DJ4E Samples Django 5.2

This is a set of Django 5.2 projects that provide free sample code to support the www.dj4e.com web site. If you want to use these with Django 4.2, please switch to the django42 branch at README.md

You can see some of the samples working at

http://samples.dj4e.com

Setting up a Virtual Environment

If your prompt looks as follows, it means you have set up a Django 4.2 environment you need to either switch to and/or set up your Django 5.2 environment.

(django42) 14:58 ~ $

First lets try to switch to Django 5.2 to see if it is already installed with the following command.

source ~/.ve52/bin/activate

If you have a Django 5.2 environment your prompt will change to look like:

(.ve52) 14:15 ~ $

Yay, you do not need to install a virtual environment, you can skip ahead to "Installing the Sample Code for DJ4E".

Installing a Django 5.2 Virtual Environment

If after all the above checks, you do not have a Django 5.2 virtual environment installed, lets install one. First lets make sure your shell has no current virtual environment by de-activating any current virtual environment:

cd ~
deactivate  # May fail - this is OK

If the deactivate fails with the following message - that is OK. You just were not in a virtual environment:

bash: deactivate: command not found

Now lets install a new virtual environment in your home directory (~) with a version of Python that supports Django 5.2. The Python version should be 3.10 - 3.13 with a preference toward the later releases.

You can figure out figure out exactly which versions of Python are available in your Linux shell (a.k.a. PythonAnywhere console) type python3. and then press the Tab key twice and you should see something like the following:

12:06 ~ $ python3.
python3.10          python3.11-config   python3.13          python3.13t-config
python3.10-config   python3.12          python3.13-config   python3.9
python3.11          python3.12-config   python3.13t         python3.9m
12:06 ~ $ python3.

If Python 3.13 is available, we will use it to create our virtual environment to support Django 5.2 using the following Python command including the version number.

cd ~
python3.13 -m venv .ve52

If this works without error, you are in good shape. If you get a message like

python3.13: command not found

Try the python command above with 3.12, 3.11, and 3.10 until one works. Hopefully your account has at least one Python version that supports Django 5.2.

Once the above venv creation is successfull, activate your virtual environment and verify the python version inside the virtual environment.

source ~/.ve52/bin/activate
python --version

Once you verify your Python version is correct, run:

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install django==5.2 ## this may take a couple of minutes

Sometimes these two commands take a long time. Run them one at a time in the shell. When the servers are running slowly, each command can take more than ten minutes to finish. Be patient and wait until you see the $ prompt indicating the command is complete before continuing. After they are complete, check your Django version.

python -m django --version

The Django version should be at least 5.2.

Checking out The Sample Code

Then checkout this repository:

cd ~      # Or whatever folder
source .ve52/bin/activate        # If needed

git clone https://github.com/csev/dj4e-samples.git
cd dj4e-samples
git checkout django52

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements52.txt
python -m django --version

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser --username dj4e-samples
# python manage.py changepassword dj4e-samples
# dj4e_nn_!

...
deactivate

Running Locally on Mac/Linux/WSL once the ve52 exists

If you have Django installed on your local computer you can test any of the sample applications by going into the folder and starting the server:

cd dj4e-samples
source .ve52/bin/activate   # If needed
python manage.py runserver

And visit http://localhost:8000.

Development Tools

This repository includes helpful development tools in the tools/ directory for managing your development environment. See tools/README.md for details on available tools.

Running on PythonAnywhere (likely not needed)

Yuo can always explore this code on https://samples.dj4e.com/ - so you don't really need to run this on your own PythonAywhere. But this is how Dr. Chuck sets it up on his server in case he forgets :)

Once you have checked out the code under your home directory (~), and ran the migrations and load scripts, go under the Web tab, update the config files to point to your new application:

Source code:                /home/--your-account--/dj4e-samples
Working Directory:          /home/--your-account--/dj4e-samples

Use this as your WGSI configuration file:

import os
import sys

path = os.path.expanduser('~/dj4e-samples')
if path not in sys.path:
    sys.path.insert(0, path)
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'dj4e-samples.settings'
from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application
from django.contrib.staticfiles.handlers import StaticFilesHandler
application = StaticFilesHandler(get_wsgi_application())

You can edit these files and settings in the Web tab to switch between your various projects on PythonAnywhere. Make sure to reload under the Web tab after every file or configuration change.

Notes on new Django Versions

When you want to port this to a new Django version (likely once per year), create a branch like django62 and modify the following files:

• README.md

• home/templates/home/main.html

• tools/checkup.sh

Rename requirements52.txt to requirments62.txt and edit as needed.