I want to develop a desktop application using python with basic crud operation. Is there any library in python that can generate a code for CRUD functionality and user interface given a database table.
Hopefully, this won't be the best option you end up with, but, in the tradition of using web-interfaces for desktop applications, you could always try django. I would particularLY take a look at the inspectdb command, which will generate the ORM code for you.
The advantage is that it won't require that much code to get off the ground, and if you just want to use it from the desktop, you don't need a webserver; you can use the provided test server. The bundled admin site is easy to get off the ground, and flexible up to a point; past which people seem to invest a lot of time battling it (probably a testimony to how helpful it is at first).
There are many disadvantages, not the least of which is the possibility of having to use html/javascript/css when you want to start customizing a lot.
If it were me, I would consider borrowing django's ORM, but then again, I'm already familiar with it.
Having said that, I like working with it, it's usable outside the framework, and it will give you mysql, postgres, or sqlite support. You could also hook up the django admin site to your models and have a web-based editor.
There are surely other ORMs and code generators out there too (I hope some python gurus will point some out, I'm kind of curious).
If you want something really small and simple, I like the Autumn ORM.
If you use the Django ORM, you can use the automatically-generated Django admin interface, which is really nice. It's basically a web-based GUI for browsing and editing records in your database.
If you think you will need advanced SQL features, SQLAlchemy is a good way to go. I suspect for a desktop application, Django or Autumn would be better.
There are other Python ORMs, such as Storm. Do a Google search on "python ORM". See also the discussion on this web site: What are some good Python ORM solutions?
Related
I have developed Multi-tenant SAAS apps in PHP/Laravel but recently I had a challenge to develop one in Django/Python. I am still learning Django though and I really like Django rest framework (DRF). But I have difficulties to figure out the highlighted areas below, If someone shows some light, I will be good to go:
How to handle subdomains/domains and selecting the right tenant db
How to manage and dynamically handle different database in django
Can multi-tenant apps backend still be managed from Django admin interface
I will be using queues and other apps scalling techniques, need tips and tricks if any
Any example out there
Any challenge experience when developing SAAS through Django
Well...
django-subdomains
There are people who asked in SO questions about dynamic databases in django (including, ahem... me). I'm not entirely sure I understood what you mean by "dynamically handle different database" so I guess just go to the links I just mentioned and pick out the best one for your project. (also - perhaps this is more relevant?)
Check out django-multitenant-schemas and this answer too.
There was a video of the guys behind Disqus (one of the largest django app in the world) explaining how they handle scaling. Here another interesting article on the subject. Also, the legendary SO question Does Django Scale.
(and 6.) Check out this answer
I hope that's detailed enough. I know this might be a disappointing only-links answer, but this is the reality of it - Django is a newer framework, and web development with python is still less common than php. With that in mind, understand that for all the awesomness of django (and it is awesome), with more complex needs there's more you'll have to do yourself.
In this case, you'll have to figure out how to do each part of the way seperatly and then combine it all. You can easily find a way to create a REST django app for example, but then you'll need to figure out how to combine it with another package (such as the above subdomains).
You can find a million examples out there of people doing freaky things with django. It's really powerful (when I learned about dynamic models I was blown away). But the more complex your app, the more you'll need to do yourself.
Pick it up, one step at a time, and come back to SO with specific issues you're having (or the django users google group). Good luck!
The site won't be that complicated and will resemble a modern blog (users, messages, news and other similar features).
Do I need to use a framework for this, and if so, which is best?
Pyramid, Django?
You certainly don't need a webframework to create a simple website. Given that you're new to python and interested in building a python website, I imagine this implies: you're interested in learning python. If you're exclusively interested in learning django-python, there's no reason you can't jump in to django, as Ronak said, of course. He's right. It has a lot of documentation. But it will make for somewhat of an odd intro to python.
If I were in your shoes, I'd either start making some offline programs first, or consider an ultra-lightweight framework. Many would advocate web2py or pyramid for ultralightweight. I might consider going even lighter. Something like Bottle, where you're more or less just pairing functions with urls. This way you can at least do a bit of hacking/trial-and-error, instead of launching right into django.
