Django

Django is "a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design". Django includes its own ORM that can be configured to use bit.io as a Postgres-compatible database backend. Combining Django's "batteries-included" framework with bit.io's "zero-config" databases is a great option to get building fast.

We will demonstrate how to quickly configure a Django app with a bit.io database using the official Django tutorial example app.

Connecting a Django app to bit.io

As explained in part 2 of the official Django tutorial, the database backend for a Django app is configured in your project's settings.py file.

The official Django tutorial demonstrates project setup with a sqlite database. To use bit.io instead, modify the settings.py file as follows using your bit.io username, database name, and password from the bit.io Connect Tab for your database.

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': '<DATABASE_NAME>',
        'USER': '<USERNAME>',
        'PASSWORD': '<v2_YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE>',
        'HOST': 'db.bit.io',
        'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

The 'django.db.backends.postgresql' Django database backend specified above uses psycopg2 as a Postgres driver. If psycopg2 is not yet installed in your Django environment, you will need to install the package using your preferred environment/package manager. Here is an example installing both django and psycopg2 using venv and pip:

$ python3 -m venv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip django psycopg2

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bit.io Connection Timeouts

Connections to bit.io databases are automatically closed after a period of inactivity. Django will automatically handle reopening connections for your web app.

However, if you are performing manual ORM operations in the Django shell, your shell-session's database connection may closed if you stop interacting with the database for a period of time.

If you receive a connection error in Django shell, you can simply reconnect within your existing shell session using the following commands:

Python

from django.db import connections
conn = connections['default']
conn.connect() 

Using Django with bit.io

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Time to Build

From here, you can continue the official Django tutorial to learn more Django or build your own custom Django application.