Sample Web discussion forum built in Django - CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) database operations

I created this while learning Django from this tutorial : SimpleIsBetterThanComplex

I was a total beginner in Django while developing this project, however I learnt a lot during the development. This sample application contains limited features and therefore can be updated to include new ones.

Brief description of project:

• Only admin users can create new Boards.
• Users can ask queries by starting topics under existing boards.
• Users can also post replies to existing topics.

(You can consider Python as a Board and all queries regarding Python can be asked by starting topics)

Functionalities included in project:

• User signup
• User login
• Password reset - in case user forgets password
• Change password
• Topic creation
• Posting replies to topic
• Markdown editor for post message

Tools and technologies :

• Django - Python framework for web application
• HTML - for creating django webpage templates
• W3.CSS - CSS framework which is similar to Bootstrap
• markdown - Python library for markdown
• django-mdeditor - Python library for markdown editor
• python-decouple - Python library for separating secret setting parameters of project from source code
• dj_database_url - Python library to simplify database connection values
• sendgrid - Python library for free email service using Sendgrid API
• PythonAnywhere - for deployment of django application, serving static & media files
• Sublime Text Editor - for writing code
• Git - for version control

How to run this project :

0. Make sure you have Python 3, Git and virtualenv library installed
1. Create a directory - forum_folder
2. Inside forum_folder, create virtual environment using virtualenv menv
3. Activate virtualenv by going in menv>Scripts> run activate. menv is now activated in shell or cmd prompt.
4. Inside forum_folder, run git clone https://github.com/mir1198yusuf/discussion_forum
5. Navigate to newly created folder discussion_forum, run pip install -r requirements.txt
6. Generate Django secret key for project. Run python generate_secret_key.py and copy the output string
7. Paste it in .env file at YOUR_SECRET_KEY
8. Run python manage.py migrate to apply database migrations.
9. Create a user python manage.py createsuperuser
10. Finally start the project - python manage.py runserver
11. Go to the link displayed in shell/cmd prompt to view site.

Live demo site

The project is live at site