Creating Your First Django Project

Last Updated: 13th October, 2023

In Django, a project is a collection of settings, configurations, and applications that make up a web application. It is the top-level container that defines the structure of your application and is responsible for managing the components that make up the application. A Django project typically includes one or more applications, which are reusable modules that provide specific functionality for the web application. In this chapter, we will be making our very first “Hello world” project in Django.

Setting up the Development Environment

To create a Django project, you need to set up your development environment first. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Install Python: If you don't have Python installed on your system, download and install the latest version from the official Python website.
2. Install pip: pip is a package manager for Python that allows you to easily install and manage packages. To install pip, download the appropriate version for your system from the official pip website and run the installation command in your terminal or command prompt.
3. Install a code editor: A code editor is a software application used for editing code. There are many code editors available, such as Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, Atom, Sublime Text, etc. Choose the one that you're most comfortable with and install it.
4. Create a virtual environment: A virtual environment is a tool used to keep the dependencies required by different projects in separate places. This avoids conflicts between different versions of packages and makes it easier to manage dependencies. To create a virtual environment, open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

python3 -m venv myenv

This will create a virtual environment called "myenv" in your current directory.

1. Activate the virtual environment: Once you've created the virtual environment, you need to activate it by running the following command:

On Windows:

myenv\\Scripts\\activate.bat

On macOS and Linux:

source myenv/bin/activate

1. Install Django: With the virtual environment activated, you can now install Django by running the following command:

pip install django

This will install the latest stable version of Django in your virtual environment.

1. Verify the installation: To verify that Django is installed correctly, open your code editor and create a new file. Enter the following code:

import django
print(django.get_version())

Save the file as "test.py" and run it by typing the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

python test.py

If Django is installed correctly, you should see the version number printed in your terminal or command prompt.

Congratulations! You've now set up your development environment for creating Django projects.

Step 1: Creating a Django Project

To create a new Django project, follow these steps:

Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to create the project.

Run the following command to create a new project:

Replace **projectname** with the name of your project.

django-admin startproject helloworld

This will create a new directory called ‘**helloworld**' that contains the basic files and folders for a Django project.

Step 2: Creating a Django App

Once you have created your Django project, the next step is to create a Django app. A Django app is a self-contained module that performs a specific functionality in your project. For example, if you are building a blog website, you might create a Django app for handling the blog functionality, another app for handling user authentication, and so on.

To create a Django app, follow these steps:

Navigate to the root directory of your Django project in the terminal/command prompt.

Run the following command to create a new app:

python manage.py startapp hello

Replace **<app_name>** with the name of your app. For example, if you are creating an app for your blog functionality, you could name it "blog", here it is “hello”.

After running the above command, Django will create a new directory with the name of your app. This directory will contain all the necessary files for your app, including models, views, and templates

Step 3: Create a View

A view is a Python function that takes a web request and returns a web response. In Django, views are stored in the **views.py** file within each app. To create a view, open the **views.py** file within the **hello** app and add the following code:

from django.http import HttpResponse

def hello_world(request):
    return HttpResponse('Hello, World!')

Step 4: Create a URL Pattern

URL patterns map URLs to views. To create a URL pattern for the **hello_world** view, open the **urls.py** file within the **hello** app and add the following code:

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('hello/', views.hello_world, name='hello_world'),
]

This will create a URL pattern that maps the URL **/hello/** to the **hello_world** view.

Step 5: Run the Development Server

To test the application, start the development server by running the following command:

python manage.py runserver

This will start the development server on port 8000. To view the "Hello, World!" application, open a web browser and go to **http://localhost:8000/hello/**. You should see the message "Hello, World!" displayed on the page.

And that's it! You've created a "Hello, World!" application in Django. This is a very simple example, but it demonstrates the basic concepts of creating a Django project, creating an app, defining views and URL patterns, and running the development server. From here, you can start building more complex applications using the Django framework.

Conclusion

In this text, we learned about the process of creating a Django project, starting from setting up the development environment to creating a view and URL pattern. We learned that a project in Django is a collection of settings, configurations, and applications that make up a web application. We also learned that an application in Django is a self-contained module that performs a specific functionality in the project. Additionally, we learned about the importance of creating a virtual environment and the steps involved in creating a Django project and app. Finally, we learned how to create a view and a URL pattern and map URLs to views. By following these steps, we can create a basic "Hello world" project in Django.