Build a Django Notes CRUD REST API Using MongoDB Database in Browser Full Project For Beginners

Welcome folks today in this blog post we will be building a django notes crud rest api using mongodb database in browser. All the full source code of the application is shown below.

Get Started

In order to get started you need to make an requirements.txt file inside your project directory. Here inside the requirements.txt we will be installing all the dependencies which are required for this django project.

requirements.txt

asgiref==3.3.4
Django==3.0.5
djangorestframework==3.12.4
djongo==1.3.4
pymongo==3.11.3
pytz==2021.1
sqlparse==0.2.4
typing-extensions==3.7.4.3

asgiref==3.3.4

Django==3.0.5

djangorestframework==3.12.4

djongo==1.3.4

pymongo==3.11.3

pytz==2021.1

sqlparse==0.2.4

typing-extensions==3.7.4.3

Now we need to install the dependencies which are present inside the above file by the below command

pip install -r requirements.txt

As you can we are installing the below dependencies for our project as shown below

Django :-> Web server framework required for application
Django Rest Framework :-> This is rest framework for django
djongo :-> Interacting with MongoDB Database

pymongo :-> library for mongodb crud operations

Creating Django Project

Now we will be creating a brand new django project on the command line as shown below. We need to execute the below commands to create the django project

django-admin startproject notesapp

Here as you can see we are using the django-admin command where we have the option startproject and notesapp is the name of the app

Creating a Brand new App of API

As you know django project comprise of small small apps. Now we will create an app as shown below using this command

django-admin startapp api

This will create the api folder inside your django project. Now we will see the directory structure of django project

Directory Structure of Django Project

Now we will be including the above created app called api inside the project level settings.py file as shown below

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'rest_framework',
    'api',
]

INSTALLED_APPS = [

'django.contrib.admin',

'django.contrib.auth',

'django.contrib.contenttypes',

'django.contrib.sessions',

'django.contrib.messages',

'django.contrib.staticfiles',

'rest_framework',

'api',

]

As you can see we are including the rest framework library as well and also we are including the api django app as well

Configuring MongoDB Database

Now we will be configuring the mongodb database in this django project. For doing this you need to go to settings.py file inside the django project level and include this below code in databases section

DATABASES = {
   'default' : {
      'ENGINE' : 'djongo',
      'NAME' : 'notes_database'
   }
}

DATABASES = {

'default' : {

'ENGINE' : 'djongo',

'NAME' : 'notes_database'

}

As you can see we are including the engine of the database which is djongo library and also we are also including the name of the mongodb database which is notes_database.

Making the Models for Django App

Now to make the models for the django app. We need to navigate to the models.py inside the api django app as shown below

models.py

from django.db import models
class Note(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=50)
    text = models.TextField()
    def __str__(self):
        return self.title

from django.db import models

class Note(models.Model):

title = models.CharField(max_length=50)

text = models.TextField()

def __str__(self):

return self.title

Migrate Models to MongoDB Database

Now we will be doing the actual migraton of the models that we have defined above. After this command all these columns will be automatically inserted in the mongodb database and tables. For doing this migration we need to execute the below command as shown below

python manage.py makemigrations

python manage.py migrate

As you can see the tables are successfully created inside the mongodb database.

Creating the Serializer Class For Models

Now we will be creating the serializer class for the models that we created earlier on. For this we need to create the serializer file inside the django app called api as shown below

As you can see we have created serializers.py file and here you need to copy paste the below code

serializers.py

from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import Note
class NoteSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = Note
        fields = ('id', 'title', 'text')

from rest_framework import serializers

from .models import Note

class NoteSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):

class Meta:

model = Note

fields = ('id', 'title', 'text')

Making the Views for CRUD Operations

Now guys we will be writing the views for handling this crud operations inside mongodb database. For this you need to go to views.py file inside the django app

views.py

from rest_framework import generics
from .models import Note
from .serializers import NoteSerializer
class NoteList(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
    queryset = Note.objects.all()
    serializer_class = NoteSerializer
class NoteDetail(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
    queryset = Note.objects.all()
    serializer_class = NoteSerializer

from rest_framework import generics

from .models import Note

from .serializers import NoteSerializer

class NoteList(generics.ListCreateAPIView):

queryset = Note.objects.all()

serializer_class = NoteSerializer

class NoteDetail(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):

queryset = Note.objects.all()

serializer_class = NoteSerializer

As you can see we have two different views for our Notes model. First view will return all the Notes which are created. And the next view which will be getting the specific information about the Note by using the id. And inside that view we also have update and delete buttons also to delete and update the Note.

Defining the URLs for Django App Routes

First of all we now need to include the views inside the urls array of django app api. For this you need to navigate to the file present inside the urls.py which is present inside the api folder.

from django.urls import path
from api import views
urlpatterns = [
    path('', views.NoteList.as_view()),
    path('<int:pk>/', views.NoteDetail.as_view())
]

from django.urls import path

from api import views

urlpatterns = [

path('', views.NoteList.as_view()),

path('<int:pk>/', views.NoteDetail.as_view())

]

Now guys we will be defining the urls for our django app routes. For this we need to edit the urls.py file inside the django project directory as shown below. You need to copy paste the below code

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include
urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('api/', include('api.urls')),  # add this line
]

from django.contrib import admin

from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [

path('admin/', admin.site.urls),

path('api/', include('api.urls')), # add this line

]

As you can see we are adding a new url inside the urlpatterns array. Here we are using the path() method in the first argument we are passing the /api route and then we are including the (‘api.urls’) file

Testing the API in Browser

Now we will be testing the django rest api in browser. For starting the django project we need to execute the below command which is shown below

python manage.py runserver

This will start the django project at port number 8000 inside the browser.

As you can see we have awesome GUI interface provided inside the browser to make the CRUD operations with the mongodb database. As you can see we are making a GET request to the /api and in the response all the records are returned in the form of array of objects.

We have also have the option to return this in the form of json. If you are using any external frontend app like react,vue and angular to consume this rest api. You can change the option to json as shown below

Creating Records Using Post Request

Now you can also use the below html5 form to create new records or you can pass raw json data. This will make a POST request to the Django REST API.

Doing Update & Delete Operations

Now for doing the update and delete operations for the Django REST API. You will visit the below url

http://localhost:8000/api/1

Where 1 is the ID number who need to provide in the address bar

As you can see it has opened the Note Detail View where we have the option to delete this note using the delete button. And also we have the update html5 form where all the details are populated in input fields. And we have the option to make a PUT Request to update the data of the Note.