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Ultimate Django Reference (Deployment, Rest API, Commands, .env)

August 27, 2020

Other Useful Python Articles:

Basic Commands

Start a new project django-admin startproject <projectname>

Start a new app in your project django-admin startapp <appName>

Make Migration Files for Unmigrated Changes python manage.py makemigrations

Run Migrations python manage.py migrate

Run Development Server python manage.py runserver

Create Superuser for Admin Panel python manage.py createsuperuser --email admin@example.com --username admin

Setting up the Database for Postgres

Need a psychopg2 installed to use postgres

pip install psycopg2

note: You may need to install the following for psycopg2 to install correct, google their installation, not needed for windows sudo “python3-dev” “libpq-dev”

NOTE: if using Heroku you can avoid setting all these settings as the django-heroku library will setup all the postgres settings when deployed so you can use SQLite locally guilt free

The database configuration in settings.py

# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {

    'default': {

        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',

        'NAME': 'test',

        'USER': 'test',

        'PASSWORD': 'test',

        'HOST': 'localhost',

        'PORT': '5432',

    }

}

Using a .env file with django

Note: If deploying to heroku, you may not need this and it may cause errors because no .env file is present in production causing an attempt to access .env file to fail (you could wrap it in a conditional). The django-heroku library will make sure all your heroku config vars are available to your application

Install django-environ

pip install django-environ

Add the following to your settings.py, create the .env file in the same folder as your settings.py

import environ

env = environ.Env()
# reading .env file
environ.Env.read_env()

DOCS: https://github.com/joke2k/django-environ

Using env variables in your code

env("ENV_VARIABLE")

env("ENV_VARIABLE", default="my default value")

Deploying to Heroku

Step 1 - Adjust your database settings (optional, django-heroku will override you settings.py to work with heroku postgres)

DATABASES = {

    'default': env.db()

}

*If you want to use your local database add an ENV variable, DATABASE_URL with using the db string template below

postgres://YourUserName:YourPassword@YourHost:5432/YourDatabase

Should look like this in your .env

DATABASE_URL=postgres://test:test@localhost:5432/test

Setup Your gitignore

Include this in your .gitignore in your root directory, this was generated using the site gitignore.io, a website for generating common gitignore entries.

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/django
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=django

### Django ###
*.log
*.pot
*.pyc
__pycache__/
local_settings.py
db.sqlite3
db.sqlite3-journal
media

# If your build process includes running collectstatic, then you probably don't need or want to include staticfiles/
# in your Git repository. Update and uncomment the following line accordingly.
# <django-project-name>/staticfiles/

### Django.Python Stack ###
# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
*.py[cod]
*$py.class

# C extensions
*.so

# Distribution / packaging
.Python
build/
develop-eggs/
dist/
downloads/
eggs/
.eggs/
lib/
lib64/
parts/
sdist/
var/
wheels/
pip-wheel-metadata/
share/python-wheels/
*.egg-info/
.installed.cfg
*.egg
MANIFEST

# PyInstaller
#  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
#  before PyInstaller builds the exe, so as to inject date/other infos into it.
*.manifest
*.spec

# Installer logs
pip-log.txt
pip-delete-this-directory.txt

# Unit test / coverage reports
htmlcov/
.tox/
.nox/
.coverage
.coverage.*
.cache
nosetests.xml
coverage.xml
*.cover
*.py,cover
.hypothesis/
.pytest_cache/
pytestdebug.log

# Translations
*.mo

# Django stuff:

# Flask stuff:
instance/
.webassets-cache

# Scrapy stuff:
.scrapy

# Sphinx documentation
docs/_build/
doc/_build/

# PyBuilder
target/

# Jupyter Notebook
.ipynb_checkpoints

# IPython
profile_default/
ipython_config.py

# pyenv
.python-version

# pipenv
#   According to pypa/pipenv#598, it is recommended to include Pipfile.lock in version control.
#   However, in case of collaboration, if having platform-specific dependencies or dependencies
#   having no cross-platform support, pipenv may install dependencies that don't work, or not
#   install all needed dependencies.
#Pipfile.lock

# PEP 582; used by e.g. github.com/David-OConnor/pyflow
__pypackages__/

# Celery stuff
celerybeat-schedule
celerybeat.pid

# SageMath parsed files
*.sage.py

# Environments
.env
.venv
env/
venv/
ENV/
env.bak/
venv.bak/

# Spyder project settings
.spyderproject
.spyproject

# Rope project settings
.ropeproject

# mkdocs documentation
/site

# mypy
.mypy_cache/
.dmypy.json
dmypy.json

# Pyre type checker
.pyre/

# pytype static type analyzer
.pytype/

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/django

Gunicorn, Procfile, runtime.txt and requirements.txt

We need Gunicorn to run our app’s server so

pip install gunicorn

create a file called “Procfile” in your project root with the following.

web: gunicorn project.wsgi

*project should be replaced with your projects name (the name of the folder your settings.py is in)

ALSO MAKE SURE TO MAKE A runtime.txt WITH YOUR PYTHON VERSION, HEROKU MAY DEFAULT AN EARLIER VERSION OF PYTHON FROM WHICH PIP MAY NOT BE ABLE TO INSTALL THE EXACT VERSION OF YOUR LIBRARIES FROM requirements.txt

runtime.txt

python-3.9.0

to create the requirements.txt run this file while in the virtual environment for your project. Make sure to regenerate this file as you add and subtract libraries to your project.

