In this tutorial, we will learn how to build a full stack Django + Angular 12 example with a CRUD App. The backend server uses Python 3/Django with Rest Framework for REST APIs. Frontend side is made with Angular 12, HTTPClient & Router.
Other versions:
– using Angular 8
– using Angular 10
– using Angular 11
– using Angular 13
Contents
- Django + Angular 12 example Overview
- Architecture of Django Angular 12 Tutorial Application
- Django Rest Apis Back-end
- Overview
- Technology
- Project Structure
- Install Django REST framework
- Setup new Django project
- Setup Database engine
- Setup new Django app for Rest CRUD Api
- Configure CORS
- Define the Django Model
- Migrate Data Model to the database
- Create Serializer class for Data Model
- Define Routes to Views functions
- Write API Views
- Run the Django Rest Api Server
- Angular 12 Frontend
- Further Reading
- Conclusion
Django + Angular 12 example Overview
We will build a full-stack Django and Angular 12 Tutorial Application in that:
- Each Tutorial has id, title, description, published status.
- We can create, retrieve, update, delete Tutorials.
- We can also find Tutorials by title.
The images below shows screenshots of our System.
– Create a Tutorial:
– Retrieve all Tutorials:
– Click on Edit button to view an item details:
On this Page, you can:
- change status to Published using Publish button
- remove the Tutorial from Database using Delete button
- update the Tutorial details on Database with Update button
If you want to implement Form Validation, please visit:
Angular 12 Form Validation example (Reactive Forms)
– Search items by title:
Architecture of Django Angular 12 Tutorial Application
This is the application architecture we’re gonna build:
– Django exports REST Apis using Django Rest Framework & interacts with Database using Django Model.
– Angular 12 Client sends HTTP Requests and retrieve HTTP Responses using HttpClient Module, shows data on the components. We also use Angular Router for navigating to pages.
Django Rest Apis Back-end
Overview
These are APIs that Django App will export:
Methods | Urls | Actions |
---|---|---|
POST | /api/tutorials | create new Tutorial |
GET | /api/tutorials | retrieve all Tutorials |
GET | /api/tutorials/:id | retrieve a Tutorial by :id |
PUT | /api/tutorials/:id | update a Tutorial by :id |
DELETE | /api/tutorials/:id | delete a Tutorial by :id |
DELETE | /api/tutorials | delete all Tutorials |
GET | /api/tutorials?title=[keyword] | find all Tutorials which title contains keyword |
Technology
- Python 3.7
- Django 2.1.15
- Django Rest Framework 3.11.0
- PyMySQL 0.9.3 (MySQL) / psycopg2 2.8.5 (PostgreSQL) / djongo 1.3.1 (MongoDB)
- django-cors-headers 3.2.1
Project Structure
This is our Django project structure:
– tutorials/apps.py: declares TutorialsConfig
class (subclass of django.apps.AppConfig
) that represents Rest CRUD Apis app and its configuration.
– bzkRestApis/settings.py: contains settings for our Django project: Database engine, INSTALLED_APPS
list with Django REST framework, Tutorials Application, CORS and MIDDLEWARE
.
– tutorials/models.py: defines Tutorial data model class (subclass of django.db.models.Model
).
– migrations/0001_initial.py: is created when we make migrations for the data model, and will be used for generating database table/collection.
– tutorials/serializers.py: manages serialization and deserialization with TutorialSerializer
class (subclass of rest_framework.serializers.ModelSerializer
).
– tutorials/views.py: contains functions to process HTTP requests and produce HTTP responses (using TutorialSerializer
).
– tutorials/urls.py: defines URL patterns along with request functions in the Views.
– bzkRestApis/urls.py: also has URL patterns that includes tutorials.urls
, it is the root URL configurations.
Install Django REST framework
Django REST framework helps us to build RESTful Web Services flexibly.
To install this package, run command:
pip install djangorestframework
Setup new Django project
Let’s create a new Django project with command:
django-admin startproject bzkRestApis
When the process is done, you can see folder tree like this:
Now we open settings.py and add Django REST framework to the INSTALLED_APPS
array here.
