Django, a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design, comes with useful tools and utilities like Django shell or Django Admin. Django shell is a Python shell, which comes pre-populated with Django’s environment, making it a lot easier to manually traverse your applications. This is especially useful for debugging, data analysis and more.
To use Django shell, first, navigate into your project directory that contains the manage.py file. Open your command terminal, then type the following line of code:
```
python manage.py shell
```
This command runs the Python interactive interpreter. Rather than using the plain Python interpreter, it uses Django’s Python shell. This means the command will automatically populate the environment with your project settings.
Once you are in Django shell, you can interact with your Django models and database, same as you do in your Django views. For example, you can import a model and perform database queries.
```
from polls.models import Question, Choice # Import the model classes.
Question.objects.all() # Retrieve all questions.
```
To perform more complex queries, you can use the Django database API.
```
Question.objects.filter(id=1)
Question.objects.filter(question_text__startswith=‘What’)
```
You can also add and update objects in the same way.
```
from django.utils import timezone
q = Question(question_text=“What’s new?”, pub_date=timezone.now())
q.save() # This will save changes and a new question is created
```
To exit the Django shell, you can simply type ‘exit()’ or ‘quit()’.
There are other alternatives to Django’s built-in shell that provide more features. An example is Django Extensions, which replaces Django’s shell with the more advanced shell\_plus. This automaticly imports all your project’s models making the shell experience more smooth.
For more details on using Django shell, refer to Django Project’s official documentation available at https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/django-admin/ . It provides a complete guide on the use of Django’s command-line utility for administrative tasks including Django shell.
Sources:
- Django Project (https://www.djangoproject.com/)
- Django Project Documentation (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/django-admin/)
- Django shell in Django Extensions (https://django-extensions.readthedocs.io/en/latest/shell\_plus.html)
