Fix: Show friendly 500.html when database is unavailable

Author: ashan-khan

codethesaurus/settings.py

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 MIDDLEWARE = [
     'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
+    'web.middleware.DatabaseDownMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',

web/middleware.py

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# web/middleware.py
+from django.db.utils import OperationalError
+from django.shortcuts import render
+from django.http import HttpResponseServerError
+
+class DatabaseDownMiddleware:
+    """
+    Catch database OperationalError and show custom 500 error page.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, get_response):
+        self.get_response = get_response
+
+    def __call__(self, request):
+        try:
+            return self.get_response(request)
+        except OperationalError:
+            # Render error500.html template
+            return HttpResponseServerError(render(request, "error500.html"))

web/templates/error500.html

@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@
 
 <div class="container">
   <div class="bg-light p-5 rounded">
-    <h1>500 Error - Server Error!</h1>
+    <!-- <h1>500 Error - Server Error!</h1>
     <p class="lead">I don't know what went wrong, but the code broke!</p>
-    <a class="btn btn-lg btn-primary" href="/" role="button">Go to the Home Page &raquo;</a>
+    <a class="btn btn-lg btn-primary" href="/" role="button">Go to the Home Page &raquo;</a> -->
+    <h1>We’ll be back soon!</h1>
+    <p>The site is temporarily down due to maintenance. Please try again shortly.</p>
   </div>
 </div>