Django Views

A view function is a Python function that takes a Web request and returns a Web response. This response can be the HTML contents of a Web page, or a redirect, or a 404 error, or an XML document, or an image, anything that a web browser can display. Django views are part of the user interface — they usually render the HTML/CSS/Javascript in your Template files into what you see in your browser when you render a web page.

Example: Creating View Function

Python3

from django.http import HttpResponse 
  
# create a function 
def geeks_view(request): 
      
    return HttpResponse("<h1>Welcome to w3wiki</h1>")

Let’s step through this code one line at a time:

First, we import the class HttpResponse from the django.http module, along with Python’s datetime library.
Next, we define a function called geeks_view. This is the view function. Each view function takes an HttpRequest object as its first parameter, which is typically named request.
The view returns an HttpResponse object that contains the generated response. Each view function is responsible for returning an HttpResponse object.

Note: For more info on HttpRequest and HttpResponse visit – Django Request and Response cycle – HttpRequest and HttpResponse Objects

The above Function will render the text Welcome to w3wiki as h1 on the page. Now the question that may be arising is at what URL this function will be called and how will we handle such URLs. Don’t worry we will handle URL in the section but in this section let us continue with the Django views only.

Types of Views

Django views are divided into two major categories:-

Function-Based Views
Class-Based Views

Function-Based Views

Function-based views are writer using a function in python which receives as an argument HttpRequest object and returns an HttpResponse Object. Function-based views are generally divided into 4 basic strategies, i.e., CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete). CRUD is the base of any framework one is using for development.

Refer to the below articles to get more information on Function-Based views –

Class-Based Views

Class-based views provide an alternative way to implement views as Python objects instead of functions. They do not replace function-based views, but have certain differences and advantages when compared to function-based views:

Organization of code related to specific HTTP methods (GET, POST, etc.) can be addressed by separate methods instead of conditional branching.
Object-oriented techniques such as mixins (multiple inheritances) can be used to factor code into reusable components.

Refer to the below articles to get more information on Class-Based views –

Python Web Development With Django

Python Django is a web framework that allows to quickly create efficient web pages. Django is also called batteries included framework because it provides built-in features such as Django Admin Interface, default database – SQLite3, etc. When you’re building a website, you always need a similar set of components: a way to handle user authentication (signing up, signing in, signing out), a management panel for your website, forms, a way to upload files, etc. Django gives you ready-made components to use.