jiwallin3/django_setup

Standard django project setup

Django Projects - Setup Reference

Standard django project setup information. This is a living document and will change with my preference. It is intended for my reference but made public in case it can help others. I use PyCharm Pro (PC) as my ide. I appreciate the features they have built in and the template project starts

Project Setup

1. Make sure Postgres is running local
2. Start project in PC
3. Attach initial application for USERS
4. Activate virtual environment:

venv/Scripts/activate

5. Install required packages

pip install psycopg2-binary graphene-django python-dotenv

6. Settings.py file should have the following imports

  from pathlib import Path
  from dotenv import load_dotenv
  import os
  load_dotenv()

7. Make sure to add apps to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py

  INSTALLED_APPS = [
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "django.contrib.auth",
    "django.contrib.contenttypes",
    "django.contrib.sessions",
    "django.contrib.messages",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles",
    'graphene_django',  # add graphene_django to INSTALLED_APPS
    'threejuliet.apps.ThreeJulietConfig',  # add threejuliet config app to INSTALLED_APPS
    'chat.apps.ChatConfig', # add chat app to INSTALLED_APPS
  ]

8. Setup static files in settings.py

  # Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
  # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/howto/static-files/

  STATIC_URL = "/static/"
  # Set the STATIC_ROOT setting to a valid filesystem path where Django can collect static files
  STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'collected_static')

  MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
  MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/media')

  STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
  ]

9. Setup graphene schema in settings.py

  # Graphene settings
  GRAPHENE = {
    'SCHEMA': 'chat.schema.schema'
  }

Railway Deployments

1. Include a railway.json file in your root directory. The format given by Railway is:

  {
    "$schema": "https://railway.app/railway.schema.json",
    "build": {
        "builder": "NIXPACKS"
    },
    "deploy": {
        "startCommand": "python manage.py migrate && python manage.py collectstatic --noinput && gunicorn threejulietai.wsgi",
        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
    }
  }

2. Railway db setup for postgres

  DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': os.environ["PGDATABASE"],
        'USER': os.environ["PGUSER"],
        'PASSWORD': os.environ["PGPASSWORD"],
        'HOST': os.environ["PGHOST"],
        'PORT': os.environ["PGPORT"],
        'URL': os.environ["DATABASE_URL"],
    }
  }

3. Add env variable to deployment. Setup postgres in project and reference direcly using rw's link service.