New Project¶

All of the commands in both Django and DMP are run at the command line. On Linux/Mac, this is usually a bash terminal. On Windows, this is the command prompt (cmd), PowerShell (powershell), or Git Bash.

Open a terminal, and check that Python 3.4 or later is active:

python3 --version

python --version

If an older Python (such as 2.7) is reported, you likely need to do one of the following:

Install a newer version of Python
Activate a different virtual environment.

Install Django, Mako, and DMP¶

DMP works with Django 1.9+, although most testing today happens on Django 2.x.

Install Django, Mako, and DMP with the following:

pip3 install --upgrade django-mako-plus

pip install --upgrade django-mako-plus

Create a Django project¶

Create a Django project, and specify that you want a DMP-style project layout:

python3 -m django_mako_plus dmp_startproject mysite

python -m django_mako_plus dmp_startproject mysite

You can, of course, name your project anything you want, but in the sections below, I’ll assume you called your project mysite.

Then migrate to synchronize your database and create a superuser:

cd mysite
python3 manage.py migrate
python3 manage.py createsuperuser

cd mysite
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser

Create a DMP-Style App¶

Create a new Django-Mako-Plus app with the following:

python3 manage.py dmp_startapp homepage

python manage.py dmp_startapp homepage

After the new homepage app is created, open mysite/settings.py in your favorite editor and add to the INSTALLED_APPS list:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'homepage',
]

Congratulations. You’re ready to go!

Load it Up!¶

Start your web server with the following:

python3 manage.py runserver

python manage.py runserver

If you get a message about unapplied migrations, ignore it for now and continue.

Open your web browser to http://localhost:8000/. You should see a message welcoming you to the homepage app.

Once everything is working, skip ahead to the Tutorial.