Check out my previous blog about Simple ToDo List App in Django Framework+ htmx + Bootstrap 5 .

Introduction

Django is a powerful web development framework that allows developers to quickly build complex web applications. One of the key strengths of Django is its modular design, which allows developers to add functionality to their applications by installing and configuring packages.

In this blog, We’ll discuss 10 essential Django packages that every developer should know.

Django Debug Toolbar is a package that provides a set of panels displaying various debug information about the current request/response. It’s a must-have for any Django developer who wants to streamline their debugging process.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-debug-toolbar

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'debug_toolbar',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # other middleware here
    'debug_toolbar.middleware.DebugToolbarMiddleware',
]

INTERNAL_IPS = [
    '127.0.0.1',
]

Now, when you run your Django application, you should see a new toolbar at the top of your page that displays various debug information.

2. Django Crispy Forms

Django Crispy Forms is a package that allows developers to easily render forms in a more elegant and consistent way. It also supports Bootstrap, which is a popular CSS framework.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-crispy-forms

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'crispy_forms',
]

CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = 'bootstrap4'

Now, when you render a form in your Django application, it will be displayed using a Bootstrap template.

3. Django Rest Framework

Django Rest Framework is a package that allows developers to easily create RESTful APIs with Django. It’s a powerful and flexible package that provides a lot of functionality out of the box.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install djangorestframework

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'rest_framework',
]

Now, you can start building RESTful APIs with Django using Django Rest Framework.

4. Django Cors Headers

Django Cors Headers is a package that allows developers to enable Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) headers in their Django applications. CORS headers are necessary when making cross-domain requests from a web application.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-cors-headers

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'corsheaders',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # other middleware here
    'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
]

CORS_ORIGIN_ALLOW_ALL = True

Now, your Django application will send the necessary CORS headers when making cross-domain requests.

5. Django Extensions

Django Extensions is a package that provides a set of useful extensions for Django. It includes features such as shell_plus, which provides an enhanced version of the Django shell, and show_urls, which displays all of the URL patterns defined in your Django application.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-extensions

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'django_extensions',
]

Now, you can start using the various extensions provided by Django Extensions.

6. Django Redis Cache

Django Redis Cache is a package that provides a Redis-based cache backend for Django. Redis is an in-memory data store that can significantly improve the performance of your application by caching frequently accessed data.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-redis-cache

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

CACHES = {
    'default': {
        'BACKEND': 'django_redis.cache.RedisCache',
        'LOCATION': 'redis://localhost:6379/1',
        'OPTIONS': {
            'CLIENT_CLASS': 'django_redis.client.DefaultClient',
        }
    }
}

Now, you can configure your Django application to use Redis as the cache backend.

7. Django Celery

Django Celery is a package that allows you to run asynchronous tasks in your Django application. It integrates with Celery, a distributed task queue system, to handle time-consuming or resource-intensive tasks outside of the request-response cycle.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-celery

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'django_celery_results',
]

CELERY_BROKER_URL = 'redis://localhost:6379/2'
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = 'django-db'

Additionally, create a celery.py file in your project directory with the following content:

from celery import Celery
import os

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'your_project.settings')

app = Celery('your_project')
app.config_from_object('django.conf:settings', namespace='CELERY')
app.autodiscover_tasks()

Now, you can define and run asynchronous tasks in your Django application using Celery.

8. Django Guardian

Django Guardian is a package that provides object-level permissions for Django models. It allows you to define custom permissions and assign them to specific users or groups, giving you fine-grained control over access to your data.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-guardian

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'guardian',
]

AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = [
    'django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend',
    'guardian.backends.ObjectPermissionBackend',
]

Now, you can define object-level permissions and enforce them in your Django models.

9. Django Haystack

Django Haystack is a package that provides a modular search solution for Django applications. It supports various search backends, such as Elasticsearch and Solr, and allows you to build powerful search functionality in your application.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-haystack

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'haystack',
]

HAYSTACK_CONNECTIONS = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'haystack.backends.elasticsearch5_backend.Elasticsearch5SearchEngine',
        'URL': 'http://localhost:9200/',
        'INDEX_NAME': 'haystack',
    },
}

Now, you can integrate search functionality into your Django application using Django Haystack.

10. Django Storages

Django Storages is a package that provides support for various storage backends for Django’s file handling. It allows you to easily switch between different storage options, such as local file storage, Amazon S3, or Google Cloud Storage, without modifying your code.

Here’s how to install it:

pip install django-storages

Then, add the following lines to your settings.py file:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # other installed apps here
    'storages',
]

DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto3.S3Boto3Storage'
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = 'your-access-key-id'
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = 'your-secret-access-key'
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME = 'your-bucket-name'

Replace the values for AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, and AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME with your own credentials and bucket information.

Now, you can easily switch between different storage backends by modifying the DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE setting. For example, if you want to use Google Cloud Storage, you can use the storages.backends.gcloud.GoogleCloudStorage backend and update the necessary credentials.

Conclusion

These ten essential Django packages provide a wide range of functionality and can greatly enhance your Django development experience. From debugging tools to cache management, asynchronous task handling to object-level permissions, and search capabilities to flexible file storage, these packages cover various aspects of web development. Incorporating them into your Django projects will help you streamline development, improve performance, and add powerful features to your applications.

Happy Coding!

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Thank you for taking the time to read this blog about the 10 Essential Django Packages Every Developer Should Know. I hope that you found the information presented here useful and informative.

If you have any questions or comments about the information presented in this blog, please feel free to reach out. Thank you again for reading!

Resources

Django Debug Toolbar:

Package Documentation: django-debug-toolbar
GitHub Repository: django-debug-toolbar

Django Crispy Forms:

Package Documentation: django-crispy-forms
GitHub Repository: django-crispy-forms

Django Rest Framework:

Package Documentation: Django Rest Framework
GitHub Repository: django-rest-framework

Django Cors Headers:

Package Documentation: django-cors-headers
GitHub Repository: django-cors-headers

Django Extensions:

Package Documentation: django-extensions
GitHub Repository: django-extensions

Django Redis Cache:

Package Documentation: django-redis-cache
GitHub Repository: django-redis-cache

Django Celery:

Package Documentation: django-celery
GitHub Repository: django-celery

Django Guardian:

Package Documentation: django-guardian
GitHub Repository: django-guardian

Django Haystack:

Package Documentation: django-haystack
GitHub Repository: django-haystack

Django Storages:

Package Documentation: django-storages
GitHub Repository: django-storages

10 Essential Django Packages Every Developer Should Know

Table of contents

Introduction

1. Django Debug Toolbar

2. Django Crispy Forms

3. Django Rest Framework

4. Django Cors Headers

5. Django Extensions

6. Django Redis Cache

7. Django Celery

8. Django Guardian

9. Django Haystack

Conclusion

Resources