E-Scribe News : a programmer’s blog

About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Book Project

I'm co-authoring a book, "Python Web Development with Django", with Jeff Forcier and Wesley Chun. It will be published by Prentice Hall in July 2008, but is available for pre-ordering on Amazon now.

Colophon

This site is built on a fresh trunk checkout of Django, running on Python 2.5.1, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive.

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A Django site.
(Finally!)

Copyright 2008
by Paul Bissex
and E-Scribe New Media

World's ugliest Django app

OK, this is an ugly hack. But also (possibly) cool if you're into ugly hacks.

I've written a small Python script that is a fully functional, self-contained, self-starting Django application. You don't need to put it on your PYTHONPATH or set DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE. You don't need a web server. It even creates some dummy content for you. I call it jngo.py -- it's somewhat compressed.

The only prerequisites are a Unix-like operating system (i.e. I couldn't tell you how to make it work on Windows), SQLite and a working install of Django trunk. It is fully "Works on My Machine" certified.

When you type python jngo.py, it runs the syncdb command to create a database in the working directory, then prompts you to create a superuser, then populates the database with some dummy content, then launches the built-in development server. When you go to the provided URL you'll see something like this:

jngo: don't try this at home

(Actually, you'll only see the "Edit this page" link if you log in, either to the admin site at /admin/ or into the login-protected "Top Secret" page.)

Features include:

All in a single file of under 60 lines of actual Python code (Though the lines containing the templates are a bit long).

The source is on dpaste.com if you're curious. You know you are.

Scary as it is, I think it's also a neat demo of all the stuff Django gives you for free. jngo.py uses, among other features, the syndication feed framework, the Flatpages application, the elusive comments framework, the user authentication features, and of course the glorious admin application .

Monday, January 21st, 2008
+ + +
9 comments

Some related posts: Pocket Django • Django Unicodification • Django.June wrapup • Django.June • Handling legacy URLs with Django • Django as superego • Moving the blog to Django • A minimal wiki in Django • Controller freaks • Python web framework mania
• Comment from Joshua Bloom, later that day

Nicely done. Crazy how quick you can get something running with Django and python at hand.

• Comment from Kent Johnson, later that day

I couldn't resist making a version that works with Django 0.96. It is slightly fewer lines because the call to createsuperuser() is not needed.

http://dpaste.com/hold/31953/

• Comment from stubblechin, later that day

I just read jngo.py...despicable, and yet...bravo!

• Comment from Andy Baker, later that day

Even for someone with as small an understanding of Django's innards as me - it's surprisingly readable. Apart from the templates!

• Comment from Andy, later that day

I couldn't tell you how to make it work on Windows

It works just fine without alteration on Windows.

• Comment from Paul, later that day

Thanks! I should have had more faith. I updated the post accordingly.

• Comment from Tane Piper, 1 day later

Hey, this looks pretty cool :) We're developing an app at the moment that would work well as a self-contained application and this might come in handy :)

• Comment from Myles Braithwaite, 1 day later

It is really nice to see that Django can be used like Ruby on Rails Camping and web.py.

• Comment from Sandro, 1 week later

It works on windows and mysql to have a look at http://dpaste.com/33699/

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