Setting Up Django from Scratch: A Beginner’s Guide

If you’re starting your journey in web development and have decided to use Django, you’ve made an excellent choice. Django is a powerful, Python-based web framework that simplifies the development process and helps you create robust, scalable applications. This guide will walk you through setting up Django from scratch.

What You’ll Need

Before diving into Django, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

1. Python Installed: Django is built on Python, so you’ll need Python 3.7 or later installed on your system.
2. A Virtual Environment: This ensures your Django project has its own isolated space, free from conflicts with other Python projects.
3. Pip: The package manager for Python to install Django and other dependencies.

Step 1: Install Python

If Python isn’t installed on your machine:

• Windows: Download and install Python from python.org. During installation, ensure you check the box to add Python to your PATH.
• Mac/Linux: Python typically comes pre-installed. If not, use your package manager (brew for macOS or apt for Linux) to install it.

Verify the installation by running:

bash
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python --version  

Step 2: Create a Virtual Environment

A virtual environment helps keep your Django project dependencies separate. To create one:

1. Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to set up your project.

2. Run the following command to create a virtual environment:

   bash
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   python -m venv myenv  
   

   Replace myenv with a name for your environment.

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   • Windows:

     bash
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     myenv\Scripts\activate  
     

   • Mac/Linux:

     bash
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     source myenv/bin/activate  
     

Once activated, your terminal will show the virtual environment’s name, e.g., (myenv).

Step 3: Install Django

With the virtual environment activated, install Django using pip:

bash
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pip install django  

You can verify the installation by checking the Django version:

bash
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django-admin --version  

Step 4: Start a New Django Project

1. Run the following command to create a new project:

   bash
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   django-admin startproject myproject  
   

   Replace myproject with the name of your project.

2. Navigate into your project directory:

   bash
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   cd myproject  
   

Step 5: Run the Development Server

To ensure everything is set up correctly, run the Django development server:

bash
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python manage.py runserver  

Open a browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:8000/. You should see Django’s default welcome page, confirming your setup is complete.

Step 6: Create a Django App

Django projects are composed of one or more apps. To create your first app:

1. Run:

   bash
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   python manage.py startapp myapp  
   

   Replace myapp with the name of your app.

2. Register the app in your project by adding it to the INSTALLED_APPS list in myproject/settings.py:

   python
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   INSTALLED_APPS = [
       'django.contrib.admin',
       'django.contrib.auth',
       'django.contrib.contenttypes',
       'django.contrib.sessions',
       'django.contrib.messages',
       'django.contrib.staticfiles',
       'myapp',  # Add your app here
   ]
   

Step 7: Database Setup

Django comes pre-configured with SQLite, but you can connect to other databases like PostgreSQL or MySQL. For now, let’s use SQLite:

1. Apply migrations to set up the default database schema:

   bash
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   python manage.py migrate  
   

2. Create a superuser to access the admin panel:

   bash
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   python manage.py createsuperuser  
   

   Follow the prompts to set a username, email, and password.

3. Run the development server again and visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/ to access the admin panel.

Step 8: Build Your First View

Let’s create a simple view:

1. Open myapp/views.py and add:

   python
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   from django.http import HttpResponse  
   
   def home(request):  
       return HttpResponse("Hello, Django!")  
   

2. Map the view to a URL. In myapp/urls.py (create this file if it doesn’t exist), add:

   python
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   from django.urls import path  
   from . import views  
   
   urlpatterns = [  
       path('', views.home, name='home'),  
   ]  
   

3. Link your app’s URLs to the project. In myproject/urls.py, add:

   python
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   from django.contrib import admin  
   from django.urls import path, include  
   
   urlpatterns = [  
       path('admin/', admin.site.urls),  
       path('', include('myapp.urls')),  # Include your app’s URLs  
   ]  
   

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/, and you’ll see “Hello, Django!” displayed in your browser.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve set up Django from scratch and created your first view. From here, you can start building more complex applications by exploring Django’s features like templates, models, and forms. Django’s extensive documentation and active community make it easy to learn and grow as a developer.

Ready to build something amazing? Start experimenting with Django today!