Django project #2: SQLite setup

In the first installment of the Sample Django Project, I installed Django and created a project. In this installment, I will set up the SQLite database. At first, I thought I had to figure out what kind of data to put in the database, but in actuality, I can create an empty database and fill it in later. That is what I am doing. Here are the steps.

1. Install SQLite 3

   sofeng@tortoise:~$ sudo apt-get install sqlite3

2. Edit settings.py
   cd to the mysite directory created last time.

   sofeng@tortoise:~$ cd ~/Web/mysite

   Edit settings.py and change the following 2 lines

   DATABASE_ENGINE = 'sqlite3'
   DATABASE_NAME = '/home/sofeng/Web/mysite/mydb'

3. Create Django tables in the database

   sofeng@tortoise:~/Web/mysite$ python manage.py syncdb
   Creating table auth_message
   Creating table auth_group
   Creating table auth_user
   Creating table auth_permission
   Creating table django_content_type
   Creating table django_session
   Creating table django_site
   
   You just installed Django's auth system, which means you don't have any superusers defined.
   Would you like to create one now? (yes/no): yes
   Username (Leave blank to use 'sofeng'): 
   E-mail address: [email protected]
   Password: 
   Password (again): 
   Superuser created successfully.
   Installing index for auth.Message model
   Installing index for auth.Permission model
   Loading 'initial_data' fixtures...
   No fixtures found.

4. Take a look at the databases created

   sofeng@tortoise:~/Web/mysite$ sqlite3 mydb
   SQLite version 3.4.2
   Enter ".help" for instructions
   sqlite> .schema

   You should see a bunch of CREATE TABLE statements. If you get the following error message, it probably means you used sqlite instead of sqlite3.

   Unable to open database "mydb": file is encrypted or is not a database

Well that was pretty easy. Next time, we'll create some models and actually write some python code.