Step 1: Install Django and React

In this tutorial, we will learn how to use Django with React. To get started, we need to install both Django and React.

Django is a Python-based web framework that enables rapid development of secure and maintainable websites. It is free and open source, and is maintained by the Django Software Foundation. To install Django, you can use the pip package manager. Open a terminal window and type the following command:

pip install django

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. To install React, you can use the npm package manager. Open a terminal window and type the following command:

npm install react

Once both Django and React are installed, you can move on to the next step in this tutorial.

Step 2: Create a Django Project

In this step, we will create a Django project. Django is a Python-based web framework that allows us to quickly create web applications. To create a Django project, we need to install the Django package first. To do this, open up a terminal window and type in the following command:

pip install django

Once the installation is complete, we can create our project by running the following command:

django-admin startproject myproject

This will create a directory called myproject, which contains all the necessary files for our Django project. We can now navigate into this directory and start our development server by running the following command:

python manage.py runserver

This will start the development server on port 8000. We can now access our application at http://localhost:8000. We can also access the admin panel at http://localhost:8000/admin. This is where we can manage our application's data.

Step 3: Create a React App

In this step, we will create a React app using the create-react-app command. This command will create a new React project in the current directory. To create a React app, open the terminal and run the following command:

npx create-react-app my-app

This command will create a new React project in the current directory. The project will be created with all the necessary files and folders. Once the project is created, you can start developing your React application.

To start the development server, run the following command in the terminal:

cd my-app && npm start

This command will start the development server and open the application in your default browser. You can now start developing your React application.

For more information on how to use React with Django, please refer to Django-React. This website provides detailed tutorials and examples on how to use Django and React together.

Step 4: Configure Django and React

In this step, we will configure Django and React to work together. We will need to create a Django project and a React app, and then configure them to work together.

First, we need to install Django and React. To do this, open a terminal window and type the following commands:

$ pip install django
$ npm install -g create-react-app

Once both packages are installed, we can create a Django project. To do this, type the following command in the terminal window:

$ django-admin startproject myproject

This will create a new directory called myproject, which contains all the necessary files for a Django project. Next, we need to create a React app. To do this, type the following command in the terminal window:

$ create-react-app myapp

This will create a new directory called myapp, which contains all the necessary files for a React app. Now that both projects are created, we need to configure them to work together.

To do this, we need to add the myapp directory to the myproject directory. To do this, open the myproject/settings.py file and add the following line:

STATICFILES_DIRS = [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'myapp/build')]

This will tell Django to look for static files in the myapp/build directory. Next, we need to build our React app. To do this, open a terminal window in the myapp directory and type the following command:

$ npm run build

This will build our React app and place all the necessary files in the myapp/build directory. Finally, we need to serve our app with Django. To do this, open a terminal window in the myproject directory and type the following command:

$ python manage.py runserver

This will start a local web server on port 8000. You can now access your app at http://localhost:8000. Congratulations! You have successfully configured Django and React to work together.

In this step, we will build our React app using the command line. We will use the npm run build command to create a production-ready version of our React app. This command will create a build folder in the root of our project, which contains all the necessary files for our React app.

First, we need to install all the dependencies for our React app. To do this, open a terminal window and navigate to the root of your project. Then, run the following command:

npm install

This will install all the necessary packages for our React app. Once this is done, we can now build our React app. To do this, run the following command:

npm run build

This will create a build folder in the root of our project. This folder contains all the necessary files for our React app. We can now serve our React app with Django.

For more information on how to use npm and build your React app, you can refer to the official npm documentation. You can also find more information on how to use Django with React in the official Django documentation.

Step 6: Serve Your App with Django

In this step, we will learn how to serve our React app with Django. To do this, we need to configure our Django project to serve the React app. We will also need to create a view that will render the React app.

First, we need to install the django-webpack-loader package. This package will allow us to use webpack with Django. To install it, run the following command in your terminal:

pip install django-webpack-loader

Once the package is installed, we need to add it to our Django project's INSTALLED_APPS. Open up your settings.py file and add the following line:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'webpack_loader',
]

Next, we need to configure webpack loader. Open up your settings.py file and add the following lines:

WEBPACK_LOADER = {
    'DEFAULT': {
        'BUNDLE_DIR_NAME': 'bundles/',  # must end with slash
        'STATS_FILE': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'webpack-stats.json'),
    }
}

Now that webpack loader is configured, we can create a view that will render our React app. Create a new file called views.py, and add the following code:

from django.shortcuts import render
from django.views.generic import View


class ReactAppView(View):

    def get(self, request):

        return render(request, 'index.html')

Finally, we need to add a URL pattern for our view. Open up your urls.py, and add the following line:

urlpatterns = [ 
    ... 
    path('', ReactAppView.as_view()),  # this should be the last line 
]

Now that our Django project is configured to serve our React app, we can start our server and visit http://localhost:8000. You should see your React app running! Congratulations! You have successfully served your React app with Django.

Useful Links

• Tutorial: How to make a modern web app with Django and React
• How to Build a React Frontend with Django Backend in 30 Minutes
• How to Use Django with React
• How to