![Django Styleguide](logo.png) --- Django styleguide used in [HackSoft](https://hacksoft.io) projects. Expect often updates as we discuss & decide upon different things. If you want to check an existing project showing most of the styleguide, [check the Styleguide-Example](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example) **Table of contents:** - [Overview](#overview) - [Cookie Cutter](#cookie-cutter) - [Models](#models) * [Custom validation](#custom-validation) * [Properties](#properties) * [Methods](#methods) * [Testing](#testing) - [Services](#services) * [Naming convention](#naming-convention) - [Selectors](#selectors) * [Naming convention](#naming-convention-1) - [APIs & Serializers](#apis--serializers) * [Naming convention](#naming-convention-2) * [An example list API](#an-example-list-api) + [Plain](#plain) + [Filters + Pagination](#filters--pagination) * [An example detail API](#an-example-detail-api) * [An example create API](#an-example-create-api) * [An example update API](#an-example-update-api) * [Nested serializers](#nested-serializers) - [Urls](#urls) - [Exception Handling](#exception-handling) * [Raising Exceptions in Services / Selectors](#raising-exceptions-in-services--selectors) * [Handle Exceptions in APIs](#handle-exceptions-in-apis) * [Error formatting](#error-formatting) - [Testing](#testing-1) * [Naming conventions](#naming-conventions) * [Example](#example) + [Example models](#example-models) + [Example selectors](#example-selectors) + [Example services](#example-services) * [Testing services](#testing-services) * [Testing selectors](#testing-selectors) - [Celery](#celery) * [Structure](#structure) + [Configuration](#configuration) + [Tasks](#tasks) + [Circular imports between tasks & services](#circular-imports-between-tasks--services) * [Periodic Tasks](#periodic-tasks) * [Configuration](#configuration-1) - [Misc](#misc) * [mypy / type annotations](#mypy--type-annotations) - [Inspiration](#inspiration) ## Overview **In Django, business logic should live in:** * Model properties (with some exceptions). * Model `clean` method for additional validations (with some exceptions). * Services - functions, that take care of writing to the database. * Selectors - functions, that take care of fetching from the database. **In Django, business logic should not live in:** * APIs and Views. * Serializers and Forms. * Form tags. * Model `save` method. **Model properties vs selectors:** * If the model property spans multiple relations, it should better be a selector. * If a model property, added to some list API, will cause `N + 1` problem that cannot be easily solved with `select_related`, it should better be a selector. ## Cookie Cutter We recommend starting every new project with some kind of cookiecutter. Having the proper structure from the start pays off. For example, you can use [`cookiecutter-django`](https://github.com/pydanny/cookiecutter-django) ## Models Lets take a look at an example model: ```python class Course(models.Model): name = models.CharField(unique=True, max_length=255) start_date = models.DateField() end_date = models.DateField() attendable = models.BooleanField(default=True) students = models.ManyToManyField( Student, through='CourseAssignment', through_fields=('course', 'student') ) teachers = models.ManyToManyField( Teacher, through='CourseAssignment', through_fields=('course', 'teacher') ) slug_url = models.SlugField(unique=True) repository = models.URLField(blank=True) video_channel = models.URLField(blank=True) facebook_group = models.URLField(blank=True) logo = models.ImageField(blank=True) public = models.BooleanField(default=True) generate_certificates_delta = models.DurationField(default=timedelta(days=15)) objects = CourseManager() def clean(self): if self.start_date > self.end_date: raise ValidationError("End date cannot be before start date!") def save(self, *args, **kwargs): self.full_clean() return super().save(*args, **kwargs) @property def visible_teachers(self): return self.teachers.filter(course_assignments__hidden=False).select_related('profile') @property def duration_in_weeks(self): weeks = rrule.rrule( rrule.WEEKLY, dtstart=self.start_date, until=self.end_date ) return weeks.count() @property def has_started(self): now = get_now() return self.start_date <= now.date() @property def has_finished(self): now = get_now() return self.end_date <= now.date() @property def can_generate_certificates(self): now = get_now() return now.date() <= self.end_date + self.generate_certificates_delta def __str__(self) -> str: return self.name ``` Few things to spot here. **Custom validation:** * There's a custom model validation, defined in `clean()`. This validation uses only model fields and spans no relations. * This requires someone to call `full_clean()` on the model instance. The best place to do that is in the `save()` method of the model. Otherwise, people can forget to call `full_clean()` in the respective service. **Properties:** * All properties, except `visible_teachers`, work directly on model fields. * `visible_teachers` is a great candidate for a **selector**. We have few general rules for custom validations & model properties / methods: ### Custom validation * If the custom validation depends only on the **non-relational model fields**, define it in `clean` and call `full_clean` in `save`. * If