Managing files in Django is primarily done through the FileField and ImageField modules. Leveraging these modules allows you to upload, store, and manipulate files or images associated with a given model in Django.
To implement file uploading in Django, you must first create a model with a file field. Here is a simple model example:
```
from django.db import models
class Document(models.Model):
docfile = models.FileField(upload_to=‘documents/%Y/%m/%d’)
```
The ‘upload_to’ attribute specifies a subdirectory in your ‘MEDIA_ROOT’ for file uploads. Django will automatically store files in this folder.
Django uses the request.FILES attribute to receive uploaded files from a form submission. Below is an example of an HTML form for file uploads:
```
You’ll also need to construct a view to handle the form submission:
```
from django.shortcuts import render
from .models import Document
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
from django.urls import reverse
def upload_file(request): if request.method == ‘POST’: newdoc = Document(docfile = request.FILES[‘docfile’]) newdoc.save()
return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse(‘myproject.myapp.views.upload_file’)) else: return render(request, ‘myapp/template.html’, {‘documents’: Document.objects.all()}) ```Note: If you are handling multiple file uploads at the same time, you will need to handle ‘request.FILES’ as a dictionary, iteratively saving each uploaded file.
Displaying uploaded files is done through the use of Django’s static files, using the `STATIC_URL` and `MEDIA_URL` settings. Here’s an example of a template that displays an uploaded document:
```
{% for document in documents %}
{{ document.docfile.name }}
{% endfor %}
```
The Django documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/topics/files/) is a reliable and recognized source for more information on file handling. It provides an in-depth guide on how Django manages file (and image) uploads, storage, and display.
Remember, to successfully use file handling in Django, you must have the following settings correctly configured in your settings.py: `MEDIA_ROOT`, `MEDIA_URL`, `STATIC_URL`, `STATIC_ROOT`. These settings direct Django to the location of your uploaded files and static files (JavaScript, CSS, etc) that are associated with your app.
Additionally, to handle larger files, performance and security become additional considerations so don’t forget to set the `DATA_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE`.
Sources:
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/topics/files/
https://simpleisbetterthancomplex.com/tutorial/2016/08/01/how-to-upload-files-with-django.html