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Procfile, requirements.txt and runtime.txt should all be in the root of your project which is the folder with manage.py

Download django-heroku

install django-heroku pip install django-heroku

add the following at the TOP of your settings.py import django_heroku

add the following at the bottom of your settings.py django_heroku.settings(locals())

*What this will do is configure your project automatically for Heroku when you deploy it

Push up to github

Create new github repository, and push to github. The ROOT of your repository should be the folder with the manage.py inside it.

Create a new Heroku Project

  • Create a New Heroku Project
  • Go to the resources tab and provision a new free postgres database
  • Go to the deploy tab and connect your github repository to heroku
  • enable automatic deployments
  • do an initial deploy hitting the manual deploy button
  • Don’t forget to run makemigrations and migrate, (easily done in Heroku run bash)

Django Rest Framework Reference

Install

pip install djangorestframework

then add the following to your settings.py installed apps array

'rest_framework',

ALSO MAKE SURE YOUR APP IS INSTALLED AS WELL

Make a model

In a new app make a new model in models.py. model field reference => https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/models/fields/#model-field-types

from django.db import models


class Dog(models.Model):

    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    age = models.IntegerField()

    class Meta:
        verbose_name_plural = 'dogs'

Setup Models and Serializers in your app

In your app folder create a serializers.py with the following.

The Serializer handles taking your objects data and turning it into JSON

from .models import Dog
from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
from rest_framework import serializers


class DogSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = Dog
        fields = ['name', 'age']

class UserSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ['url', 'username', 'email', 'groups']

class GroupSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = Group
        fields = ['url', 'name']

Users and Groups are serialized so we have a restful routes for the built in User and Group models

Create Views for your API

Viewsets have all the functions neccessary for RESTFul routes ready to go they just need to be connected to your model and related serializer

In your apps views.py create the following

from .models import Dog
from django.contrib.auth.models import User, Group
from rest_framework import viewsets
from rest_framework import permissions
from .serializers import DogSerializer, UserSerializer, GroupSerializer


class DogViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    """
    API endpoint that allows users to be viewed or edited.
    """
    queryset = Dog.objects.all()
    serializer_class = DogSerializer
    permission_classes = [permissions.AllowAny] #Coule be [permissions.IsAuthenticated]

class UserViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    """
    API endpoint that allows users to be viewed or edited.
    """
    queryset = User.objects.all().order_by('-date_joined')
    serializer_class = UserSerializer
    permission_classes = [permissions.IsAuthenticated]


class GroupViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    """
    API endpoint that allows groups to be viewed or edited.
    """
    queryset = Group.objects.all()
    serializer_class = GroupSerializer
    permission_classes = [permissions.IsAuthenticated]

For Details on different permission sets:

Setup URLS

Now to setup the urls for our API in the urls.py in the folder that holds our settings.py.

The router knows how to create conventional routes and connect them to the right functions in your ViewSet

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
from rest_framework import routers
from project1.api import views

router = routers.DefaultRouter()
router.register(r'dogs', views.DogViewSet)
router.register(r'users', views.UserViewSet)
router.register(r'groups', views.GroupViewSet)

urlpatterns = [
    path('', include(router.urls)),
    path('api-auth/', include('rest_framework.urls', namespace='rest_framework')),
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
]

For more on how the router works, https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/routers/

Finish Up

  • make migrations
  • migrate
  • test

Adding JWT Authentication to your application

Download the django simple jwt library

pip install djangorestframework-simplejwt

Add JWT Authenticator to Settings.py

In settings.py add…

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
        'rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTAuthentication',
    )
}

Add Route to get and refresh tokens

add the following routes in your urls.py

from rest_framework_simplejwt.views import (
    TokenObtainPairView,
    TokenRefreshView,
)

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    path('api/token/', TokenObtainPairView.as_view(), name='token_obtain_pair'),
    path('api/token/refresh/', TokenRefreshView.as_view(), name='token_refresh'),
    ...
]

Update your model views that you want to have permissions

from .models import Dog
from rest_framework import viewsets
from rest_framework import permissions
from .serializers import DogSerializer
from rest_framework_simplejwt import authentication # <=add this



class DogViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    """
    API endpoint that allows users to be viewed or edited.
    """
    queryset = Dog.objects.all()
    serializer_class = DogSerializer
    permission_classes = [permissions.IsAuthenticated] # <= update this
    authentication_classes = (authentication.JWTAuthentication,)# <= add this

With this you can pass username and password to api/token/ to get your token, then pass it in the headers to access routes for models with protected views. Keep in mind, for this library it seems to expect a capital “Bearer” in your Authorization header value.

To Read the Docs on this library and learn how to change settings like token expiration go here: https://django-rest-framework-simplejwt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/gettingstarted.html_

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