custom Field Validation and Cleaning
Custom Validators
Cleaning Methods
Multi-Field Validation
Exercise 7.01: Custom Clean and Validation Methods
Placeholders and Initial Values
Exercise 7.02: Placeholders and Initial Values
Creating or Editing Django Models
The ModelForm Class
Exercise 7.03: Creating and Editing a Publisher
Activity 7.01: Styling and Integrating the Publisher Form
Activity 7.02: Review Creation UI
Summary
Chapter 8: Media Serving and File Uploads
Introduction
Settings for Media Uploads and Serving
Serving Media Files in Development
Exercise 8.01: Configuring Media Storage and Serving Media Files
Context Processors and Using MEDIA_URL in Templates
Exercise 8.02: Template Settings and Using MEDIA_URL in Templates
File Uploads Using HTML Forms
Working with Uploaded Files in a View
Security and Trust of Browsers' Sent Values
Exercise 8.03: File Upload and Download
File Uploads with Django Forms
Exercise 8.04: File Uploads with a Django Form
Image Uploads with Django Forms
Resizing an Image with Pillow
Exercise 8.05: Image Uploads using Django Forms
Serving Uploaded (and Other) Files Using Django
Storing Files on Model Instances
Storing Images on Model Instances
Working with FieldFile
Custom Storage Engines
Reading a Stored FieldFile
Storing Existing Files or Content in FileField
Writing PIL Images to ImageField
Referring to Media in Templates
Exercise 8.06: FileField and ImageField on Models
ModelForms and File Uploads
Exercise 8.07: File and Image Uploads Using a ModelForm
Activity 8.01: Image and PDF Uploads of Books
Activity 8.02: Displaying Cover and Sample Links
Summary
Chapter 9: Sessions and Authentication
Introduction
Middleware
Middleware Modules
Implementing Authentication Views and Templates
Exercise 9.01: Repurposing the Admin App Login Template
Password Storage in Django
The Profile Page and the request.user Object
Exercise 9.02: Adding a Profile Page
Authentication Decorators and Redirection
Exercise 9.03: Adding Authentication Decorators to the Views
Enhancing Templates with Authentication Data
Exercise 9.04: Toggling Login and Logout Links in the Base Template
Activity 9.01: Authentication-Based Content Using Conditional Blocks in Templates
Sessions
The Session Engine
Do You Need to Flag Cookie Content?
Pickle or JSON storage
Exercise 9.05: Examining the Session Key
Storing Data in Sessions
Exercise 9.06: Storing Recently Viewed Books in Sessions
Activity 9.02: Using Session Storage for the Book Search Page
Summary
Chapter 10: Advanced Django Admin and Customizations
Introduction
Customizing the Admin Site
Discovering Admin Files in Django
Django's AdminSite Class
Exercise 10.01: Creating a Custom Admin Site for Bookr
Overriding the Default admin.site
Exercise 10.02: Overriding the Default Admin Site
Customizing Admin Site Text Using AdminSite Attributes
Customizing Admin Site Templates
Exercise 10.03: Customizing the Logout Template for the Bookr Admin Site
Adding Views to the Admin Site
Creating the View Function
Accessing Common Template Variables
Mapping URLs for the Custom View
Restricting Custom Views to the Admin Site
Exercise 10.04: Adding Custom Views to the Admin Site
Passing Additional Keys to the Templates Using Template Variables
Activity 10.01: Building a Custom Admin Dashboard with Built-In Search
Summary
Chapter 11: Advanced Templating and Class-Based Views
Introduction
Template Filters
Custom Template Filters
Template Filters
Setting Up the Directory for Storing Template Filters
Setting Up the Template Library
Implementing the Custom Filter Function
Using Custom Filters inside Templates
Exercise 11.01: Creating a Custom Template Filter
String Filters
Template Tags
Types of Template Tags
Simple Tags
How to Create a Simple Template Tag
Setting Up the Directory
Setting Up the Template Library
Implementing a Simple Template Tag
Using Simple Tags inside Templates
Exercise 11.02: Creating a Custom Simple Tag
Passing the Template Context in a Custom Template Tag
Inclusion Tags
Implementing Inclusion Tags
Using an Inclusion Tag inside a Template