It's not that django doesn't use python-- it will tell you many times that it is in fact 'just python.' But it's adapted at its core to be used in a large business setting (the chicago something or other online, i think). So it enforces various rules that are helpful in managing many different employees working on a project together. You may or may not wish for this kind of 'help.' It also means the scale of projects is assumed to be large and the time-horizon, limitless. If you want to see how a python dictionary works, you may not want to spend a long time configuring settings and creating the pseudo-static-typing you need for your database, and so on, just to execute your project and see a result.
I realize I will automatically get downvoted for this, but I believe it to be sound advice.
It depends on what kind of website you are planning to come up with. If the website is going to be just a set of static HTML files, then you don't really need a framework. But if your website will have lots of dynamic content that will get updated on regular basis, you should go with some framework. That will make your life maintaining the website much more simpler.
Django is the most popular framework written in Python. It has very good documentation and a strong community base too.
Go with Django - 10,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong.
Or roll your own from scratch. You'll learn a lot, know everything about how you site works, and better appreciate what a framework does for you.
As RonakG first pointed, it all depends on the kind of website you intend to have up and running. Actually, your question is too general for a single, definitive answer. There are more aspects to consider other than just being in python. For example, deadlines. This means considering the learning curve to achieve your results. If you don't have much time, a steep learning curve (time to learn it in order to develop it) is certainly something you will want to avoid. Perhaps you already develop in other languages, and need integration and/or migration support, need scalability, reusability, etc, etc, etc.
Another thing that is not so clear in your question is what you mean by "The site won't be that complicated and will resemble a modern blog (users, messages, news and other similar features)". If it really resembles just a modern blog, with users, messages and news, you could google for CMS (Content Management Systems). There are many options available, that could make you have your site up and running in almost no-time. All you'll have to learn is how to customize whatever it has to as to comply to your needs.
That said, if you prefer python, there are some good CMSs available which you can develop your site fast, like Plone. And if you prefer Django, there's Django CMS and there's the excellent Pinax project, which takes the django code reusability to deliver you sample fully customizable, complete websites.
I got a project in mind that makes it worth to finally take the plunge into programming.
After reading a lot of stuff, here and elsewhere, I'm set on making Python the one I learn for now, over C# or java. What convinced me the most was actually Paul Graham's excursions on programming languages and Lisp, though Arc is in the experimental stage, which wouldn't help me do this web app right now.
As for web app fast, I've checked out Django, Turbo Gears and Py2Web. In spite of spending a lot of time reading, I still have no clue which one I should use.
1) Django certainly has the nicest online presence, and a nicely done onsite tutorial, they sure know how to show off their thing.
2) Web2Py attracted me with its no-install-needed and the claim of making Django look complicated. But when you dig around on their website, you quickly find content that hasn't been updated in years with broken external links... There's ghosts on that website that make someone not intimately familiar with the project worry if it might be flatlining.
3) Turbo Gears ...I guess its modular too. People who wrote about it loved it... I couldn't find anything specific that might make it special over Django.
I haven't decided on an IDE yet, though I read all the answers to the Intellisense code completion post here. Showing extra code snippets would be cool too for noobs like me, but I suppose I should choose my web frame work first and then pick an editor that will work well with it.
Since probably no framework is hands down the best at everything, I will give some specifics on the app I want to build:
It will use MySQL, it needs register/sign-in, and there will be a load of simple math operations on data from input and SQL queries. I've completed a functional prototype in Excel, so I know exactly what I want to build, which I hope will help me overcome my noobness. I'll be a small app, nothing big.
And I don't want to see any HTML while building it ;-)
PS: thanks to the people running Stackoverflow, found this place just at the right moment too!
