How to create a fullstack application using Django and Python Part 33

Friday, November 29, 2024 at 2:07 PM | 5 min read

Last modified on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 8:08 PM

#fullstack development, #macOS, #django, #app, #python3, #custom domain, #domain verification, #backend email service, #makemigrations, #migrate, #mailtrap, #namecheap, #series, #views

Letters plaque on mailbox

Photo by Calvin Hanson on pexels.com

Important Note: Before committing anything to Git or pushing anything to remote, please visit How to create a fullstack application using Django and Python Part 4 where I discuss how to add the python-dotenv package to the Django site and why it is crucial to do it. This article assumes you have a working knowledge of Git.

Table of Contents

Getting a custom domain

In order to set up a backend email service with Django Boards, I first had to purchase a domain. I purchased djangoboards.org on Namecheap. Then I added it to my Mailtrap account when it prompted me for my application's domain.

Connecting the custom domain to Render

Next, I had to connect my custom domain to Render. To do that, I went into my django-boards web service settings and scrolled down to "Custom Domains". Then I clicked on "Add Custom Domain" and followed the prompts.

When my domain was verified, Render returned "verified", but also returned "Certificate pending". I contacted Namecheap support to determine next steps. Their live chat support takes 5-10 minutes to get back with answers. They explained where the certificate came from and that they had nothing to do with it. It was a Render certificate. I went back to my django-boards web service Settings and refreshed the page. "Certificate Issued" appeared.

When I checked my application's web address, both django-boards.onrender.com and www.djangoboards.org were available.

However, there was one more thing to do. I had to add my custom domain to my ALLOWED_HOSTS and push that change to remote! I added both djangoboards.org and www.djangoboards.org. I added these values to my environment variable called ALLOWED_HOSTS within Environment in my django-boards web service. You can also add it to your ALLOWED_HOSTS in .env as well. I did.

After my variable was updated, my build and deployment completed, I clicked on my custom domain again. This time it worked!

Namecheap is a great place to purchase domains. Their prices are very competitive, and their support is really great. If you decide to take that route, please visit Render's Configuring Namecheap DNS. It takes no time to set up.

Configuring Domain Verification with Namecheap for Mailtrap

Mailtrap provided me with documentation entitled Domain Verification with Namecheap, and I followed the steps to verification there:

  1. I went into my Namecheap dashboard and clicked on djangoboards.org's Manage button.
  2. I navigated to the Advanced DNS tab.
  3. I clicked on Add New Record.
  4. I returned to Mailtrap. On the Domain Verification page, I looked for the DNS records I needed to add to Namecheap. These are Domain Verification, DKIM, SPF, DMARC, and Domain Tracking. I needed the values under Type, Name, and Value.

Domain Verification, DKIM, and Domain tracking are CNAME records. SPF and DMARC are TXT records.

  1. Domain Verification proves that I own the domain.
  2. DKIM verifies that emails are sent from my domain.
  3. SPF authorizes the Mailtrap server to send my emails.
  4. DMARC tells email servers what to do when DKIM or SPF fails.

I have been verified on Mailtrap, but only have access to Email Testing at this time because my compliance check is not complete. Mailtrap "needs to perform additional checks on this domain". This can take up to one business day." It has been more than one day that I have not heard from them (1.5.25). With all the bad actors on the internet, it has become very difficult for developers to create realtime applications towards their "dynamic" portfolios.

However, I am writing a post regarding Mailtrap email testing. It will be published soon!

In the meantime, I am further investigating email backend services (including Mailgun).

Adding a new app called faqs

I also added a new app called faqs where commonly asked questions are answered. I just had to make sure that I commented out my production database and uncommented my development database. Then, once everything worked well in development, I just had to recreate the content in production.

The command for creating the faqs app:

python3 manage.py startapp faqs

Creating the models for faqs

# faqs/models.py
from django.db import models

# Create your models here.
class FAQ(models.Model):
    question = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    answer = models.TextField()

    def __str__(self):
        return f"{self.question} {self.answer}"

At first I thought it would be great to have a bit of HTML which I would create in the Django admin and then apply the safe template filter which would tell the template engine that the output of faq.question and faq.answer is safe to display as HTML without escaping. But then I thought better of it, and removed all HTML. I had been using <br> tags to create linebreaks, but then I came across the template filter called linebreaksbr. It replaced all the <br> tags I had been using, and I removed the one anchor element I had added. I decided to just add plain text. Much safer that way! I couldn't use the nh3 sanitization configuration I had created for my board topics markdown, because that involved actual forms on the front end. That is not how I configured faqs.question and faqs.answer. There were no forms for them on the front end.

Creating the view for faqs

Next, I created a simple view for the faqs app. It is the following:

# faqs/views.py
from django.shortcuts import render
from .models import FAQ

# Create your views here.

def faqs_view(request):
    faqs = FAQ.objects.all()
    return render(request, 'faqs/faqs.html', {'faqs': faqs})

Creating a URLconf for the faqs_index view

Next, I created a URLconf for the faqs_index view in faqs/urls.py;

# faqs/urls.py
from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('faqs/', views.faqs_view, name='faqs_index'),
]

In order to access faqs_view in a browser, we need to map it to a URL. In order to map it to a URL, we need to define a URL configuration or URLconf for short inside polls/urls.py. URLconfs are defined in each Django project app in urls.py. Note that when we create an app, it does not come with a urls.py file. We have to create one.

Configuring the global URL configuration for faqs_index view in django_boards/urls.py

Next, I had to configure the global URL conf defined in django_boards/urls.py. To do this, I added the following:

# django_boards/urls.py
urlpatterns = [
    ...
    path("", include('faqs.urls')),
    ...
]

We define our faqs-specific URLs in faqs/urls.py, and then just add path("", include('faqs.urls')), as indicated above.

The include() function lets us reference other URLconfs. include() excludes the part of the URL that follows the matched part, i.e., faqs/, and sends the remaining string to the included URLconf for further processing. In my case here, all faqs/ related URLconfs are sent to django_boards/urls.py for further processing. This approach organizes URLs by app, and also makes the global urls.py in our Django project much easier to read.

Migrating faqs

Since I had created/made changes to my faqs model, I had to run a migration on faqs. I also had to make sure that I was in development mode. I had to comment out my production database in django_boards/settings/production.py and uncomment my development database in django_boards/settings/development.py. Then I ran the following commands:

python3 manage.py makemigrations faqs
python3 manage.py migrate faqs

Making the faqs app modifiable in the admin interface

Next, I had to register the fags app so that it would be modifiable in the admin interface. I added the following to faqs/admin.py:

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import FAQ

# Register your models here.
admin.site.register(FAQ)

Now the FAQS app appeared in the Django Boards admin along with Accounts and Boards. This meant that now I could add my FAQs questions and answers from the admin as I wanted.

Conclusion

In this section, I got a custom domain for my Django Boards application from Namecheap, connected the custom domain to Render, configured domain verification with Namecheap for Mailtrap backend email service, added a new app called faqs, created the models for faqs, created a view for faqs, created a URLconf for the faqs_index view, configured the global URL configuration for faqs_index view in django_boards/urls.py, migrated faqs, and made the faqs app modifiable in the admin interface.