126 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
126 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
=================
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The flatpages app
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=================
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Django comes with an optional "flatpages" application. It lets you store simple
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"flat" HTML content in a database and handles the management for you via
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Django's admin interface and a Python API.
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A flatpage is a simple object with a URL, title and content. Use it for
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one-off, special-case pages, such as "About" or "Privacy Policy" pages, that
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you want to store in a database but for which you don't want to develop a
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custom Django application.
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A flatpage can use a custom template or a default, systemwide flatpage
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template. It can be associated with one, or multiple, sites.
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Here are some examples of flatpages on Django-powered sites:
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* http://www.chicagocrime.org/about/
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* http://www.lawrence.com/about/contact/
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Installation
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============
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To install the flatpages app, follow these steps:
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1. Install the `sites framework`_ by adding ``'django.contrib.sites'`` to
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your INSTALLED_APPS_ setting, if it's not already in there.
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2. Add ``'django.contrib.flatpages'`` to your INSTALLED_APPS_ setting.
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3. Add ``'django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware'``
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to your MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES_ setting.
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4. Run the command ``manage.py syncdb``.
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.. _sites framework: ../sites/
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.. _INSTALLED_APPS: ../settings/#installed-apps
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.. _MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES: ../settings/#middleware-classes
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How it works
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============
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``manage.py syncdb`` creates two tables in your database: ``django_flatpage``
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and ``django_flatpage_sites``. ``django_flatpage`` is a simple lookup table
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that simply maps a URL to a title and bunch of text content.
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``django_flatpage_sites`` associates a flatpage with a site.
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The ``FlatpageFallbackMiddleware`` does all of the work. Each time any Django
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application raises a 404 error, this middleware checks the flatpages database
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for the requested URL as a last resort. Specifically, it checks for a flatpage
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with the given URL with a site ID that corresponds to the SITE_ID_ setting.
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If it finds a match, it follows this algorithm:
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* If the flatpage has a custom template, it loads that template. Otherwise,
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it loads the template ``flatpages/default.html``.
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* It passes that template a single context variable, ``flatpage``, which is
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the flatpage object. It uses RequestContext_ in rendering the template.
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If it doesn't find a match, the request continues to be processed as usual.
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The middleware only gets activated for 404s -- not for 500s or responses of any
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other status code.
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Note that the order of ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` matters. Generally, you can put
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``FlatpageFallbackMiddleware`` at the end of the list, because it's a last
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resort.
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For more on middleware, read the `middleware docs`_.
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.. _SITE_ID: ../settings/#site-id
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.. _RequestContext: ../templates_python/#subclassing-context-djangocontext
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.. _middleware docs: ../middleware/
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How to add, change and delete flatpages
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=======================================
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Via the admin interface
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-----------------------
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If you've activated the automatic Django admin interface, you should see a
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"Flatpages" section on the admin index page. Edit flatpages as you edit any
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other object in the system.
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Via the Python API
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------------------
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Flatpages are represented by a standard `Django model`_, which lives in
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`django/contrib/flatpages/models.py`_. You can access flatpage objects via the
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`Django database API`_.
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.. _Django model: ../model-api/
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.. _django/contrib/flatpages/models.py: http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/contrib/flatpages/models.py
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.. _Django database API: ../db-api/
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Flatpage templates
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==================
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By default, flatpages are rendered via the template ``flatpages/default.html``,
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but you can override that for a particular flatpage.
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Creating the ``flatpages/default.html`` template is your responsibility; in
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your template directory, just create a ``flatpages`` directory containing a
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file ``default.html``.
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Flatpage templates are passed a single context variable, ``flatpage``, which is
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the flatpage object.
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Here's a sample ``flatpages/default.html`` template::
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>{{ flatpage.title }}</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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{{ flatpage.content }}
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</body>
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</html>
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Since you're already entering raw HTML into the admin page for a flatpage,
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both ``flatpage.title`` and ``flatpage.content`` are marked as **not**
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requiring `automatic HTML escaping`_ in the template.
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.. _automatic HTML escaping: ../templates/#automatic-html-escaping
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