You should look at the web2py online documentation (http://web2py.com/book). It comes with a Role Based Access Control (the most general access control mechanism) and it is very granular, you can grant access for specific operation on specific records. It comes with a web based IDE but you can use WingIDE, Eclipse and PyCharm too. It comes with helper system that allows you to generate HTML without using HTML. Here is an example of a complete app that requires users to register/login/post messages:
db.define_table('message',Field('body'),Field('author',db.auth_user))
#auth.requires_login()
def index():
db.message.author.default=auth.user.id
db.message.author.writable=False
return dict(form=crud.create(db.message),
messages=db(db.message.id>0).select())
The web2py project is very active as you can see from the list of changes http://code.google.com/p/web2py/source/list
If you have web2py related questions I strongly suggest you join the web2py mailing list:
http://groups.google.com/group/web2py/topics
We are very active and your questions will be answered very quickly.
I have to say as not particularly skilled developer, the speed at which I have been able to create using web2py has blown my mind. In large part due to the amazing community and the core value Massimo has of making the framework accessible.
When I started I had written 0 lines of code in Python
Never heard of web2py
I've been at it seriously for about a month and have progressed (in my usual fashion) from asking questions that no one could answer (because they didn't make any sense) to coding for hours at a time without picking up a book or asking a question.
I'm really impressed.
I've had positive experiences with Django.
Built-In Authentication and easy to use extensions for registration
Very good documentation
You probable write your HTML templates mostly in base.html, then just use template inheritance (Note: You'll need to write at least a little bit of HTML)
In contrast to Turbogears, Django is more 'out-of-the-box'
I don't have any experience with web2py, but from my impression, it tries to do a little to much 'out-of-the-box'
If you decide to go with Django, make sure that you use its Generic Views. They will save you from writing lots of code, both Python and HTML.
Also, unless there is a very specific reason for you to use MySQL, I advise you to switch to PostgreSQL. Django is much more oriented towards PostgreSQL and it's a much better database anyway.
The online Django documentation is great, this is what put it apart from all the other frameworks. I also recommend the book Practical Django Projects by James Bennett
Django: Heard it has the best administrative
interface. But uses it's own ORM, i.e. doesn't use SQL-Alchemy.
Web2py: Didn't research this.
Turbogears2:
Uses SQL-Alchemy by default, uses Catwalk for admin
interface, but documentation isn't as
great.
I chose Turbogears2 because it uses popular components, so I didn't have to learn anything new...
I've used both web2py and RoR extensively, and while RoR has gotten a lot of popularity and support in the past few years, web2py is simpler, cleaner, less "magical", and yet also offers more (useful) out-of-the-box functionality. I'd say that web2py has more potential than RoR, but it is a relatively new framework and does yet not have the maturity of RoR. (Despite that, though, I'd choose web2py over RoR any day...)
If you "don't want to see any HTML while building it" then you can forget Django. It is not focused on "point-click-done," it is focused on pros going from concept to production in the shortest time possible. The hierarchical nature of the templating language can lead to some very clean overall site layouts. I use Django for all of my larger sites and I love it.
Although it's written in PHP, not Python, you might take a look at the major new version of WordPress that came out about 2 or 3 months ago. In 3.0 they have come a long way from being a "blogs only" environment and there are tons of ready-made templates for it. Of course if you want to tweak a template, well, there's that nasty old HTML again. I am considering using it for my smaller clients that can't deal with the admin of a dedicated server, etc., that tends to come with a Django site.
Update:
Ah, I missed the semi-joke -- I was up too early and that tends to make me tone deaf to humor. As far as using templates from existing sites, I have done this quite successfully with a couple of sites, both those that were static and those originally driven by well-written PHP scripts. I recommend a careful reading of the {% extends %} and {% include %} docs. Both take either a string literal or a variable. I have used the later method and it can be quite useful for a site that has strong hierarchy distinguished by style changes across branches.
It is also worth the time to understand the search order for templates -- it can be used to good effect, but it can be puzzling if you don't grok it. See the template-related items in the settings.py file for this and other useful goodies.
Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.
Closed 1 year ago.
Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
I have been using Turbogears 1 for prototyping small sites for the last couple of years and it is getting a little long in the tooth. Any suggestions on making the call between upgrading to Turbogears 2 or switching to something like Django? I'm torn between the familiarity of the TG community who are pretty responsive and do pretty good documentation vs the far larger community using Django. I am quite tempted by the built-in CMS features and the Google AppEngine support.
