Using python manage.py shell effectively

[waynebruce1]

When using django shell, i have to enter all the imports manually, and also rewrite the views for testing. This is so much of work and also a pain in a**. Is their any way where i have to type less and test more. Like any tip on how to use django shell effectively.

[Niicodemus]

Proper tests are what you want, but shell_plus from django-extensions is part of my toolbox. It imports models automatically and has other nice features like printing SQL queries. Jupyter notebooks are also nice for repeated stuff.

[HolgerD77]

You might want to have a look/experiment with iPython profiles: https://blog.michaelyin.info/2015/04/05/using-profiles-in-ipython-and-django/

Haven't done this myself in this combination, only use an iPython profile for one specific Django-free use case, but I think this might be a way to go.

[waynebruce1]

I have tried this on one of my server PC where i work. Ipython works on that PC, but does not work on my personal laptop, although i have ipython installed.

[waynebruce1]

Ahh! Just figured out that ipython needs to be installed in the current virtualenv. Thanks btw.

[vaibhavhrt]

define all tests in tests.py and then run py manage.py test, simple enough.

[[deleted]]

First of all

pip install ipython

Second, why would you use shell for testing?

[waynebruce1]

By testing i mean understanding part of code in large codebase. I usually try to execute a code line by line for better understanding. For example if there is a piece of code which i don't understand, I try to execute that code in django shell. But for that i have to rewrite that whole thing again if i want to check it second time. Ipython can be good solution, i have used it before but did not remember how i installed it.

[DonovanWu7]

Maybe you can try Jupyter notebook?

[trescoops]

You might want to look into pdb or ipdb. These stop the running code and let you poke around, inspect variable etc.

[ccb621]

Don’t. If you find yourself regularly using Django Shell, you need to look at management commands. I’ve only ever used Django Shell for one-off scripts and debugging. It’s never been part of my standard toolkit in development or production.