Django-start installs a script which allows the easy creation of Django projects and applications based the layout used at RED Interactive Agency.

An in-depth tutorial is available at: http://ff0000.github.com/2011/10/django-hands-on-tutorial/

pip install django-start
django-start.py project example

This will use the default project template, which includes red-boilerplate.

cd example
virtualenv env
source env/bin/activate
cd project
python manage.py require
python manage.py sync
python manage.py server

Fork the project, make your changes, then run

python test.py

This command will:

• create a test project using the ff0000 template
• create a test app inside that project using the blog template
• run the test suite for the app

If everything runs correctly, then submit a pull request via Github.

You can have the tests run automatically before any commit by adding an executable file .git/hooks/pre-commit with this code:

#!/bin/sh
python test.py || exit 1

Running django-start.py project <folder_name> executes the code included in management/commands/project.py, which does three simple things:

1. Creates a new folder called <folder_name>.
2. Copies in that folder all the files included in the project template folder. This can be specified with the --template-dir option; the default is templates/project/ff0000.
3. If a file called django_start_settings.py is present in that folder, and if it contains a function called after_copy, then that file is loaded and that function executed.

As an example, in the case of the ff0000 project template, the after_copy function downloads an HTML5 boilerplate from GitHub, prompts the user for some variables and substitutes them in the template. This is just an example, other project templates can perform any other operation.

Running django-start.py app <folder_name> executes the code included in management/commands/app.py, which does three simple things:

1. Look in the current directory for a folder called apps and creates a new subfolder called <folder_name>.
2. Copies in that folder all the files included in the apps folder of the app template. This can be specified with the --template-dir option; the default is templates/app/blog.
3. Look in the current directory for a folder called templates and creates a new subfolder called <folder_name>.
4. Copies in that folder all the files included in the templates folder of the app template. This can be specified with the --template-dir option; the default is templates/app/blog.
5. If a file called django_start_settings.py is present in the app template, and if it contains a function called after_copy, then that file is loaded and that function executed.

The logics of django-start.py app is very similar to django-start.py project. The main difference is that a Django application typically contains both Django logics and HTML templates, and they are stored separately (the former in a folder called apps, the latter in templates). Typically you would run django-start.py app inside the project folder of a Django project created with django-start.py project.

As an example, in the case of the blgo app template, the after_copy function prompts the user for some variables and substitutes them in the template. This is just an example, other app templates can perform any other operation.

To add a new app or project template to django-start, simply add it in the templates folder, under app or project respectively. If you need to perform extra actions after the files have been copied, add a file called django_start_settings.py with an after_copy function (take a look at existing templates).

Finally, to use the newly created template, just indicate its path as the --template-dir option, for instance:

django-start.py --template-dir=/your/custom/template project new_example