In this tutorial we’ll create a typical Django app and then we’ll utilize built-in authentication of Django in our own custom views and templates. For this tutorial you need to have Python 3 installed along with venv package. Command line instructions given here will work on any Linux, macOS or WSL in Windows. So, let’s get going…
First create a new folder:
mkdir myappGo inside this newly created folder:
cd myapp(Note: From now on wards all the commands entered in this tutorial are from root position of this myapp folder.)
Create virtual environment:
python3 -m venv .envMount virtual environment:
source .env/bin/activateInstall Django
pip install djangoThe above command will install Django. Now create a project by entering following command (don’t forget the full-stop at the end):
django-admin startproject project .Then create an app named ‘base’:
python manage.py startapp baseAmend project/settings.py as follows in order to add base app into project:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
"base",
# ...
]Change project/urls.py as follows:
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
urlpatterns = [
path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
path("", include('base.urls')),
]
Then create base/urls.py by executing:
touch base/urls.pyAnd then insert following in base/urls.py:
from django.urls import path,include
from . import views
urlpatterns = [
path('home', views.home, name="home"),
path('login', views.login, name='login'),
path('register', views.register, name='register'),
path('logout', views.logout_view, name='logout'),
]Now amend base/views.py as follows:
from django.shortcuts import render, redirect
from django.contrib import messages
from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login as auth_login, logout
from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
@login_required
def home(request):
return render(request, 'base/home.html')
def login(request):
if request.method == "POST":
username = request.POST.get('username')
password = request.POST.get('password')
if not User.objects.filter(username=username).exists():
messages.error(request, 'Invalid Username')
return redirect('/login')
user = authenticate(username=username, password=password)
if user is None:
messages.error(request, "Invalid Password")
return redirect('/login')
else:
auth_login(request, user)
return redirect('/home')
return render(request, 'base/login.html')
def register(request):
if request.method == 'POST':
first_name = request.POST.get('first_name')
last_name = request.POST.get('last_name')
username = request.POST.get('username')
password = request.POST.get('password')
user = User.objects.filter(username=username)
if user.exists():
messages.info(request, "Username already taken!")
return redirect('/register')
user = User.objects.create_user(
first_name=first_name,
last_name=last_name,
username=username
)
user.set_password(password)
user.save()
messages.info(request, "Account created Successfully!")
return redirect('/login')
return render(request, 'base/register.html')
def logout_view(request):
logout(request)
return redirect('/login')Populate database with migrations:
python manage.py migrateThen create a folder for templates inside base app by executing:
mkdir base/templates/base -pCreate a file base.html inside this base/templates/base/ folder and then insert following code into the base.html:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>{% block title %}MyApp{% endblock %}</title>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.2.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-rbsA2VBKQhggwzxH7pPCaAqO46MgnOM80zW1RWuH61DGLwZJEdK2Kadq2F9CUG65" crossorigin="anonymous">
{% block extra_head %}{% endblock %}
</head>
<body>
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light mb-4">
<div class="container-fluid">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="{% url 'home' %}">MyApp</a>
<button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarNav"
aria-controls="navbarNav" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
<span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
</button>
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNav">
<ul class="navbar-nav">
<li class="nav-item">
<a class="nav-link" href="{% url 'register' %}">Register</a>
</li>
<li class="nav-item">
<a class="nav-link" href="{% url 'login' %}">Login</a>
</li>
<li class="nav-item">
<a class="nav-link" href="{% url 'logout' %}">Logout</a>
</li>
{% block menu_items %}{% endblock %}
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</nav>
<div class="container">
{% block content %}
{% endblock %}
</div>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.2.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js" integrity="sha384-kenU1KFdBIe4zVF0s0G1M5b4hcpxyD9F7jL+jjXkk+Q2h455rYXK/7HAuoJl+0I4" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
{% block extra_js %}{% endblock %}
</body>
</html>Now create register.html inside base/templates/base/ folder and then insert following code into this register.html:
{% extends 'base/base.html' %}
{% block content %}
<div class="container mt-5">
<form class="col-6 mx-auto card p-3 shadow" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
{% csrf_token %}
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: green;">Register</span></h1>
<hr>
{% if messages %}
<div class="alert alert-primary" role="alert">
{% for message in messages %}
{{ message }}
{% endfor %}
</div>
{% endif %}
<div class="form-group">
<label for="firstName">First name</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="firstName"
placeholder="Enter First name" name="first_name" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="lastName">Last name</label>
<input type="text" name="last_name" class="form-control" id="lastName"
placeholder="Enter Last name" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="userName">Username</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="username" id="userName"
placeholder="Enter username" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="password">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" name="password" id="password"
placeholder="Password" required>
</div>
<p>Already have an account <a href="/login">Login</a> </p>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</form>
</div>
{% endblock content %}Similarly create login.html inside base/templates/base/ folder and then insert following code into the login.html:
{% extends 'base/base.html' %}
{% block content %}
<div class="container mt-5">
<form class="col-6 mx-auto card p-3 shadow" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: green;">Login</span></h1>
{% csrf_token %}
<hr>
{% if messages %}
<div class="alert alert-primary" role="alert">
{% for message in messages %}
{{ message }}
{% endfor %}
</div>
{% endif %}
<div class="form-group">
<label for="userName">Username</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="username" id="userName"
placeholder="Enter username" required>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="password">Password</label>
<input type="password" name="password" class="form-control" id="password" placeholder="Password" required>
</div>
<p>Don't have an account? <a href="/register">Register</a> </p>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</form>
</div>
{% endblock content %}And then, create home.html inside base/templates/base/ folder and then insert following code into the home.html:
{% extends 'base/base.html' %}
{% block content %}
<h3>Dashboard</h3>
<p>Do you want to logout? <a href="/logout">Logout</a> </p>
{% endblock content %}Finally insert some default redirecting instructions by inserting following lines in project/settings.py:
# ...
LOGIN_URL = 'login'
LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = 'home'
LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL = 'login'Run dev server:
python manage.py runserverHead to:
localhost:8000/register