the custom validation is more complex & **spans relationships**, do it in the service that creates the model. * It's OK to combine both `clean` and additional validation in the `service`. * As proposed in [this issue](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Django-Styleguide/issues/22), if you can do validation using [Django's constraints](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/models/constraints/), then you should aim for that. Less code to write. ### Properties * If your model properties use only **non-relational model fields**, they are OK to stay as properties. * If a property, such as `visible_teachers` starts **spanning relationships**, it's better to define a selector for that. ### Methods * If you need a method that updates several fields at once (for example - `created_at` and `created_by` when something happens), you can create a model method that does the job. * Every model method should be wrapped in a service. There should be no model method calling outside a service. ### Testing Models need to be tested only if there's something additional to them - like custom validation or properties. If we are strict & don't do custom validation / properties, then we can test the models without actually writing anything to the database => we are going to get quicker tests. For example, if we want to test the custom validation, here's how a test could look like: ```python from datetime import timedelta from django.test import TestCase from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError from project.common.utils import get_now from project.education.factories import CourseFactory from project.education.models import Course class CourseTests(TestCase): def test_course_end_date_cannot_be_before_start_date(self): start_date = get_now() end_date = get_now() - timedelta(days=1) course_data = CourseFactory.build() course_data['start_date'] = start_date course_data['end_date'] = end_date course = Course(**course_data) with self.assertRaises(ValidationError): course.full_clean() ``` There's a lot going on in this test: * `get_now()` returns a timezone aware datetime. * `CourseFactory.build()` will return a dictionary with all required fields for a course to exist. * We replace the values for `start_date` and `end_date`. * We assert that a validation error is going to be raised if we call `full_clean`. * We are not hitting the database at all, since there's no need for that. Here's how `CourseFactory` looks like: ```python class CourseFactory(factory.DjangoModelFactory): name = factory.Sequence(lambda n: f'{n}{faker.word()}') start_date = factory.LazyAttribute( lambda _: get_now() ) end_date = factory.LazyAttribute( lambda _: get_now() + timedelta(days=30) ) slug_url = factory.Sequence(lambda n: f'{n}{faker.slug()}') repository = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda _: faker.url()) video_channel = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda _: faker.url()) facebook_group = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda _: faker.url()) class Meta: model = Course @classmethod def _build(cls, model_class, *args, **kwargs): return kwargs @classmethod def _create(cls, model_class, *args, **kwargs): return create_course(**kwargs) ``` ## Services A service is a simple function that: * Lives in `your_app/services.py` module * Takes keyword-only arguments * Is type-annotated (even if you are not using [`mypy`](https://github.com/python/mypy) at the moment) * Works mostly with models & other services and selectors * Does business logic - from simple model creation to complex cross-cutting concerns, to calling external services & tasks. An example service that creates a user: ```python def create_user( *, email: str, name: str ) -> User: user = User(email=email) user.full_clean() user.save() create_profile(user=user, name=name) send_confirmation_email(user=user) return user ``` As you can see, this service calls 2 other services - `create_profile` and `send_confirmation_email` ### Naming convention Naming conventions depend on your taste. It pays off to have a consistent naming convention throughout a project. If we take the example above, our service is named `create_user`. The pattern is - `_`. What we usually prefer in our projects, again, depending on taste, is `_` or with the example above: `user_create`. This seems odd at first, but it has few nice features: * Namespacing. It's easy to spot all services starting with `user_` and it's a good idea to put them in a `users.py` module. * Greppability. Or in other words, if you want to see all actions for a specific entity, just grep for `user_`. A full example would look like this: ```python def user_create( *, email: str, name: str ) -> User: user = User(email=email) user.full_clean() user.save() profile_create(user=user, name=name) confirmation_email_send(user=user) return user ``` ## Selectors A selector is a simple function that: * Lives in `your_app/selectors.py` module * Takes keyword-only arguments * Is type-annotated (even if you are not using [`mypy`](https://github.com/python/mypy) at the moment) * Works mostly with models & other services and selectors * Does business logic around fetching data from your database An example selector that lists users from the database: ```python def get_users(*, fetched_by: User) -> Iterable[User]: user_ids = get_visible_users_for(user=fetched_by) query = Q(id__in=user_ids) return User.objects.filter(query) ``` As you can see, `get_visible_users_for` is another selector. ### Naming convention Read the section in services. The same rules apply here. ## APIs & Serializers When using services & selectors, all of your APIs should look simple & identical. General rules for an API is: * Do 1 API per operation. For CRUD on a model, this means 4 APIs. * Use the most simple `APIView` or `GenericAPIView` * Use services / selectors & don't do business logic in your API. * Use serializers for fetching objects from params - passed either via `GET` or `POST` * Serializer should be nested in the API and be named either `InputSerializer` or `OutputSerializer` * `OutputSerializer` can subclass `ModelSerializer`, if needed. * `InputSerializer` should always be a plain `Serializer` * Reuse serializers as little as possible * If you need a nested serializer, use the `inline_serializer` util ### Naming convention For our APIs we use the following naming convention: `Api`. Here are few examples: `UserCreateApi`, `UserSendResetPasswordApi`, `UserDeactivateApi`, etc. ### An example list API #### Plain A dead-simple list API would look like that: ```python from rest_framework.views import APIView from rest_framework import serializers from rest_framework.response import Response from styleguide_example.users.selectors import user_list from styleguide_example.users.models import BaseUser class UserListApi(APIView): class OutputSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer): class Meta: model = BaseUser fields = ( 'id', 'email' ) def get(self, request): users = user_list() data = self.OutputSerializer(users, many=True).data return Response(data) ``` Keep in mind this API is public by default. Authentication is up to you. #### Filters + Pagination At first glance, this is tricky, since our APIs are inheriting the plain `APIView` from DRF, while filtering and pagination are baked into the generic ones: 1. [DRF Filtering](https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/filtering/) 1. [DRF Pagination](https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/pagination/) That's why, we take the following approach: 1. Selectors take care of the actual filtering. 1. APIs take care of filter parameter serialization. 1. APIs take care of pagination. Let's look at the example: ```python from rest_framework.views import APIView from rest_framework import serializers from styleguide_example.api.mixins import ApiErrorsMixin from styleguide_example.api.pagination import get_paginated_response, LimitOffsetPagination from styleguide_example.users.selectors import user_list from styleguide_example.users.models import BaseUser class UserListApi(ApiErrorsMixin, APIView): class Pagination(LimitOffsetPagination): default_limit = 1 class FilterSerializer(serializers.Serializer): id = serializers.IntegerField(required=False) # Important: If we use BooleanField, it will default to False is_admin = serializers.NullBooleanField(required=False) email = serializers.EmailField(required=False) class OutputSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer): class Meta: model = BaseUser fields = ( 'id', 'email', 'is_admin' ) def get(self, request): # Make sure the filters are valid, if passed filters_serializer = self.FilterSerializer(data=request.query_params) filters_serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True) users = user_list(filters=filters_serializer.validated_data) return get_paginated_response( pagination_class=self.Pagination, serializer_class=self.OutputSerializer, queryset=users, request=request, view=self ) ``` When we look at the API, we can identify few things: 1. There's a `FilterSerializer`, which will take care of the query parameters. If we don't do this here, we'll have to do it elsewhere & DRF serializers are great at this job. 1. We pass the filters to the `user_list` selector 1. We use the `get_paginated_response` utility, to return a .. paginated response. Now, let's look at the selector: ```python import django_filters from styleguide_example.users.models import BaseUser class BaseUserFilter(django_filters.FilterSet): class Meta: model = BaseUser fields = ('id', 'email', 'is_admin') def user_list(*, filters=None): filters = filters or {} qs = BaseUser.objects.all() return BaseUserFilter(filters, qs).qs ``` As you can see, we are leveraging the powerful [`django-filter`](https://django-filter.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) library. But you can do whatever suits you best here. We have projects, where we implemented our own filtering layer & used it here. The key thing is - **selectors take care of filtering**. Finally, let's look at `get_paginated_response`: ```python from rest_framework.response import Response def get_paginated_response(*, pagination_class, serializer_class, queryset, request, view): paginator = pagination_class() page = paginator.paginate_queryset(queryset, request, view=view) if page is not None: serializer = serializer_class(page, many=True) return paginator.get_paginated_response(serializer.data) serializer = serializer_class(queryset, many=True) return Response(data=serializer.data) ``` This is basically a code, extracted from within DRF. Same goes for the `LimitOffsetPagination: ```python from collections