What is Django?

Django is a high-level, Python-based web framework that encourages rapid development, clean design, and pragmatic code. It follows MVT (Model-View-Template) architecture and comes with batteries included (ORM, authentication, admin, etc.).

Installation & Project Setup

Install Django:

pip install django

Check version:

django-admin --version

Creating a Project

django-admin startproject projectNamecd projectName

Starting the Development Server

python manage.py runserver

Server runs by default on http://127.0.0.1:8000/

You can specify a custom port:

python manage.py runserver 8080

Django MVT (Model-View-Template)

Sample Model

Models represent database tables. Always remember to add () to fields!

from django.db import models class Product(models.Model):    product_id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)    price = models.FloatField()    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)     def __str__(self):        return self.name

Sample View (views.py)

from django.http import HttpResponse def index(request):    return HttpResponse("Django CodeWithHarry Cheatsheet")

For templates:

from django.shortcuts import render def index(request):    return render(request, "index.html", {"title": "Welcome"})

Sample HTML Template

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>    <meta charset="UTF-8">    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">    <title>{{ title }}</title></head><body>    <h1>This is a sample template file.</h1></body></html>

Views in Django

Views can be Function-Based or Class-Based.

Function-Based View

from django.http import HttpResponse def index(request):    return HttpResponse("This is a function-based view")

Class-Based View

from django.views import Viewfrom django.http import HttpResponse class SimpleClassBasedView(View):    def get(self, request):        return HttpResponse("Hello from a class-based view")

URLs in Django

urls.py maps paths to views.

Example urls.py

from django.contrib import adminfrom django.urls import pathfrom . import views urlpatterns = [    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),    path('', views.index, name='index'),    path('about/', views.about, name='about'),]

For modular apps, use include():

from django.urls import include, path urlpatterns = [    path('community/', include('aggregator.urls')),    path('contact/', include('contact.urls')),]

Forms in Django

Example Form

from django import forms class SampleForm(forms.Form):    name = forms.CharField(max_length=50)    description = forms.CharField(widget=forms.Textarea)

Apps in Django

Create a new app:

python manage.py startapp AppName

Register it in settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [    'django.contrib.admin',    'django.contrib.auth',    ...    'AppName',]

Templates in Django

Configure TEMPLATES in settings.py:

TEMPLATES = [    {        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',        'DIRS': [BASE_DIR / "templates"],        'APP_DIRS': True,        'OPTIONS': {},    },]

Rendering template in view:

from django.shortcuts import render def index(request):    return render(request, 'index.html', {"name": "Harry"})

Access variable in template:

<h1>Hello, {{ name }}</h1>

Migrations

Create migration files

python manage.py makemigrations

Apply migrations

python manage.py migrate

View SQL queries

python manage.py sqlmigrate appName 0001

Django Admin

Create admin user:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Register model in admin.py:

from django.contrib import adminfrom .models import Product admin.site.register(Product)

Page Redirection

from django.shortcuts import redirect def redirecting(request):    return redirect("https://www.codewithharry.com")

Additional Useful Commands

  • Create Django Shell (interact with models):

    python manage.py shell

  • Collect static files for production

    python manage.py collectstatic

  • Check for issues

    python manage.py check

Best Practices

  • Use virtual environments for each project.

  • Always commit your requirements.txt file:

    pip freeze > requirements.txt

  • Separate settings.py for dev & production (e.g., use django-environ for secrets).

  • Use .env files to store sensitive information.

  • Prefer class-based views for reusable code and scalability.