How to create a function-based view in Django

In this shot, we look into how to create an instance of a table in the database using a function-based view in Django.

Let’s start with installation.

pip is a package manager for Python packages.

pip install pipenv
pipenv shell
pipenv install django

django-admin startproject crud ./

python manage.py startapp codebase

python manage.py migrate

python manage.py runserver

Go to settings.py and follow these steps.

settings.py helps register your app and packages that are being installed, and even writes rules.

settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'codebase'
]

In the codebase app folder, go to:

models.py

This file is responsible for creating the model for the database.

from django.db import models
from django.urls import reverse
class CRUD(models.Model):
  name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
  age = models.IntegerField()
  level = models.CharField(max_length=30)
  date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
  #display the data with name
  def __str__(self):
      return self.name

admin.py

In this file, we register our model that has been created by importing it. By doing so, we can see it when logged in as an admin.

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import CRUD
admin.site.register(CRUD)

Create a file and name it forms.py.

The forms file is responsible for creating Django forms, which are like HTML forms, but dynamic.

forms.py

from django import forms
from .models import CRUD
class CRUDFORM(forms.ModelForm):
    name = forms.CharField(widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={
        "class": "form-control",
        "placeholder": "name"
    }))
    age= forms.CharField(widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={
        'type': "number",
        "class": "form-control",
        "placeholder": "age"
    }))
    
    level = forms.CharField(widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={
        "class": "form-control",
        "placeholder": "level"
    }))
    class Meta:
        model = CRUD
        fields = [
            'name', 'age','level'
        ]

views.py

This file is used to create functions or classes that visualize how a route will operate.

from django.shortcuts import redirect, render, get_object_or_404
from .models import CRUD
from .forms import CRUDFORM
def home(request):
    queryset = CRUD.objects.all().order_by('-date')
    context = {
        'queryset': queryset
    }
    return render(request, 'app/base.html', context)
def create(request):
    form = CRUDFORM(request.POST or None)
    if request.method == "POST":
        if form.is_valid():
            form.save()
            return redirect ('home')
    context = {
        "form":form
    }
    return render(request, 'app/createform.html', context)

In the codebase app, create a folder and name it templates. Inside the templates folder, create another folder and name it app. Inside the app folder, create ‘base.html’ and 'createform.html' files.

base.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Crud</title>
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta1/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-giJF6kkoqNQ00vy+HMDP7azOuL0xtbfIcaT9wjKHr8RbDVddVHyTfAAsrekwKmP1" crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>
<body>
    
    <div class="container mt-3">
      <!-- this code block is used to used to create a url link -->
      <a href="{% url 'create'%}" >link to create a form</a>
      <hr>
      <!-- this code bloack is used to loop the data in the database -->
      {% for data in queryset %}
      <div class="list-group mb-3">
        <a href="#" class="list-group-item list-group-item-action">Name: {{data.name}}</a>
        <a href="#" class="list-group-item list-group-item-action">Age: {{data.age}}</a>
        <a href="#" class="list-group-item list-group-item-action">Level: {{data.level}}</a>
      </div>
      {% endfor %}
      <hr>  
    </div>
</body>
</html>

createform.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Crud</title>
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta1/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-giJF6kkoqNQ00vy+HMDP7azOuL0xtbfIcaT9wjKHr8RbDVddVHyTfAAsrekwKmP1" crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>
<body>
    <div class="container mt-5">
        <form method="POST" action="">
           <!-- for csrf token -->
            {% csrf_token %}
            <div class="form-group mb-3">
                <!-- double curly braces is used to display data from the database -->
                {{form.name}}
                {{form.name}}
                {{form.name.errors}}
            </div>
            <div class="form-group mb-3">
                {{form.age}}
                {{form.age.errors}}
            </div>
            <div class="form-group mb-3">
                {{form.level}}
                {{form.level.errors}}
            </div>
            <input type="submit" class="btn btn-outline-success" >
            
        </form>
    </div>
</body>

In the crud folder, in the urls.py file, do this.

urls.py

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    # including the codebase urls.py file
    path('', include('codebase.urls'))
]

Then, in the codebase folder, create a file and name it urls.py.

This file is responsible for creating different routes.

urls.py

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

Then, run the following commands.

python manage.py makemigrations

python manage.py migrate

In case you want to create a super-user, run the following command:

python manage.py createsuperuser

After that, run:

python manage.py runserver

Then, go at http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin and login in order to access the admin panel, or http://127.0.0.1:8000/ to access the homepage.

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