import OrderedDict from rest_framework.pagination import LimitOffsetPagination as _LimitOffsetPagination from rest_framework.response import Response class LimitOffsetPagination(_LimitOffsetPagination): default_limit = 10 max_limit = 50 def get_paginated_data(self, data): return OrderedDict([ ('limit', self.limit), ('offset', self.offset), ('count', self.count), ('next', self.get_next_link()), ('previous', self.get_previous_link()), ('results', data) ]) def get_paginated_response(self, data): """ We redefine this method in order to return `limit` and `offset`. This is used by the frontend to construct the pagination itself. """ return Response(OrderedDict([ ('limit', self.limit), ('offset', self.offset), ('count', self.count), ('next', self.get_next_link()), ('previous', self.get_previous_link()), ('results', data) ])) ``` What we basically did is reverse-engineered the generic APIs, since pagination should be able to live outside the layers of complexity there. **A possible future implementation should be able to paginate without needing the request / response of the APIView.** You can find the code for the example list API with filters & pagination in the [Styleguide Example](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example#example-list-api) project. ### An example detail API ```python class CourseDetailApi(SomeAuthenticationMixin, APIView): class OutputSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer): class Meta: model = Course fields = ('id', 'name', 'start_date', 'end_date') def get(self, request, course_id): course = get_course(id=course_id) serializer = self.OutputSerializer(course) return Response(serializer.data) ``` ### An example create API ```python class CourseCreateApi(SomeAuthenticationMixin, APIView): class InputSerializer(serializers.Serializer): name = serializers.CharField() start_date = serializers.DateField() end_date = serializers.DateField() def post(self, request): serializer = self.InputSerializer(data=request.data) serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True) create_course(**serializer.validated_data) return Response(status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED) ``` ### An example update API ```python class CourseUpdateApi(SomeAuthenticationMixin, APIView): class InputSerializer(serializers.Serializer): name = serializers.CharField(required=False) start_date = serializers.DateField(required=False) end_date = serializers.DateField(required=False) def post(self, request, course_id): serializer = self.InputSerializer(data=request.data) serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True) update_course(course_id=course_id, **serializer.validated_data) return Response(status=status.HTTP_200_OK) ``` ### Nested serializers In case you need to use a nested serializer, you can do the following thing: ```python class Serializer(serializers.Serializer): weeks = inline_serializer(many=True, fields={ 'id': serializers.IntegerField(), 'number': serializers.IntegerField(), }) ``` The implementation of `inline_serializer` can be found [here](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example/blob/master/styleguide_example/common/utils.py#L34), in the [Styleguide-Example](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example) repo. ## Urls We usually organize our urls the same way we organize our APIs - 1 url per API, meaning 1 url per action. A general rule of thumb is to split urls from different domains in their own `domain_patterns` list & include from `urlpatterns`. Here's an example with the APIs from above: ```python from django.urls import path, include from project.education.apis import ( CourseCreateApi, CourseUpdateApi, CourseListApi, CourseDetailApi, CourseSpecificActionApi, ) course_patterns = [ path('', CourseListApi.as_view(), name='list'), path('/', CourseDetailApi.as_view(), name='detail'), path('create/', CourseCreateApi.as_view(), name='create'), path('/update/', CourseUpdateApi.as_view(), name='update'), path( '/specific-action/', CourseSpecificActionApi.as_view(), name='specific-action' ), ] urlpatterns = [ path('courses/', include((course_patterns, 'courses'))), ] ``` **Splitting urls like that can give you the extra flexibility to move separate domain patterns to separate modules**, especially for really big projects, where you'll often have merge conflicts in `urls.py`. ## Exception Handling ### Raising Exceptions in Services / Selectors Now we have a separation between our HTTP interface & the core logic of our application. To keep this separation of concerns, our services and selectors must not use the `rest_framework.exception` classes because they are bounded with HTTP status codes. Our services and selectors must use one of: * [Python built-in exceptions](https://docs.python.org/3/library/exceptions.html) * Exceptions from `django.core.exceptions` * Custom exceptions, inheriting from the ones above. Here is a good example of service that performs some validation and raises `django.core.exceptions.ValidationError`: ```python from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError def create_topic(*, name: str, course: Course) -> Topic: if course.end_date < timezone.now(): raise ValidationError('You can not create topics for course that has ended.') topic = Topic.objects.create(name=name, course=course) return topic ``` ### Handle