Getting Started with Django: Creating Your First Project and Application
Django is a powerful and versatile web framework that helps you build web applications efficiently. Hereβs how you can set up a Django project and create an application within it.
Step 1: Install Django
First, youβll need to install Django on your machine. Open your terminal or command prompt and run:
pip install django
Step 2: Check Django Version
To confirm Django is installed, you can check the version by running:
python3 -m django --version
Step 3: Set Up Project Directory
Organize your workspace by creating a folder where your Django project will reside. In the terminal, run:
mkdir django_project
cd django_project
Step 4: Create a Django Project
Now, create a Django project within this folder. Use the following command:
django-admin startproject mysite
This will create a new Django project named mysite
.
Project Structure Overview
Once the project is created, youβll notice a few files and folders within the mysite
directory. Hereβs a quick overview:
manage.py
: A command-line utility that lets you interact with this Django project in various ways (starting the server, creating applications, running migrations, etc.).__init__.py
: An empty file that tells Python to treat the directory as a Python package.
Step 5: Run the Development Server
Now that the project is set up, you can test it by running Djangoβs development server:
python3 manage.py runserver
Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/
in your browser, and you should see the Django welcome page, confirming your project is working.
Step 6: Create an Application
In Django, projects can contain multiple applications, each serving a specific function. To create an application, use the command:
python3 manage.py startapp firstapplication
This will create a folder named firstapplication
inside your project directory, which will contain files essential for defining the appβs models, views, templates, and more.
With this setup, youβre ready to start building features in Django by defining models, views, templates, and URLs. This foundation will help you build scalable and structured web applications efficiently.
TASKS:
1. Create a Django Application to display Hello World Message as response.
2. Create One Django Application with multiple views.
3. Create a Django Application to display Current Date and Time.
Open settings.py inside the project folder and add a application name(firstapplication) to INSTALLED APPS List[]
Next open the views.py inside the application folder import httpresponse and create a function.
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.http import HttpResponse
# Create your views here.
def display(request):
views_content='<h2>HELLO WORLD!<H2>'
return HttpResponse(views_content)
def display1(request):
views_content='<h2>WELCOME TO DJANGO<H2>'
return HttpResponse(views_content)
def display2(request):
views_content='<h2>WELCOME TO MY APPLICATION<H2>'
return HttpResponse(views_content)
import datetime
# Create your views here.
def time_info_view(request):
time = datetime.datetime.now()
output = '<h1> Currently the time is ' + str(time) + '</h1>'
return HttpResponse(output)
next open the urls.py inside the project folder
from firstapplication(application) import views
create a urls of the page in urlpatterns list[]
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
from firstapplication import views
urlpatterns = [
path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
path('welcome/',views.display),
path('second/',views.display1),
path('third/',views.display2),
path('datetime/',views.time_info_view)
]
Now open the local host 127.0.0.1:8000 you will see the below page
it contains 5 pages admin(default),welcome,second,third,datetime these are we created ones.
If you change the path 127.0.0.1:8000 to 127.0.0.1:8000/welcome/ you will see below page
If you change the path 127.0.0.1:8000 to 127.0.0.1:8000/datetime/ you will see below page
If you change the path 127.0.0.1:8000 to 127.0.0.1:8000/second/ you will see below page
If you change the path 127.0.0.1:8000 to 127.0.0.1:8000/third/ you will see below page
These are the essential steps for creating a Django project as a beginner, helping you understand the basic setup and flow of a Django application.