Exercise 11.03: Building a Custom Inclusion Tag
Django Views
Class-Based Views
Exercise 11.04: Creating a Book Catalog Using a CBV
CRUD Operations with CBVs
Create View
Update View
Delete View
Read View
Activity 11.01: Rendering Details on the User Profile Page Using Inclusion Tags
Summary
Chapter 12: Building a REST API
Introduction
REST APIs
Django REST Framework
Installation and Configuration
Functional API Views
Exercise 12.01: Creating a Simple REST API
Serializers
Exercise 12.02: Creating an API View to Display a List of Books
Class-Based API Views and Generic Views
Model Serializers
Exercise 12.03: Creating Class-Based API Views and Model Serializers
Activity 12.01: Creating an API Endpoint for a Top Contributors Page
ViewSets
Routers
Exercise 12.04: Using ViewSets and Routers
Authentication
Token-Based Authentication
Exercise 12.05: Implementing Token-Based Authentication for Bookr APIs
Summary
Chapter 13: Generating CSV, PDF, and Other Binary Files
Introduction
Working with CSV Files inside Python
Working with Python's CSV Module
Reading Data from a CSV File
Exercise 13.01: Reading a CSV File with Python
Writing to CSV Files Using Python
Exercise 13.02: Generating a CSV File Using Python's csv Module
A Better Way to Read and Write CSV Files
Working with Excel Files in Python
Binary File Formats for Data Exports
Working with XLSX Files Using the XlsxWriter Package
XLSX Files
The XlsxWriter Python Package
Creating a Workbook
Creating a Worksheet
Writing Data to the Worksheet
Writing the Data to the Workbook
Exercise 13.03: Creating XLSX Files in Python
Working with PDF Files in Python
Converting Web Pages to PDFs
Exercise 13.04: Generating a PDF Version of a Web Page in Python
Playing with Graphs in Python
Generating Graphs with plotly
Setting Up a Figure
Generating a Plot
Rendering a Plot on a Web Page
Exercise 13.05: Generating Graphs in Python
Integrating plotly with Django
Integrating Visualizations with Django
Exercise 13.06: Visualizing a User's Reading History on the User Profile Page
Activity 13.01: Exporting the Books Read by a User as an XLSLX File
Summary
Chapter 14: Testing
Introduction
The Importance of Testing
Automation Testing
Testing in Django
Implementing Test Cases
Unit Testing in Django
Utilizing Assertions
Exercise 14.01: Writing a Simple Unit Test
Types of Assertions
Performing Pre-Test Setup and Cleanup after Every Test Case Run
Testing Django Models
Exercise 14.02: Testing Django Models
Testing Django Views
Exercise 14.03: Writing Unit Tests for Django Views
Testing Views with Authentication
Exercise 14.04: Writing Test Cases to Validate Authenticated Users
Django Request Factory
Exercise 14.05: Using a Request Factory to Test Views
Testing Class-Based Views
Test Case Classes in Django
SimpleTestCase
TransactionTestCase
LiveServerTestCase
Modularizing Test Code
Activity 14.01: Testing Models and Views in Bookr
Summary
Chapter 15: Django Third-Party Libraries
Introduction
Environment Variables
django-configurations
manage.py changes
Configuration from Environment Variables
Exercise 15.01: Django Configurations Setup
dj-database-url
Exercise 15.02: dj-database-url and Setup
The Django Debug Toolbar
Exercise 15.03: Setting Up the Django Debug Toolbar
django-crispy-forms
The crispy Filter
The crispy Template Tag
Exercise 15.04: Using Django Crispy Forms with the SearchForm
django-allauth
django-allauth Installation and Setup
GitHub Auth Setup
Google Auth Setup
Initiating Authentication with django-allauth
Other django-allauth Features
Activity 15.01: Using FormHelper to Update Forms
Summary
Chapter 16: Using a Frontend JavaScript Library with Django
Introduction
JavaScript Frameworks
JavaScript Introduction
React
Components
Exercise 16.01: Setting Up a React Example
JSX
Exercise 16.02: JSX and Babel
JSX Properties
Exercise 16.03: React Component Properties
JavaScript Promises
fetch
The JavaScript map Method
Exercise 16.04: Fetching and Rendering Books
The verbatim Template Tag
Activity 16.01: Reviews Preview
Summary
Index