Any advice?
TG2 is built on top of Pylons which has a fairly large community as well. TG got faster compared to TG1 and it includes a per-method (not just web pages) caching engine.
I think it's more AJAX-friendly than Django by the way pages can be easly published in HTML or JSON .
2011 update: after 3 years of bloated frameworks I'm an happy user of http://bottlepy.org/
I have experience with both Django and TG1.1.
IMO, TurboGears strong point is it's ORM: SQLAlchemy. I prefer TurboGears when the database side of things is non-trivial.
Django's ORM is just not that flexible and powerful.
That being said, I prefer Django. If the database schema is a good fit with Django's ORM I would go with Django.
In my experience, it is simply less hassle to use Django compared with TurboGears.
I have been using Django for a year now and when I started I had no experience of Python or Django and found it very intuitive to use.
I have created a number of hobbyist Google App Engine apps using Django with the latest one being a CMS for my site. Using Django has meant that I have been able to code a lot quicker and with a lot less bugs.
Am sure you would have read from plenty of comparison between TurboGears and DJango on web.
But as for your temptation on CMS and GAE, i can really think you got to go DJango way.
Check these out, and decide youself.
Django with GAE
Django for CMS
Ive only got one question...is the app you are developing directed towards social networking
or customized business logic?
I personally find Django is good for social networking and pylons/turbogears if you really
want the flexibility and no boundaries...
just my 2c
TG2 seem much complicated and confusing, even for doing somewhat simple like a login page with multimple error messages
How to extend the Turbogears 2.1 login functionality
I think thats because of intemperance in modularity...
Django ORM uses the active record implementation – you’ll see this implementation in most ORMs. Basically what it means is that each row in the database is directly mapped to an object in the code and vice versa. ORM frameworks such as Django won’t require predefining the schema to use the properties in the code. You just use them, as the framework can ‘understand’ the structure by looking at the database schema. Also, you can just save the record to the database, as it’s mapped to a specific row in the table.
SQLAlchemy uses the Data Mapper implementation – When using this kind of implementation, there is a separation between the database structure and the objects structure (they are not 1:1 as in the Active Record implementation). In most cases, you’ll have to use another persistence layer to keep interact with the database (for example, to save the object). So you can’t just call the save() method as you can when using the Active Record implementation (which is a con) but on the other hand, you code doesn’t have to know the entire relational structure in the database to function, as there is no direct relationship between the code and the database.
So which of them wins this battle? None. It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s my believe that if your application is a mostly a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) application which no hard and complex rules to apply on the relationships between the different data entities, you should use the Active Record implementation (Django). It will allow you to easily and quickly set up an MVP for your product, without any hassle. If you have a lot of “business rules” and restrictions in your applications, you might be better with the Data Mapper model, as it won’t tie you up and force you to think strictly as Active Record does.
I understand that there are big differences in data-store, but surely since django is bundled and it abstracts data-store away from Satchmo, something can be done?
Truth is that I am not a Python guy, been mostly Java/PHP thus far, but I am willing to learn.
Plus, if this is not possible today, lets band together and form a new Open Source project to "extend" satchmo or perhaps branch it, for compatibility?
Possible if:
Someone writes a generic ORM to Bigtable mapper. Most probably, Appengine Patch Guys
Someone rewrites the views and models of Satchmo to remove existing ORM queries and use the minimal functionality of the ORM provided by the patch project, should be either you or the Satchmo guys.
Someone hacks around a lot using the django helper project, can only be helper project guys.
You can't. There are alot of dependencies in Satchmo that you aren't allowed to install on AppEngine.
See this thread as well: http://groups.google.com/group/satchmo-users/browse_thread/thread/509265ccd5f5fc1e?pli=1
Nothing is impossible - this will just require lots of effort - if there will be somebody wishing to do so - why not? But it might be easier (cheaper) to get Django friendly hosting instead of spending hours on hacking the code.