Django follows the MVT (Model-View-Template) architectural pattern, which is a variation of the traditional MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern used in web development.
This pattern separates the application into three main components:
1. Model
Model acts as the data layer of an application. It defines the structure of the database and handles data-related logic.
- Models typically represent database tables.
- Responsible for querying, inserting, updating, and deleting data.
- Usually backed by relational databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite.
2. View
View contains the business logic of the application. It processes incoming user requests and prepares the data that needs to be displayed.
- Interacts with models to retrieve or update data.
- Passes the prepared data to templates for rendering.
- Implemented as Python functions or class-based views that return HTTP responses.
3. Template
Template is responsible for presenting data to the user. It combines static content with dynamic data using template syntax.
- Contains HTML files for defining the structure of user interface.
- Uses Django Template Language (DTL) to insert dynamic data.
- Displays data passed from views in a structured format.
Project Structure
Consider a Django project named 'geeks' containing default files like manage.py, urls.py, etc. Inside the project folder, the following major files are included:
Explanation of Key Files and Folders
1. manage.py: A command-line tool to interact with the project. Used for starting the server, running migrations, creating apps, and other project management tasks. To view all available commands:
python manage.py help
2. Project Folder (geeks/geeks): This folder contains all project packages and main configuration files. Initially, it contains five files:
- __init__.py: Marks a directory as a Python package and can execute package-level initialization code.
- asgi.py: Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface (ASGI) acts as the entry point for asynchronous web servers, enabling tasks like WebSockets and real-time updates through servers such as Daphne or Uvicorn.
- settings.py: Contains all configuration settings for the project, including installed apps, middleware, databases, templates, static files, and security options that define the project’s behavior and environment.
- urls.py: Defines the URL routing configuration for the project, mapping URL patterns to corresponding views or other URL files to direct incoming requests to the appropriate part of the application.
- wsgi.py: Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) file helps Django application to communicate with a web server when deploying the project. It acts as a bridge between Django and the server.