Exceptions in APIs To transform the exceptions raised in the services or selectors, to a standard HTTP response, you need to catch the exception and raise something that the rest framework understands. The best place to do this is in the `handle_exception` method of the `APIView`. There you can map your Python/Django exception to a DRF exception. By default, the [`handle_exception` method implementation in DRF](https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/exceptions/#exception-handling-in-rest-framework-views) handles Django's built-in `Http404` and `PermissionDenied` exceptions, thus there is no need for you to handle it by hand. Here is an example: ```python from rest_framework import exceptions as rest_exceptions from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError class CourseCreateApi(SomeAuthenticationMixin, APIView): expected_exceptions = { ValidationError: rest_exceptions.ValidationError } class InputSerializer(serializers.Serializer): ... def post(self, request): serializer = self.InputSerializer(data=request.data) serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True) create_course(**serializer.validated_data) return Response(status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED) def handle_exception(self, exc): if isinstance(exc, tuple(self.expected_exceptions.keys())): drf_exception_class = self.expected_exceptions[exc.__class__] drf_exception = drf_exception_class(get_error_message(exc)) return super().handle_exception(drf_exception) return super().handle_exception(exc) ``` Here's the implementation of `get_error_message`: ```python def get_first_matching_attr(obj, *attrs, default=None): for attr in attrs: if hasattr(obj, attr): return getattr(obj, attr) return default def get_error_message(exc): if hasattr(exc, 'message_dict'): return exc.message_dict error_msg = get_first_matching_attr(exc, 'message', 'messages') if isinstance(error_msg, list): error_msg = ', '.join(error_msg) if error_msg is None: error_msg = str(exc) return error_msg ``` You can move this code to a mixin and use it in every API to prevent code duplication. We call this `ApiErrorsMixin`. Here's a sample implementation from one of our projects: ```python from rest_framework import exceptions as rest_exceptions from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError from project.common.utils import get_error_message class ApiErrorsMixin: """ Mixin that transforms Django and Python exceptions into rest_framework ones. Without the mixin, they return 500 status code which is not desired. """ expected_exceptions = { ValueError: rest_exceptions.ValidationError, ValidationError: rest_exceptions.ValidationError, PermissionError: rest_exceptions.PermissionDenied } def handle_exception(self, exc): if isinstance(exc, tuple(self.expected_exceptions.keys())): drf_exception_class = self.expected_exceptions[exc.__class__] drf_exception = drf_exception_class(get_error_message(exc)) return super().handle_exception(drf_exception) return super().handle_exception(exc) ``` Having this mixin in mind, our API can be written like that: ```python class CourseCreateApi( SomeAuthenticationMixin, ApiErrorsMixin, APIView ): class InputSerializer(serializers.Serializer): ... def post(self, request): serializer = self.InputSerializer(data=request.data) serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True) create_course(**serializer.validated_data) return Response(status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED) ``` All of the code above can be found in [here](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example/blob/master/styleguide_example/api/mixins.py#L70), in the [Styleguide-Example](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example) repo. ### Error formatting The next step is to generalize the format of the errors we get from our APIs. This will ease the process of displaying errors to the end-user, via JavaScript. If we have a standard serializer and there is an error with one of the fields, the message we get by default looks like this: ```python { "url": [ "This field is required." ] } ``` If we have a validation error with just a message - `raise ValidationError('Something is wrong.')` - it will look like this: ```python [ "some error" ] ``` Another error format may look like this: ```python { "detail": "Method \"GET\" not allowed." } ``` **Those are 3 different ways of formatting for our errors.** What we want to have is a single format, for all errors. Luckily, DRF provides a way for us to give our own custom exception handler, where we can implement the desired formatting: In our projects, we format the errors like that: ```python { "errors": [ { "message": "Error message", "code": "Some code", "field": "field_name" }, { "message": "Error message", "code": "Some code", "field": "nested.field_name" }, ] } ``` If we raise a `ValidationError`, then the field is optional. In order to achieve that, we implement a custom exception handler: ```python from rest_framework.views import exception_handler def exception_errors_format_handler(exc, context): response = exception_handler(exc, context) # If an unexpected error occurs (server error, etc.) if response is None: return response formatter = ErrorsFormatter(exc) response.data = formatter() return response ``` which needs to be added to the `REST_FRAMEWORK` project settings: ```python REST_FRAMEWORK = { 'EXCEPTION_HANDLER': 'project.app.handlers.exception_errors_format_handler', ... } ``` **The magic happens in the `ErrorsFormatter` class.