florasora.com - Website Django Project README

https://florasora.com

# To refresh the server after changing most files (HTML, CSS, JS)

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart gunicorn
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl restart nginx

Running the server on winenv Environment (Windows 10):

# settings.py - Use these settings:

DEBUG = True
ALLOWED_HOSTS = []

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
   os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
)

# To run the (winenv) on Windows Environment for Django:

& winenv/Scripts/Activate.ps1

Yes, the "&" is necessary.

# While in (winenv), run:

python manage.py runserver --insecure

Interestingly enough, because your windows environment and linux environment are separate (for python/django), your super-user in your linux environment is NOT the same as your super-user in your windows environment. This also means you will need to create superusers separately in both your winenv and linux env:

# Create a super user for BOTH python environments (1 - Linux, 2 - Windows):

python manage.py createsuperuser --username=cocothegorilla

Initial Setup for mySQL, Django, Ubuntu, etc...:

Setting up Django with Nginx, Postgres, and Gunicorn (on DigitalOcean):

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-django-with-postgres-nginx-and-gunicorn-on-ubuntu-16-04

Tips:

When you try to run gunicorn after adding the gunicorn.service file, but something goes wrong, it's probably because the directories you listed are wrong. Check all ...3? places where you list your own directory in the 'gunicorn.service' file. It is a very likely source of your problems. Also, don't forget to check for random added or deleted characters in the service file.

Protip : When fixing the gunicorn.service file, don't forget to run:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart gunicorn

And when you run:

sudo journalctl -u gunicorn

Don't forget to SCROLL to the bottom of the output, where all the latest output is. Otherwise, you are only READING OLD ERRORS. Don't waste time with that.

Get your custom domain to connect to your website:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-to-set-domain-name-django-nginx-ubuntu-16-04

Fixing Nginx Welcome Page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP3Wm9dtHSQ

Handling "www.(...)" Redirects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QYJUvrb7m8

lookup domain names on ICANN Lookup Tool:

https://lookup.icann.org/en

certbot for nginx servers on ubuntu machines:

https://certbot.eff.org/instructions?ws=nginx&os=ubuntufocal https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf

Adding images to the site

Even though they're [background images] and {% static %} is being super weird (and is throwing errors):

https://simpleit.rocks/python/django/call-static-templatetag-for-background-image-in-css/

Lesson learned: it's okay to throw errors.

Connecting to the mySQL database remotely and syncing it between two devices

This is the filepath for the mysql settings.

/etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4093603/how-do-i-find-out-my-mysql-url-host-port-and-username

TCP Forwarding on host (remote) server for TCP/IP connection: https://serverfault.com/questions/616696/lost-connection-to-mysql-server-at-reading-initial-communication-packet-syste

Digital Ocean specific: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-do-i-use-ssh-to-access-mysql-remotely

We need to take some steps to shut down mySQL so that we can edit the root password and access the default database.

# All-in One Package:
# includes Apache, phpMyAdmin, mySQL, etc...

https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html

https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/cpanel/kill-mysql-processes-phpmyadmin/

https://www.wikihow.com/Install-phpMyAdmin-on-Your-Windows-PC

Actual easy apache download windows 10:

https://www.apachelounge.com/download/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJnCEqeAsUk

PROTIP: Watch the installation directory and unzip process carefully. You unzip into your drive directory, not just anywhere!

install php (on windows 10, 2021) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWb_Wn2g5k

How To Secure MySQL Replication Using SSH on a VPS:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-secure-mysql-replication-using-ssh-on-a-vps

How to copy files via SSH :

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/106480/how-to-copy-files-from-one-machine-to-another-using-ssh

pymysql, mysqlclient, etc for Python mysql integration (help):

https://www.a2hosting.com/kb/developer-corner/mysql/connecting-to-mysql-using-python

Strict mode in phpMyAdmin for mySQL:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37964325/how-to-find-and-disable-mysql-strict-mode

Adding objects to django database in django shell (models):

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/intro/tutorial02/

Django admin area not showing models / database objects:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24813536/django-admin-not-showing-models/24814041

"Double-check that you've actually registered your models in admin.py"

from MyApp.models import MyModel
admin.site.register(MyModel)

Protip: it may need to be in the APP folder, not your PROJECT folder. I.E.:

"project/blog/admin.py" rather than "project/admin.py"

Display image files from a django model

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9498012/how-to-display-images-from-model-in-django/9498359

Best practices when working with Django models:

https://steelkiwi.com/blog/best-practices-working-django-models-python/

Displaying one django database object at a time:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31942843/displaying-one-django-database-object-on-a-page-at-a-time

nginx setup with media and static folders for django (serving media files on deployed live website with debug = false):

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20392741/nginx-errorlocation-directive-is-not-allowed-here-in-etc-nginx-nginx-conf76

upload_to error

newsfeed.Artwork.file: (fields.E202) ImageField's 'upload_to' argument must be a relative path, not an absolute path.
        HINT: Remove the leading slash.

# try 
upload_to = 'artworks/'
# because settings.MEDIA_ROOT is absolute. We want relative!

Variables in Django Templates Help:

Declaring variables:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34710043/how-to-declare-variables-inside-django-templates/34710719

Access Array Indices:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28872390/django-how-to-access-array-index-in-template-using-variable

Error Handling Try/Except in Django:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8524077/catching-exceptions-in-django-templates

"'xyz' tag is not a registered tag library":

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40686201/django-1-10-1-my-templatetag-is-not-a-registered-tag-library-must-be-one-of

"How about we skip all that and just use ZIP two combine the two dictionaries?"

https://groups.google.com/g/django-users/c/rucw6bKFdz8?pli=1

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-convert-two-lists-into-a-dictionary/

https://www.adamsmith.haus/python/answers/how-to-zip-two-lists-in-python

Customizing django's pre-made templates:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/forms/#customizing-the-form-template

Django email settings:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/ref/settings/#std-setting-EMAIL_TIMEOUT

gitignore documentation:

https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore

Displaying alert messages with Django:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkkBc_d7OXk

Appending to python dictionaries (for context return, for example):

https://www.guru99.com/python-dictionary-append.html

Python if, elif, endif, etc in Django:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39247352/how-to-check-if-elif-else-conditions-at-the-same-time-in-django-template

How to TEST (unit tests) django URLs:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18987051/how-do-i-unit-test-django-urls