INSTALLED_APPS = [
...
# Django REST framework
'rest_framework',
]
Setup Database engine
Open settings.py and change declaration of DATABASES
:
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': ...,
'NAME': '...',
'USER': 'root',
'PASSWORD': '123456',
'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
'PORT': ...,
}
}
For more details about specific parameters corresponding to a database, please visit one of the posts:
- Django CRUD with MySQL example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with PostgreSQL example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with MongoDB example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with Sqlite example | Django Rest Framework
Setup new Django app for Rest CRUD Api
Run following commands to create new Django app tutorials:
cd bzkRestApis
python manage.py startapp tutorials
Refresh the project directory tree, you can see it now looks like:
Now open tutorials/apps.py, you can see TutorialsConfig
class (subclass of django.apps.AppConfig
).
This represents the Django app that we’ve just created with its configuration:
from django.apps import AppConfig
class TutorialsConfig(AppConfig):
name = 'tutorials'
Don’t forget to add this app to INSTALLED_APPS
array in settings.py:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
...
# Tutorials application
'tutorials.apps.TutorialsConfig',
]
Configure CORS
We need to allow requests to our Django application from other origins.
In this example, we’re gonna configure CORS to accept requests from localhost:8081
.
First, install the django-cors-headers library:
pip install django-cors-headers
In settings.py, add configuration for CORS:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
...
# CORS
'corsheaders',
]
You also need to add a middleware class to listen in on responses:
MIDDLEWARE = [
...
# CORS
'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
]
Note: CorsMiddleware
should be placed as high as possible, especially before any middleware that can generate responses such as CommonMiddleware
.
Next, set CORS_ORIGIN_ALLOW_ALL and add the host to CORS_ORIGIN_WHITELIST:
CORS_ORIGIN_ALLOW_ALL = False
CORS_ORIGIN_WHITELIST = (
'http://localhost:8081',
)
- CORS_ORIGIN_ALLOW_ALL: If
True
, all origins will be accepted (not use the whitelist below). Defaults toFalse
. - CORS_ORIGIN_WHITELIST: List of origins that are authorized to make cross-site HTTP requests. Defaults to
[]
.
Define the Django Model
Open tutorials/models.py, add Tutorial
class as subclass of django.db.models.Model
.
There are 3 fields: title, description, published.
from django.db import models
class Tutorial(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=70, blank=False, default='')
description = models.CharField(max_length=200,blank=False, default='')
published = models.BooleanField(default=False)
Each field is specified as a class attribute, and each attribute maps to a database column.
id field is added automatically.
Migrate Data Model to the database
Run the Python script: python manage.py makemigrations tutorials
.
The console will show:
Migrations for 'tutorials':
tutorials\migrations\0001_initial.py
- Create model Tutorial
Refresh the workspace, you can see new file tutorials/migrations/0001_initial.py.
It includes code to create Tutorial
data model:
# Generated by Django 2.1.15
from django.db import migrations, models
class Migration(migrations.Migration):
initial = True
dependencies = [
]
operations = [
migrations.CreateModel(
name='Tutorial',
fields=[
('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
('title', models.CharField(default='', max_length=70)),
('description', models.CharField(default='', max_length=200)),
('published', models.BooleanField(default=False)),
],
),
]
The generated code defines Migration
class (subclass of the django.db.migrations.Migration
).
It has operations array that contains operation for creating Tutorial model table: migrations.CreateModel()
.
The call to this will create a new model in the project history and a corresponding table in the database to match it.
To apply the generated migration above, run the following Python script:
python manage.py migrate tutorials
The console will show:
Operations to perform:
Apply all migrations: tutorials
Running migrations:
Applying tutorials.0001_initial... OK
At this time, you can see that a table/collection for Tutorial
model was generated automatically with the name: tutorials_tutorial in the database.
Create Serializer class for Data Model
Let’s create TutorialSerializer
class that will manage serialization and deserialization from JSON.
