Editing Refactoring a Django App as a Stand-Alone Module

[[Category:Django]] [[Category:Web Development]]
== Overview ==

This page catalogs the workflow involved in taking an app that is part of a Django project and refactoring it as a stand-alone module. 

[[Reusable Django Packages/Apps]] contains an overview of the principles of creating stand-alone Django modules

== Workflow ==
 
=== App set up ===

* Move project files to directory outside Django project, e.g. `~/develop/django/apps`

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
- project_root_dir
    |-- app_dir
    |    |-- tests/
    |    |-- __init__.py
    |    |-- admin.py
    |    |-- app.py
    |    `-- models.py
    |-- .gitignore
    |-- LICENSE
    |-- MANIFEST.IN
    |-- README.md
    `-- setup.py
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Configure app files ===

* Add package config files
** `LICENSE`
** `MANIFEST.in`
** `README.md`
** `setup.py`
* Delete `migrations` directory
* Add project properties in the app directory
** `__init__.py`
*** `__author__`
*** `__version__`
*** `default_app_config = 'app_name.apps.AppNameConfig'`
** `apps.py` defines a class named `AppNameConfig` with the following properties:
*** `name` - app token, e.g. the name of the directory containing the app
*** `verbose_name` - Plain english description of the app
* Consider moving views defined in the app out of the app and into the actual Django web applications that references the app.
* N.B. that the Grappelli admin app does not handle models that are broken out into separate files.
* Update `MANIFEST.in` to include any files that are not in the top level of the app directory.
* Update `README.md` with information about installing, configuring, and using the app.
* Update `setup.py` with configuration for creating distribution files out of the app.
* Exclude Mac OS files. PyCharm project files, and distribution files in `.gitignore`.
* Create a distribution for the app: `python setup.py sdist --formats=gztar,zip`

=== Configure Django project to use the stand-alone app ===

* Add app identifier to `INSTALLED_APPS` in `webapp/settings.py`
* Add app distribution to `requirements.txt`
* Incorporate database changes:
** `python manage.py makemigrations app_name`
** `python manage.py migrate app_name`

=== Distributing the app ===

* Upload the app's distribution files to the `nrose-django-packages` Amazon S3 bucket.
* Create GitHub repo for the app and push code there.