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FAQ: Using Django

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Why do I get an error about importing :envvar:`DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE`?

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Make sure that:

* The environment variable :envvar:`DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` is set to a

  fully-qualified Python module (i.e. ``mysite.settings``).

* Said module is on ``sys.path`` (``import mysite.settings`` should work).

* The module doesn't contain syntax errors.

I can't stand your template language. Do I have to use it?

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We happen to think our template engine is the best thing since chunky bacon,

but we recognize that choosing a template language runs close to religion.

There's nothing about Django that requires using the template language, so

if you're attached to Jinja2, Mako, or whatever, feel free to use those.

Do I have to use your model/database layer?

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Nope. Just like the template system, the model/database layer is decoupled from

the rest of the framework.

The one exception is: If you use a different database library, you won't get to

use Django's automatically-generated admin site. That app is coupled to the

Django database layer.

How do I use image and file fields?

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Using a :class:`~django.db.models.FileField` or an

:class:`~django.db.models.ImageField` in a model takes a few steps:

#. In your settings file, you'll need to define :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` as

   the full path to a directory where you'd like Django to store uploaded

   files. (For performance, these files are not stored in the database.)

   Define :setting:`MEDIA_URL` as the base public URL of that directory.

   Make sure that this directory is writable by the web server's user

   account.

#. Add the :class:`~django.db.models.FileField` or

   :class:`~django.db.models.ImageField` to your model, defining the

   :attr:`~django.db.models.FileField.upload_to` option to specify a

   subdirectory of :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` to use for uploaded files.

#. All that will be stored in your database is a path to the file

   (relative to :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT`). You'll most likely want to use the

   convenience :attr:`~django.db.models.fields.files.FieldFile.url` attribute

   provided by Django. For example, if your

   :class:`~django.db.models.ImageField` is called ``mug_shot``, you can get

   the absolute path to your image in a template with

   ``{{ object.mug_shot.url }}``.

How do I make a variable available to all my templates?

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Sometimes your templates all need the same thing. A common example would be

dynamically generated menus. At first glance, it seems logical to add a common

dictionary to the template context.

The best way to do this in Django is to use a ``RequestContext``. Details on

how to do this are here: :ref:`subclassing-context-requestcontext`.