** The implementation of that class can be found [here](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example/blob/master/styleguide_example/api/errors.py), in the [Styleguide-Example](https://github.com/HackSoftware/Styleguide-Example) repo. Combining `ApiErrorsMixin`, the custom exception handler & the errors formatter class, we can have predictable behavior in our APIs, when it comes to errors. **A note:** > We've moved away from this particular way of formatting errors & we'll be updating the styleguide with a more generic approach. ## Testing In our Django projects, we split our tests depending on the type of code they represent. Meaning, we generally have tests for models, services, selectors & APIs / views. The file structure usually looks like this: ``` project_name ├── app_name │   ├── __init__.py │   └── tests │   ├── __init__.py │   ├── models │   │   └── __init__.py │   │   └── test_some_model_name.py │   ├── selectors │   │   └── __init__.py │   │   └── test_some_selector_name.py │   └── services │   ├── __init__.py │   └── test_some_service_name.py └── __init__.py ``` ### Naming conventions We follow 2 general naming conventions: * The test file names should be `test_the_name_of_the_thing_that_is_tested.py` * The test case should be `class TheNameOfTheThingThatIsTestedTests(TestCase):` For example, if we have: ```python def a_very_neat_service(*args, **kwargs): pass ``` We are going to have the following for file name: ``` project_name/app_name/tests/services/test_a_very_neat_service.py ``` And the following for test case: ```python class AVeryNeatServiceTests(TestCase): pass ``` For tests of utility functions, we follow a similar pattern. For example, if we have `project_name/common/utils.py`, then we are going to have `project_name/common/tests/test_utils.py` and place different test cases in that file. If we are to split the `utils.py` module into submodules, the same will happen for the tests: * `project_name/common/utils/files.py` * `project_name/common/tests/utils/test_files.py` We try to match the structure of our modules with the structure of their respective tests. ### Example We have a demo `django_styleguide` project. #### Example models ```python import uuid from django.db import models from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django.utils import timezone from djmoney.models.fields import MoneyField class Item(models.Model): id = models.UUIDField(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4, editable=False) name = models.CharField(max_length=255) description = models.TextField() price = MoneyField( max_digits=14, decimal_places=2, default_currency='EUR' ) def __str__(self): return f'Item {self.id} / {self.name} / {self.price}' class Payment(models.Model): item = models.ForeignKey( Item, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='payments' ) user = models.ForeignKey( User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='payments' ) successful = models.BooleanField(default=False) created_at = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now) def __str__(self): return f'Payment for {self.item} / {self.user}' ``` #### Example selectors For implementation of `QuerySetType`, check `queryset_type.py`. ```python from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django_styleguide.common.types import QuerySetType from django_styleguide.payments.models import Item def get_items_for_user( *, user: User ) -> QuerySetType[Item]: return Item.objects.filter(payments__user=user) ``` #### Example services ```python from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError from django_styleguide.payments.selectors import get_items_for_user from django_styleguide.payments.models import Item, Payment from django_styleguide.payments.tasks import charge_payment def buy_item( *, item: Item, user: User, ) -> Payment: if item in get_items_for_user(user=user): raise ValidationError(f'Item {item} already in {user} items.') payment = Payment.objects.create( item=item, user=user, successful=False ) charge_payment.delay(payment_id=payment.id) return payment ``` ### Testing services Service tests are the most important tests in the project. Usually, those are the heavier tests with most lines of code. General rule of thumb for service tests: * The tests should cover the business logic behind the services in an exhaustive manner. * The tests should hit the database - creating & reading from it. * The tests should mock async task calls & everything that goes outside the project. When creating the required state for a given test, one can use a combination of: * Fakes (We recommend using [`faker`](https://github.com/joke2k/faker)) * Other services, to create the required objects. * Special test utility & helper methods. * Factories (We recommend using [`factory_boy`](https://factoryboy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/orms.html)) * Plain `Model.objects.create()` calls, if factories are not yet introduced in the project. **Let's take a look at our service from the example:** ```python from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError from django_styleguide.payments.selectors import get_items_for_user