At the last Chicago Djangonauts meeting, which we host in our office, I gave my first Python/Django talk. I spoke regarding unit-testing your code in general, but, also how unit-testing works within the context of web-applications. The talk went smoothly and it seemed to be well recieved. Python's standard library...

I'm happy to report that the DjangoCon schedule has been announced and we have two presentations that made the cut. Joe Jasinski will be making the solo presentation, "So You Want to Make a Payment: Comparing and contrasting Django payment options" which will introduce and compare some common payment gateway options,...

Here is a quick example of how to add a multiple file form to your Django application.  Most multiple-upload front-ends were created without Django in mind, so interfacing with tools is not always straightforward as it might be with a different language.  Thankfully, there are a couple of Django libraries...

All types of Django auth do basically the same thing: They associate a browser session ID with a Django user if the user logs-in successfully.  I found a neat technique to bypass a Django login by modifying with a Django session, which can be useful for testing purposes. Why is...

Here at Imaginary we maintain our own git repositories internally with the help of the invaluable utility, Gitolite. This works well for us. However, in some cases, our clients have their own repositories that we must interact with. The problem arises when the client repositories reside on a third-party service, usually Github. As you likely know,...

As a Web developer with a specialty in creating and maintaining hospital websites, it is important that we fully understand where these things intersect with HIPAA.  In fact, any agency that is charged with the creation, care and maintenance of a hospital website must fully understand these things. One of...

People feel strongly about these bills and are jumping on any bully pulpit to instill fear in the hearts of the non-supporters (or supporters, depending on the pulpit).  As with most impassioned controversy, most of the coverage is limited to the polar extremes.  Each side focusing on the most liberal...

Imaginary Landscape was highlighted in a recent blog post as one of only two Corporate Members of the Django Software Foundation. The post appears on the Django Project website and was written by DSF President Russell Keith-Magee.

I wanted to share a quick practical example of how Fabric, can make your development life easier. If you're unfamiliar with Fabric I recommend checking out its tutorial which describes Fabric thusly; Fabric is a Python (2.5 or higher) library and command-line tool for streamlining the use of SSH for application deployment...

Many thanks to Joe Jasinski and Eric van Zanten for their presentations on GeoDjango at November's Chicago Djangonauts meetup. Joe kicked off the evening with his presentation, Introduction to GeoDjango.  The presentation was based on his recent blog post GeoDjango Quickstart.  Joe has also provided his presentation slides. After a...

GeoDjango is a very powerful tool for storing and manipulating geographic data using the Django ORM.  It provides a simple API to determine distances between two points on a map, find areas of polygons, locate the points within a polygon, and much more.   GeoDjango is fairly well documented on...

At its minimum, the Django Admin is an effective tool for viewing and manipulating data within a Django database.  At its max, it can be a robust application allowing clients and administrators to better manage their web applications.   This article aims to highlight some of the admin customizations that...

We just recently discovered an issue where a programming decision affected the ease (or lack thereof) of establishing goal funnels in Google Analytics.  What we also discovered was that it was completely avoidable with a little better communicatioin between our Django programming staff and our analytics staff.  As is typical...

Having scheduled the first meeting of the reanimated Chicago Djangonauts, I didn't know what to expect.  There were a number of RSVPs on Facebook and a couple through the chicagodjango.com site, but you never know. We ordered three cases of beer from our favorite brewer and 13 pizzas from our...

For the fourth year in a row, we have just completed our sponsorship of PyCon.  Each time I return to the office after the conference ends, I am filled with a particular energy.  This year that energy is more pronounced. In many ways, our day-to-day work is done in relative...

As people put more faith in mobile devices, the impact of security breaches can be all the more devastating.  From the perspective of a mobile Web application developer, mobile devices can be an additional entry point into an application.  Creating mobile-friendly Web applications with security as a top priority is...

The study was conducted by researchers at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario.  The test was conducted using files provided by volunteer stakeholders in 15 clinical trials.  And, although the samples were not representative of all clinical trials in Canada, they...

With the proliferation of social media sites, multiple email accounts, logins at various financial institution websites, multiple computers and smart phones, the amount of personal information stored in the “cloud” continues to grow. So, what happens when you die?  How can you protect your digital footprint and make it easy...

Django forms are very convenient tools for Django development, but sometimes I find myself wrangling with them to get them to do what I want them to do.  I’ve compiled a few simple form examples that I find useful for various form-related tasks. Say you have a model that looks...

Of all the Django modules that are out there, several stand out as ones that I keep coming back to.  These are some of my favorites:  Django Debug Toolbar Django Debug Toolbar is an extremely useful Django application for debugging a site from “Django’s perspective.”  It should only be used...

One of the most important decisions you make in the process of building a new Django application is what software stack you use to serve it to the world. You're not lacking for options: people run Django on Apache, lighty, nginx, and Cherokee. You also need to decide how to...

The first time I used the new link attachment tool found on sites like Facebook, I thought I had experienced something magical.  After pasting an external webpage URL into my wall-post form, an image, page title, and page description of the linked webpage appeared beneath my post as though out...

We have just completed our third year as a sponsor of PyCon and I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on our use of Python as well as the conference itself. Pretty much everyone I spoke to was impressed that we've been programming Web sites in Python since...

There's been a healthy amount of discussion about how applications should handle settings. As the creator of Mingus pointed out, it's a weird situation. You want anyone to be able to use your application with as little fuss as possible, but at the same time you just need to have...

I recently started working on another new project here at Imaginary Landscape, and this one looked rather enticing as it threw some stuff my way that I haven't had a chance to play with much recently. First on that chopping block was a multi-page registration form application. Immediately I remembered...