It inherit from rest_framework.serializers.ModelSerializer
superclass which automatically populates a set of fields
and default validators
. We need to specify the model class here.
tutorials/serializers.py
from rest_framework import serializers
from tutorials.models import Tutorial
class TutorialSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Tutorial
fields = ('id',
'title',
'description',
'published')
In the inner class Meta
, we declare 2 attributes:
model
: the model for Serializerfields
: a tuple of field names to be included in the serialization
Define Routes to Views functions
When a client sends request for an endpoint using HTTP request (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), we need to determine how the server will response by defining the routes.
These are our routes:
/api/tutorials
: GET, POST, DELETE/api/tutorials/:id
: GET, PUT, DELETE/api/tutorials/published
: GET
Create a urls.py inside tutorials app with urlpatterns
containing url
s to be matched with request functions in the views.py:
from django.conf.urls import url
from tutorials import views
urlpatterns = [
url(r'^api/tutorials$', views.tutorial_list),
url(r'^api/tutorials/(?P<pk>[0-9]+)$', views.tutorial_detail),
url(r'^api/tutorials/published$', views.tutorial_list_published)
]
Don’t forget to include this URL patterns in root URL configurations.
Open bzkRestApis/urls.py and modify the content with the following code:
from django.conf.urls import url, include
urlpatterns = [
url(r'^', include('tutorials.urls')),
]
Write API Views
We’re gonna create these API functions for CRUD Operations:
– tutorial_list()
: GET list of tutorials, POST a new tutorial, DELETE all tutorials
– tutorial_detail()
: GET / PUT / DELETE tutorial by ‘id’
– tutorial_list_published()
: GET all published tutorials
Open tutorials/views.py and write following code:
from django.shortcuts import render
...
@api_view(['GET', 'POST', 'DELETE'])
def tutorial_list(request):
# GET list of tutorials, POST a new tutorial, DELETE all tutorials
@api_view(['GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE'])
def tutorial_detail(request, pk):
# find tutorial by pk (id)
try:
tutorial = Tutorial.objects.get(pk=pk)
except Tutorial.DoesNotExist:
return JsonResponse({'message': 'The tutorial does not exist'}, status=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND)
# GET / PUT / DELETE tutorial
@api_view(['GET'])
def tutorial_list_published(request):
# GET all published tutorials
You can continue with step by step to implement this Django Server in one of the posts:
- Django CRUD with MySQL example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with PostgreSQL example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with MongoDB example | Django Rest Framework
- Django CRUD with Sqlite example | Django Rest Framework
Run the Django Rest Api Server
Run our Django Project with command: python manage.py runserver 8080
.
The console shows:
Performing system checks...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
Django version 2.1.15, using settings 'bzkRestApis.settings'
Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8080/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.
Angular 12 Frontend
Overview
– The App
component is a container with router-outlet
. It has navbar that links to routes paths via routerLink
.
– TutorialsList
component gets and displays Tutorials.
– TutorialDetails
component has form for editing Tutorial’s details based on :id
.
– AddTutorial
component has form for submission new Tutorial.
– These Components call TutorialService
methods which use Angular HTTPClient
to make HTTP requests and receive responses.
Technology
- Angular 12
- Angular HttpClient
- Angular Router
- Bootstrap 4
Project Structure
– tutorial.model.ts
exports the main class model: Tutorial
.
– There are 3 components: tutorials-list
, tutorial-details
, add-tutorial
.
– tutorial.service
has methods for sending HTTP requests to the Apis.
– app-routing.module.ts defines routes for each component.
– app
component contains router view and navigation bar.
– app.module.ts
declares Angular components and import necessary modules.
Setup Angular 12 Project
Let’s open cmd and use Angular CLI to create a new Angular Project as following command:
ng new Angular12Crud
? Would you like to add Angular routing? Yes
? Which stylesheet format would you like to use? CSS
We also need to generate some Components and Services:
ng g s services/tutorial
ng g c components/add-tutorial
ng g c components/tutorial-details
ng g c components/tutorials-list
ng g class models/tutorial --type=model
Set up App Module
Open app.module.ts and import FormsModule
, HttpClientModule
:
...
