Django Quick Setup Guide with GitLab and Heroku

Ignatius Bagussuputra #tutorial#coding#django#heroku#gitlab

Create Django app and automatically build and deploy to Heroku

Article Index
Outline & FocusPART A • GitLab and HerokuPART B • Python Virtual EnvironmentPART C • Django Project

Heroku is a cloud platform for a developer to deploy their apps and express their idea and design straight to URL. It offers multiple plans, but usually the free tier is more than enough for experimenting or personal use.

Outline & Focus

  • Create a virtual environment in Python
  • Start a Django project
  • Create a Django app and add it to your project
  • Deploy your Django app to Heroku

PART A • GitLab and Heroku

  1. create a new git repository and new heroku app

  2. go to your GitLab repository CI/CD settings and add these to your variables

    Variable Value
    HEROKU_APIKEY [your_apikey]
    HEROKU_APPNAME [your_appname]
    HEROKU_APP_HOST [your_webapp]

  3. initialize git in your project root directory

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    git init

  4. set remote origin to your GitLab repository

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    git remote add origin https://gitlab.com/username/git-repo-name.git

  5. set remote heroku to your Heroku app

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    heroku git:remote -a heroku-appname

  6. configure your .gitlab-ci.yml to activate GitLab pipelines

  7. create a deployment.sh file

    	
    deployment.sh
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    #!/bin/bash
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

  8. create Procfile to specify executed commands by Heroku app

    	
    Procfile
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    migrate: bash deployment.sh
web: gunicorn your_project_name.wsgi

    Note - Procfile without an extension, is an essential file for your Heroku app and must be placed in the app’s root directory to explicitly declare a process type from a variety you can choose from. For more information, visit Heroku’s article about Procfile

  9. get your .gitignore file before you commit anything

PART B • Python Virtual Environment

We use Virtual Environment to avoid filling our base Python installation with a bunch of libraries we might use for only one project. Some projects might need different versions of the same libraries too, you couldn’t possibly install every version of each dependencies, remember what they’re for, and hope to always avoid conflicts, right?

Another reason to use this is so that other people could recreate the exact environment for your project if you’re going to share it, look for bugs, and all sorts of stuff.

  1. Install Python (I recommend Python3)

  2. If you’ve installed Python before, make sure you add it to your PATH

  3. Install virtualenv using pip

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    pip install virtualenv

  4. Install virtualenv using pip

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    pip install virtualenvwrapper-win

  5. create the your virtual environment

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    mkvirtualenv your-env-name

    Note - To activate your env, use workon your-env-name. To see your envs, use workon

  6. Create a text file called requirements and copy all dependencies in the code block below

    	
    requirements.txt
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    astroid==2.0.4
autopep8==1.4.2
certifi==2018.8.24
chardet==3.0.4
colorama==0.3.9
coverage==4.4.1
dj-database-url==0.4.2
Django==2.1.1
django-environ==0.4.4
gunicorn==19.7.1
idna==2.6
isort==4.2.15
lazy-object-proxy==1.3.1
mccabe==0.6.1
mock==2.0.0
pbr==5.1.1
psycopg2==2.7.5
pycodestyle==2.4.0
pylint==2.1.1
pytz==2017.2
requests==2.18.4
six==1.10.0
typed-ast==1.1.0
urllib3==1.22
whitenoise==3.3.0
wrapt==1.10.11

  7. Make sure you’re working in your virtualenv and install the dependencies from requirements.txt

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    pip install -r requirements.txt

    Tip - If you get an error saying, for example psycopg2 can’t be installed, remove it from the text file, install from the text file again, and install psycopg2 manually with pip install psycopg2 and then run pip freeze > requirements.txt to update the requirements.txt

PART C • Django Project

  1. create new project using command

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    django-admin startproject your_project_name

  2. create new app using command inside your project directory

    	
    
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    django-admin startapp your_app_name

  3. Add and modify these lines in your project’s settings file

    	
    project/settings.py
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    import os
import dj_database_url

# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
PRODUCTION = os.environ.get('DATABASE_URL') is not None

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'your_app_name',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    ...
    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
]

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]
    • 2 & 8 → for Production in Heroku
    • 12 → registering your app to the project
    • 17 → to use the WhiteNoiseMiddleware
    • 23 → to set the global template in your root directory
    	
    project/settings.py#92
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    # If Using Heroku Environment, then Use Database Setting on Heroku
if PRODUCTION:
    DATABASES['default'] = dj_database_url.config()
    • Set Database to Heroku’s
    	
    project/settings.py#130
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)

# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/howto/static-files/

STATICFILES_DIRS = [
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'assets')
]

STATIC_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
    • 130 → Add the project root directory
    • 135-137 → Set your static files such as CSS, JS, and images inside the assets directory

  4. Add the path to your app in your project’s urls file

    	
    project/urls.py
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('', include('app_name.urls')),
    ...
]
    • 2 → Import include and path for urlpatterns
    • 6 → Direct path to include your app’s urls file, which you’re going to make

    Note - We are trying to build a scalable website and that is why we’re giving the url to our app’s urls file. If we instead give the paths to all of our templates into the main url file, it would get crowded quickly and become hard to maintain

  5. modify these files in your apps

    	
    project/urls.py
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    from django.urls import path
from .views import *

urlpatterns = [
    path('', home, name='home'),
]
    

    	
    project/views.py
		
    
			
			
		
    
	
    

	
    from django.shortcuts import render

def called_name(request):
    return render(request, 'your_template.html')

  6. create a templates directory inside your app directory and fill it with your html files

See something to improve or fix? In the spirit of open-source, you can create a new issue or contribute directly to this article by sending a Pull Request on GitHub!