Creating a data model in Django, a powerful Python-based web framework, involves defining the structure and relationships of data that your application requires. Django’s Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) layer makes it very easy to interact with your database, like you would with SQL. In other words, it’s a way to create, retrieve, update and delete records in your database using Python.
To create a data model in Django, you first have to define a Python class which is a subclass of `django.db.models.Model` in your application’s `models.py` file. The representations you make in this class define the database fields and behaviors.
Take a look at this simple example:
```
from django.db import models
class Book(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
publication_date = models.DateField()
author = models.CharField(max_length=100)
```
Here, we’ve defined a model, Book, with three fields: `title` (a character field), `publication_date` (a date field) and `author` (another character field). Each field is represented by an instance of a `Field` class — `CharField` for characters, and `DateField` for dates.
Remember that every model needs to be registered in the `admin.py` file of the app for it to be visible on the admin page.
After defining your data model, you’ll have to run a migration to create the respective database table. This can be done by the following command in the terminal:
```
python manage.py makemigrations
```
This command creates new migrations based on the changes detected in your models. After running above command, Django will create a migration file in the migrations directory of your application. Now, it’s time to apply these migrations to the database. This can be done by:
```
python manage.py migrate
```
That’s it! Now, Django will create a table in your database for the ‘Book’ model.
This information was gathered from the official Django documentation, which is a comprehensive and reliable resource covering all aspects of Django, data models included.
Django’s model system is powerful and flexible. To leverage the full benefits, it may be worthwhile to get familiar with other parts of the model system such as relations, model meta options, model methods and managers.
Sources:
1. Django Models Documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/db/models/)
2. Django “makemigrations” Documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-makemigrations)
3. Django “migrate” Documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/django-admin/#migrate)
4. Django Model field reference (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/models/fields/)
