Build REST APIs with Python, Django REST Framework: Web API

Learn to install Python step by step from python.org on Windows, add python.exe to path, and set up PyCharm Community Edition IDE for local development.

install the PyCharm community edition for Python development, download from JetBrains, run the installer, configure path variables, and explore cross-platform support and essential features.

Create your first Python project in PyCharm by setting up a virtual environment inside the project and configuring the base interpreter, then create main.py to run hello world.

practice writing and running a hello world program in python with pycharm, creating a welcome.py file, printing hello world, and verifying a successful exit code 0.

Learn command line basics essential for Django development, including navigating directories with dir and cd, listing files, and running server commands from the terminal to build projects and apps.

Install the Postman API platform on your local Windows, Mac, or Linux machine, then test your REST APIs with get, post, put, and delete, building a local development environment.

Learn how the Django web framework accelerates development from concept to launch, with out-of-the-box tools for authentication, content administration, sitemap, and security against sql injections and cross-site scripting.

Install Django 4.2.2 and Django REST framework 3.14.0 in a PyCharm community edition project, create a virtual environment, and set up a test to build REST APIs.

Install django-cors-headers with pip to enable cross-origin resource sharing in Django apps, applying cors headers to responses and improving api security.

Create a Django project from command prompt using django-admin startproject, navigate into the project directory, and run python manage.py runserver to launch development server at 127.0.0.1:8000 for REST API work.

Understand Django architecture by exploring project structure, settings, apps, middleware, and routing, and learn to run the server, configure databases, urls, templates, and admin.

Create a Django app inside a project using Python manage.py startapp, explore the app skeleton (models, views, admin), and organize modules like employees and departments.

Master how Django models, views, and url routings are created and registered in a project, including admin, migrations, app configuration, and registering apps for REST APIs.

Register the employee app in the Django project by updating settings.py with rest_framework, headers, and the employee app config. Register the course headers middleware and enable its flag.

Explore PostgreSQL, an open source relational database, and its advantages for web applications, including data integrity, concurrency, security, and internationalization. Use SQL to interact with this system in Django projects.

Install and configure PostgreSQL on Windows using the EDB installer, set up the superuser postgres, tailor data directory and port 5432, and launch pgAdmin to securely create and access databases.

Start pgadmin on your local machine, securely log in to Postgres, and create databases; explore the pgadmin dashboard, object explorer, schemas, and tables for Django migrations to build REST APIs.

Install the psycopg2 module to enable a Postgres database connection for a Django app. Configure the Django databases engine as django.db.backends.postgresql and set the database name rest api db.

Learn to use the database query tool to insert and verify sample records in PostgreSQL, using insert into and select queries for departments and employees, to support REST API development.

Create Django model classes, run makemigrations and migrate to build tables, then learn basic querying in the admin interface and prep for adding sample data.

Learn how serializers in Django REST framework convert complex data types to native Python data types, enable validation, deserialization, and serialization for CRUD operations with models.

Create Django REST Framework serializers to convert models to native types and back, with validation. Define department and employee serializers in serializers.py using ModelSerializer and fields to enable API development.

Implement the get method in a Django REST Framework API to fetch department records, serialize them, and return a JSON response with safe set to false, handling id-based queries.

Implement a post method in Django Rest Framework to create department records by deserializing JSON input, validating with a serializer, and saving to the database.

Implement the put method in rest framework to update a record using its primary key and a serializer for validation. Return a json response indicating success or failure after saving.

Implement a rest framework delete method to remove a unique department record by id, return a json message, and handle invalid requests, with future get/post/put/delete examples and testing against PostgreSQL.

Learn to create app url patterns and path settings in Django REST Framework to route REST API methods, including id-based endpoints for department operations via the department API.

Learn how to add app URLs to the main project URLs in Django using path and include, and connect the employee app URLs to the project.

Explore the Postman API app to test REST APIs from your local development environment. Learn to use get, post, put, delete, patch, and run your Django API server at 127.0.0.1:8000.

Test the rest api using the get method on the local app at 127.0.0.1:8000 to retrieve department records and verify serializer and case sensitivity in PostgreSQL.

Learn to test the API put method with Postman, update a department record via JSON payload, verify changes with GET requests, and interpret 200 status responses.

Learn to test the REST API delete method using Django, applying the built-in delete function on an object by id and validating removal with a subsequent get request in Postman.