Django Standalone Apps : Learn to Develop Reusable Django Libraries

Develop standalone Django apps to serve as the reusable building blocks for larger Django projects. This book explores best practices for publishing these apps, with special considerations for testing Django apps, and strategies for extracting existing functionality into a separate package. This jumpstart reference is divided into four distinct and sequential sections, all containing short, engaging chapters that can be read in a modular fashion, depending on your level of experience. The first section covers the structure and scope of standalone Django apps. The second section digs into questions about pulling code out of existing projects and into new standalone apps for reuse. The third section details additional, advanced technical best practices toward making standalone apps as broadly useful as possible. The fourth and final section covers strategies for managing a published Django app. Django Standalone Apps is the perfect resource for developers who have at least some prior experience working with Django web applications and want to simplify their deployments and share their knowledge as open source packages. What You'll Learn Scope a standalone Django app project for optimum usefulness Extract code from existing projects to reuse Test a standalone app outside of your Django project Reuse your own code for increased delivery cadence and code quality Review best practices for maintaining a Django app package Who This Book Is For Professional developers who work with Django. Deep expertise is not required or expected, but readers should have working familiarity with Django. Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Introduction Part I: Basic Components of a Django App Chapter 1: Defining the scope of a Django standalone app Benefits of creating standalone apps Sharing your work Improved code quality Don’t repeat yourself Commonality across a company Commonalities across client projects The currency of prestige With or without Django? Choosing your dependencies Necessary functionality Version compatibility Testing and documentation Maintenance cadence Specific vs. generalized Summary Chapter 2: Structuring standalone Django apps Django apps as Python modules What about middleware and URLs and views? Example app: currency Summary Chapter 3: Testing Why test? Testing apps from a Django project Testing the app Testing outside of a project Using a testing script Testing application relationships Where to include tests Testing without Django Summary Chapter 4: Model migrations Migrations outside of a project Testing migrations Additional migration guidelines Summary Chapter 5: Templates Three basic strategies What to include Email and miscellaneous templates Summary Chapter 6: Using static files Static files in standalone apps In the Django admin Summary Chapter 7: Namespacing in your app Namespaces at a glance App itself URLs Settings Management commands Template tags Models and database tables Chapter 8: Creating a basic package An example blog app A basic setup.py file Adding templates and static files Installing and using Summary Part II: Scoping and Extracting a Reusable App Chapter 9: Scoping and drawing boundaries Scoping and the nature of the problem The job of a standalone app The dimensions for creation and extraction Sizing the scope of an app When an app is too big When an app is too small Summary Chapter 10: Separating your app Getting started Refactor first Model renaming and migrations Allowing customization Backend classes Signals Finalization and removing from the project Summary Chapter 11: Adding your app back in Verifying locally Source control–based packages Published packaged Summary Part III: Beyond the Basics Chapter 12: Handling app settings Settings naming Settings formats Sourcing app settings Summary Chapter 13: Internationalization Why translation Translatable strings and how translation works Prioritizing translation steps Model content and translations Summary Chapter 14: Managing version compatibility Python version Django and dependencies Solving for incompatibilities Future proofing Summary Chapter 15: Mixed dependency support Beyond Django The nuts and bolts Real-world examples Summary Chapter 16: Modularity Additional standalone apps Using sub-apps Embracing horizontal modularity Summary Chapter 17: Better packaging Version consolidation Using a source directory Using setup.cfg The pyproject.toml and more tooling Summary Part IV: Managing Your Standalone App Chapter 18: Licensing What licenses do Varieties of licenses How and where to include your license How to include other licenses Summary Chapter 19: Documenting your standalone app Starting with questions The forms of documentation Code comments and docstrings Tools for documentation Summary Chapter 20: Additional Testing Testing migrations Testing against different versions Using pytest Summary Chapter 21: Automating What is it and why bother? Starting to automate Continuous integration services Travis CI GitHub GitLab CircleCI Others Summary Chapter 22: Databases and other backend-specific considerations Backend-specific implementation and features Approaching database-specific functionality Summary Chapter 23: Collaborating Why contributions What to expect Setting expectations The role and obligations of an open source maintainer Summary Chapter 24: Using app templates startapp Cookiecutter Summary Index Develop standalone Django apps to serve as the reusable building blocks for larger Django projects. This book explores best practices for publishing these apps, with special considerations for testing Django apps, and strategies for extracting existing functionality into a separate package. This jumpstart reference is divided into four distinct and sequential sections, all containing short, engaging chapters that can be read in a modular fashion, depending on your level of experience. The first section covers the structure and scope of standalone Django apps. The second section digs into questions about pulling code out of existing projects and into new standalone apps for reuse. The third section details additional, advanced technical best practices toward making standalone apps as broadly useful as possible. The fourth and final section covers strategies for managing a published Django app. Django Standalone Apps is the perfect resource for developers who have at least some prior experience working with Django web applications and want to simplify their deployments and share their knowledge as open source packages. You will: Scope a standalone Django app project for optimum usefulness Extract code from existing projects to reuse Test a standalone app outside of your Django project Reuse your own code for increased delivery cadence and code quality Review best practices for maintaining a Django app package