from django_styleguide.payments.models import Item, Payment from django_styleguide.payments.tasks import charge_payment def buy_item( *, item: Item, user: User, ) -> Payment: if item in get_items_for_user(user=user): raise ValidationError(f'Item {item} already in {user} items.') payment = Payment.objects.create( item=item, user=user, successful=False ) charge_payment.delay(payment_id=payment.id) return payment ``` The service: * Calls a selector for validation * Creates ORM object * Calls a task **Those are our tests:** ```python from unittest.mock import patch from django.test import TestCase from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError from django_styleguide.payments.services import buy_item from django_styleguide.payments.models import Payment, Item class BuyItemTests(TestCase): def setUp(self): self.user = User.objects.create_user(username='Test User') self.item = Item.objects.create( name='Test Item', description='Test Item description', price=10.15 ) self.service = buy_item @patch('django_styleguide.payments.services.get_items_for_user') def test_buying_item_that_is_already_bought_fails(self, get_items_for_user_mock): """ Since we already have tests for `get_items_for_user`, we can safely mock it here and give it a proper return value. """ get_items_for_user_mock.return_value = [self.item] with self.assertRaises(ValidationError): self.service(user=self.user, item=self.item) @patch('django_styleguide.payments.services.charge_payment.delay') def test_buying_item_creates_a_payment_and_calls_charge_task( self, charge_payment_mock ): self.assertEqual(0, Payment.objects.count()) payment = self.service(user=self.user, item=self.item) self.assertEqual(1, Payment.objects.count()) self.assertEqual(payment, Payment.objects.first()) self.assertFalse(payment.successful) charge_payment_mock.assert_called() ``` ### Testing selectors Testing selectors is also an important part of every project. Sometimes, the selectors can be really straightforward, and if we have to "cut corners", we can omit those tests. But it the end, it's important to cover our selectors too. Let's take another look at our example selector: ```python from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django_styleguide.common.types import QuerySetType from django_styleguide.payments.models import Item def get_items_for_user( *, user: User ) -> QuerySetType[Item]: return Item.objects.filter(payments__user=user) ``` As you can see, this is a very straightforward & simple selector. We can easily cover that with 2 to 3 tests. **Here are the tests:** ```python from django.test import TestCase from django.contrib.auth.models import User from django_styleguide.payments.selectors import get_items_for_user from django_styleguide.payments.models import Item, Payment class GetItemsForUserTests(TestCase): def test_selector_returns_nothing_for_user_without_items(self): """ This is a "corner case" test. We should get nothing if the user has no items. """ user = User.objects.create_user(username='Test User') expected = [] result = list(get_items_for_user(user=user)) self.assertEqual(expected, result) def test_selector_returns_item_for_user_with_that_item(self): """ This test will fail in case we change the model structure. """ user = User.objects.create_user(username='Test User') item = Item.objects.create( name='Test Item', description='Test Item description', price=10.15 ) Payment.objects.create( item=item, user=user ) expected = [item] result = list(get_items_for_user(user=user)) self.assertEqual(expected, result) ``` ## Celery We use [Celery](http://www.celeryproject.org/) for the following general cases: * Communicating with 3rd party services (sending emails, notifications, etc.) * Offloading heavier computational tasks outside the HTTP cycle. * Periodic tasks (using Celery beat) We try to treat Celery as if it's just another interface to our core logic - meaning - **don't put business logic there.** An example task might look like this: ```python from celery import shared_task from project.app.services import some_service_name as service @shared_task def some_service_name(*args, **kwargs): service(*args, **kwargs) ``` This is a task, having the same name as a service, which holds the actual business logic. **Of course, we can have more complex situations**, like a chain or chord of tasks, each of them doing different domain related logic. In that case, it's hard to isolate everything in a service, because we now have dependencies between the tasks. If that happens, we try to expose an interface to our domain & let the tasks work with that interface. One can argue that having an ORM object is an interface by itself, and that's true. Sometimes, you can just update your object from a task & that's OK. But there are times where you need to be strict and don't let tasks do database calls straight from the ORM, but rather, via an exposed interface for that. **More complex scenarios depend on their context. Make sure you are aware of the architecture & the decisions you are making.