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { HttpClientModule } from '@angular/common/http';
@NgModule({
declarations: [ ... ],
imports: [
...
FormsModule,
HttpClientModule
],
providers: [],
bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
Define Routes for Angular AppRoutingModule
There are 3 main routes:
– /tutorials
for tutorials-list
component
– /tutorials/:id
for tutorial-details
component
– /add
for add-tutorial
component
app-routing.module.ts
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterModule, Routes } from '@angular/router';
import { TutorialsListComponent } from './components/tutorials-list/tutorials-list.component';
import { TutorialDetailsComponent } from './components/tutorial-details/tutorial-details.component';
import { AddTutorialComponent } from './components/add-tutorial/add-tutorial.component';
const routes: Routes = [
{ path: '', redirectTo: 'tutorials', pathMatch: 'full' },
{ path: 'tutorials', component: TutorialsListComponent },
{ path: 'tutorials/:id', component: TutorialDetailsComponent },
{ path: 'add', component: AddTutorialComponent }
];
@NgModule({
imports: [RouterModule.forRoot(routes)],
exports: [RouterModule]
})
export class AppRoutingModule { }
Define Model Class
Our main model class Tutorial
will be exported in tutorial.model.ts with 4 fields:
id
title
description
published
models/tutorial.model.ts
export class Tutorial {
id?: any;
title?: string;
description?: string;
published?: boolean;
}
Create Data Service
This service will use Angular HttpClient
to send HTTP requests.
You can see that its functions includes CRUD operations and finder method.
services/tutorial.service.ts
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { HttpClient } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
import { Tutorial } from '../models/tutorial.model';
const baseUrl = 'http://localhost:8080/api/tutorials';
@Injectable({
providedIn: 'root'
})
export class TutorialService {
constructor(private http: HttpClient) { }
getAll(): Observable<Tutorial[]> {
return this.http.get<Tutorial[]>(baseUrl);
}
get(id: any): Observable<Tutorial> {
return this.http.get(`${baseUrl}/${id}`);
}
create(data: any): Observable<any> {
return this.http.post(baseUrl, data);
}
update(id: any, data: any): Observable<any> {
return this.http.put(`${baseUrl}/${id}`, data);
}
delete(id: any): Observable<any> {
return this.http.delete(`${baseUrl}/${id}`);
}
deleteAll(): Observable<any> {
return this.http.delete(baseUrl);
}
findByTitle(title: any): Observable<Tutorial[]> {
return this.http.get<Tutorial[]>(`${baseUrl}?title=${title}`);
}
}
Create Angular Components
As you’ve known before, there are 3 components corresponding to 3 routes defined in AppRoutingModule
.
- Add new Item Component
- List of items Component
- Item details Component
You can continue with step by step to implement this Angular App in the post:
Angular 12 CRUD Application example with Web API
Other versions:
– Angular 8 CRUD example with Web API
– Angular 10 CRUD example with Web API
– Angular 11 CRUD example with Web API
– Angular 13 CRUD example with Web API
– Angular 14 CRUD example with Web API
– Angular 15 CRUD example with Web API
Run the Angular 12 App
You can run this App with command: ng serve --port 8081
.
If the process is successful, open Browser with Url: http://localhost:8081/
and check it.
Further Reading
– Django + Angular + MySQL example
– Django + Angular + PostgreSQL example
– Django + Angular + MongoDB example
If you want to implement Form Validation, please visit:
Angular 12 Form Validation example (Reactive Forms)
Conclusion
Now we have an overview of Angular 12 + Django example when building a CRUD App that interacts with database. We also take a look at client-server architecture for backend REST API using Django Rest Framework (Python 3), as well as Angular 12 project structure for building a frontend app to make HTTP requests and consume responses.
Next tutorials show you more details about how to implement the system (including Github source code):
– Back-end:
– Front-end:
- Using Angular 8
- Using Angular 10
- Using Angular 11
- Using Angular 12
- Using Angular 13
- Using Angular 14
- Using Angular 15
Nice tutorial. It looks great but can you please also shade some light on, how can we serve Angular built dist inside Django.