Build a Full‑Featured Django Library Management System from Scratch

Django File Configuration

Configure template directories, static files, and middleware in settings.py using the TEMPLATES, STATIC_URL, STATICFILES_DIRS, and MIDDLEWARE settings.

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "template")],  # template folder location
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]
STATIC_URL = '/static/'  # URL prefix for static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static")]  # static files location
MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    # 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',  # disable for quick testing
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

Django Database Configuration

Switch from the default SQLite database to MySQL by editing the DATABASES setting and installing pymysql as the MySQL driver.

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'test_site',
        'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
        'PORT': 3306,
        'USER': 'root',
        'PASSWORD': '',  # leave empty if no password
    }
}
import pymysql
pymysql.install_as_MySQLdb()

Essential Django Utilities

Three core shortcuts are demonstrated:

HttpResponse – returns a plain string to the browser.

def index(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello World")

render – renders a template with context data.

def index(request):
    return render(request, "index.html", {"name": "Albert", "hobby": ["音乐", "篮球"]})

redirect – redirects to another URL (default 302, set permanent=True for 301).

def index(request):
    return redirect("/home/")

Django Library Management System

Goal: display publisher, book, and author pages with one‑to‑many (publisher‑books) and many‑to‑many (books‑authors) relationships.

Steps include creating the project, configuring the database, defining models, writing view functions for list, add, edit, and delete operations, and building simple front‑end templates.

Project Creation

# django-admin startproject lms
cd lms
python3 manage.py startapp app01

Models (app01/models.py)

from django.db import models

class Publisher(models.Model):
    id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=64)

class Book(models.Model):
    id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=64)
    publisher = models.ForeignKey(Publisher, on_delete=models.CASCADE)

class Author(models.Model):
    id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    name = models.CharField(max_length=64)
    book = models.ManyToManyField(Book)

Views (app01/views.py)

from django.shortcuts import render, redirect
from app01 import models

def publisher_list(request):
    publisher = models.Publisher.objects.all()
    return render(request, 'publisher_list.html', {'publisher_list': publisher})

def add_publisher(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        new_publisher_name = request.POST.get('name')
        models.Publisher.objects.create(name=new_publisher_name)
        return redirect('/publisher_list/')
    return render(request, 'add_publisher.html')

def drop_publisher(request):
    drop_id = request.GET.get('id')
    models.Publisher.objects.get(id=drop_id).delete()
    return redirect('/publisher_list/')

def edit_publisher(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        edit_id = request.GET.get('id')
        edit_obj = models.Publisher.objects.get(id=edit_id)
        edit_obj.name = request.POST.get('name')
        edit_obj.save()
        return redirect('/publisher_list/')
    edit_id = request.GET.get('id')
    edit_obj = models.Publisher.objects.get(id=edit_id)
    return render(request, 'edit_publisher.html', {'publisher': edit_obj})

# Similar CRUD functions for Book and Author are defined below (book_list, add_book, drop_book, edit_book, author_list, add_author, drop_author, edit_author).

URL Configuration (lms/urls.py)

from django.conf.urls import url
from django.contrib import admin
from app01 import views

urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^admin/', admin.site.urls),
    url(r'^publisher_list/', views.publisher_list),
    url(r'^add_publisher/', views.add_publisher),
    url(r'^drop_publisher/', views.drop_publisher),
    url(r'^edit_publisher/', views.edit_publisher),
    url(r'^book_list/', views.book_list),
    url(r'^add_book/', views.add_book),
    url(r'^drop_book/', views.drop_book),
    url(r'^edit_book/', views.edit_book),
    url(r'^author_list/', views.author_list),
    url(r'^add_author/', views.add_author),
    url(r'^drop_author/', views.drop_author),
    url(r'^edit_author/', views.edit_author),
    url(r'^$', views.publisher_list),
]

Front‑End Template Snippets

Publisher list table loop:

<tbody>
{% for publisher in publisher_list %}
<tr>
    <td>{{ forloop.counter }}</td>
    <td>{{ publisher.name }}</td>
    <td class="text-center">
        <a class="btn btn-info btn-sm" href="/edit_publisher/?id={{ publisher.id }}"><i class="fa fa-pencil fa-fw" aria-hidden="true"></i>编辑</a>
        <a class="btn btn-danger btn-sm" href="/drop_publisher/?id={{ publisher.id }}"><i class="fa fa-trash-o fa-fw" aria-hidden="true"></i>删除</a>
    </td>
</tr>
{% endfor %}
</tbody>

Select element for choosing a publisher when editing a book:

<select class="form-control" name="publisher_id">
{% for publisher in publisher_list %}
    {% if publisher == book.publisher %}
        <option selected value="{{ publisher.id }}">{{ publisher.name }}</option>
    {% else %}
        <option value="{{ publisher.id }}">{{ publisher.name }}</option>
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}
</select>

The complete source code is available on GitHub at https://github.com/mayite/lms .