** ### Structure #### Configuration We put Celery configuration in a Django app called `tasks`. The [Celery config](https://docs.celeryproject.org/en/latest/django/first-steps-with-django.html) itself is located in `apps.py`, in `TasksConfig.ready` method. This Django app also holds any additional utilities, related to Celery. Here's an example `project/tasks/apps.py` file: ```python import os from celery import Celery from django.apps import apps, AppConfig from django.conf import settings os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'config.settings.local') app = Celery('project') class TasksConfig(AppConfig): name = 'project.tasks' verbose_name = 'Celery Config' def ready(self): app.config_from_object('django.conf:settings', namespace="CELERY") app.autodiscover_tasks() @app.task(bind=True) def debug_task(self): from celery.utils.log import base_logger base_logger = base_logger base_logger.debug('debug message') base_logger.info('info message') base_logger.warning('warning message') base_logger.error('error message') base_logger.critical('critical message') print('Request: {0!r}'.format(self.request)) return 42 ``` #### Tasks Tasks are located in `tasks.py` modules in different apps. We follow the same rules as with everything else (APIs, services, selectors): **if the tasks for a given app grow too big, split them by domain.** Meaning, you can end up with `tasks/domain_a.py` and `tasks/domain_b.py`. All you need to do is import them in `tasks/__init__.py` for Celery to autodiscover them. The general rule of thumb is - split your tasks in a way that'll make sense to you. #### Circular imports between tasks & services In some cases, you need to invoke a task from a service or vice-versa: ```python # project/app/services.py from project.app.tasks import task_function_1 def service_function_1(): print('I delay a task!') task_function_1.delay() def service_function_2(): print('I do not delay a task!') ``` ```python # project/app/tasks.py from celery import shared_task from project.app.services import service_function_2 @shared_task def task_function_1(): print('I do not call a service!') @shared_task def task_function_2(): print('I call a service!') service_function_2() ``` Unfortunately, this will result in a circular import. What we usually do is we import the service function **inside** the task function: ```python # project/app/tasks.py from celery import shared_task @shared_task def task_function_1(): print('I do not call a service!') @shared_task def task_function_2(): from project.app.services import service_function_2 # <-- print('I call a service!') service_function_2() ``` * Note: Depending on the case, you may want to import the task function **inside** the service function. This is OK and will still prevent the circular import between service & task functions. ### Periodic Tasks Managing periodic tasks is quite important, especially when you have tens or hundreds of them. We use [Celery Beat](https://docs.celeryproject.org/en/latest/userguide/periodic-tasks.html) + `django_celery_beat.schedulers:DatabaseScheduler` + [`django-celery-beat`](https://github.com/celery/django-celery-beat) for our periodic tasks. The extra thing that we do is to have a management command, called `setup_periodic_tasks`, which holds the definition of all periodic tasks within the system. This command is located in the `tasks` app, discussed above. Here's how `project.tasks.management.commands.setup_periodic_tasks.py` looks like: ```python from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand from django.db import transaction from django_celery_beat.models import IntervalSchedule, CrontabSchedule, PeriodicTask from project.app.tasks import some_periodic_task class Command(BaseCommand): help = f""" Setup celery beat periodic tasks. Following tasks will be created: - {some_periodic_task.name} """ @transaction.atomic def handle(self, *args, **kwargs): print('Deleting all periodic tasks and schedules...\n') IntervalSchedule.objects.all().delete() CrontabSchedule.objects.all().delete() PeriodicTask.objects.all().delete() periodic_tasks_data = [ { 'task': some_periodic_task 'name': 'Do some peridoic stuff', # https://crontab.guru/#15_*_*_*_* 'cron': { 'minute': '15', 'hour': '*', 'day_of_week': '*', 'day_of_month': '*', 'month_of_year': '*', }, 'enabled': True }, ] for periodic_task in periodic_tasks_data: print(f'Setting up {periodic_task["task"].name}') cron = CrontabSchedule.objects.create( **periodic_task['cron'] ) PeriodicTask.objects.create( name=periodic_task['name'], task=periodic_task['task'].name, crontab=cron, enabled=periodic_task['enabled'] ) ``` Few key things: * We use this task as part of a deploy procedure. * We always put a link to [`crontab.guru`](https://crontab.guru) to explain the cron. Otherwise it's unreadable. * Everything is in one place. ### Configuration Celery is a complex topic, so it's a good idea to invest time reading the documentation & understanding the different configuration options. We constantly do that & find new things or find better approaches to our problems. ## Misc ### mypy / type annotations About type annotations & using `mypy`, [this tweet](https://twitter.com/queroumavodka/status/1294789817071542272) resonates a lot with our philosophy. We have projects where we enforce `mypy` on CI and are very strict with types. We have projects where types are looser. Context is king here. ## Inspiration The way we do Django is inspired by the following things: * The general idea for **separation of concerns** * [Boundaries by Gary Bernhardt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTkzNHF6rMs) * Rails service objects