Overview

In this tutorial we will create a multipage web application using django, react and webpack.

This means:

Instead of handling routes by react, django will handle all the routes and once a route has been loaded, its upto you whether you want react to create different routes for that particular page or not.
Webpack will handle all the staticfiles headache i.e., all the optimizing stuff such as compressing and minifying.
Static files bundled by webpack will be served by django.

Let's start

Repository: https://github.com/nitinraturi/django-react-webpack

Dependencies

Python3 & Pip (https://raturi.in/blog/installing-python3-and-pip3-ubuntu-mac-and-windows/)
Node, npm, npx (https://raturi.in/blog/nodejs-and-npm-proper-installation-and-uninstallation-ubuntu/) - This link contains uninstallation and installation, follow the installation one.

How to create it from scratch

Install python requirements:

Django (you can install any version, I prefer 2.2 because of its long term support)
```
pip install django==2.2
```
Django Webpack Loader - It consumes the output generated by webpack-bundle-tracker and lets you use the generated bundles in django.
```
pip install django-webpack-loader
```

Create a django project

django-admin startproject conf .

Create required directories

mkdir {templates,static,frontend}

templates - To serve django templates

static - To serve django static files

frontend - We will install react project inside this directory

Your directory structure will be something like this:

.
├── conf
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── frontend
├── manage.py
├── static
└── templates

Now configure settings.py and urls.py

# settings.py

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static_root")
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static"),
)

# urls.py

from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
]

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += static(settings.STATIC_URL,
                          document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)

Create a new app pages

python manage.py startapp pages

Add it in INSTALLED_APPS inside settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'pages'
]

Now inside pages/views.py create two views to serve different urls

# pages/views.py

from django.shortcuts import render

def index1(request):
    return render(request, 'index1.html', {})

def index2(request):
    return render(request, 'index2.html', {})

Create a files urls.py inside pages app and two urls inside pages/urls.py to serve above two views.

touch pages/urls.py

# pages/urls.py

from django.urls import path
from .views import index1, index2

app_name = 'pages'

urlpatterns = [
    path('', index1, name='index1'),
    path('index2', index2, name='index2')
]

Now update conf/urls.py and link pages/urls.py

# conf/urls.py

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path,include
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('', include('pages.urls',namespace='pages')),
]

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += static(settings.STATIC_URL,
                          document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)

Now create the above two html files index1.html and index2.html inside templates directory

<!-- templates/index1.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <title>Django React Webpack - Raturi.in</title>
</head>

<body>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index1' %}">Index1</a></li>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index2' %}">Index2</a></li>
    </ul>

    <center>
        At index1
    </center>
</body>

</html>

<!-- templates/index2.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <title>Django React Webpack - Raturi.in</title>
</head>

<body>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index1' %}">Index1</a></li>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index2' %}">Index2</a></li>
    </ul>

    <center>
        At index2
    </center>
</body>

</html>

Now django's part is done, we have to configure react and webpack. you can verify the changes by running the server

python manage.py runserver 0:8080

Let's setup react part

Change your directory to frontend

cd frontend/

Now create a react app using

npx create-react-app .

Now install required npm packages

npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli webpack-bundle-tracker babel-cli babel-core babel-loader babel-preset-env babel-preset-es2015 babel-preset-react babel-register

Now create two files webpack.config.js and .babelrc and a directory for storing your webpack generated bundles inside fronted as assets/dist

touch .babelrc webpack.config.js
mkdir assets assets/dist

Now configure webpack.config.js .babelrc package.json

webpack.config.json

const path = require("path");
const BundleTracker = require('webpack-bundle-tracker');

var config = {
    context: __dirname,
    entry: {
        'staticfiles': './src/index.js',
    },

    resolve: {
        alias: {
            '@': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src/'),
            '@django': path.resolve(__dirname, '../static/'),
        }
    },
    output: {
        path: path.join(__dirname, './assets/dist'),
        filename: "[name]-[hash].js",
        publicPath: '/static/dist/'
    },


    plugins: [
        new BundleTracker({ filename: './webpack-stats.json' }),
    ],
    devtool: 'cheap-module-eval-source-map',
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.(js|jsx)$/,
                exclude: /node_modules/,
                use: ['babel-loader'],
                include: [
                    path.resolve(__dirname, "src"),
                ],
            },
            {
                test: /\.css$/,
                use: [
                    'style-loader', 'css-loader'
                ]
            },
            {
                test: /\.(png|svg|jpg|gif)$/,
                use: [
                    'file-loader',
                ],
            },
        ]
    }
}

module.exports = (env, argv) => {

    if (argv.mode === 'production') {
        config.devtool = 'none';
    }
    return config
};

.babelrc

{
    "presets": [
        "@babel/preset-env",
        "@babel/preset-react"
    ]
}

package.json

{
  "name": "frontend",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^4.2.4",
    "@testing-library/react": "^9.5.0",
    "@testing-library/user-event": "^7.2.1",
    "react": "^16.13.1",
    "react-dom": "^16.13.1",
    "react-scripts": "3.4.1"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "./node_modules/.bin/webpack --mode=production --config webpack.config.js",
    "watch": "npm run start -- --watch",
    "start": "./node_modules/.bin/webpack --mode=development --config webpack.config.js"
  },
  "eslintConfig": {
    "extends": "react-app"
  },
  "browserslist": {
    "production": [
      ">0.2%",
      "not dead",
      "not op_mini all"
    ],
    "development": [
      "last 1 chrome version",
      "last 1 firefox version",
      "last 1 safari version"
    ]
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-cli": "^6.26.0",
    "babel-core": "^6.26.3",
    "babel-loader": "^8.1.0",
    "babel-preset-env": "^1.7.0",
    "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.24.1",
    "babel-preset-react": "^6.24.1",
    "babel-register": "^6.26.0",
    "webpack": "^4.42.1",
    "webpack-bundle-tracker": "^0.4.3",
    "webpack-cli": "^3.3.11"
  }
}

Now in your conf/settings.py add webpack related settings

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'pages',
    'webpack_loader', # add this
]


FRONTEND_DIR = os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'frontend') # path to frontend directory

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static_root")
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static"),
    os.path.join(FRONTEND_DIR, "assets"), # path to webpack generated files
)

# Status of files generated by webpack
WEBPACK_LOADER = {
    'DEFAULT': {
        'BUNDLE_DIR_NAME': 'dist/',  # must end with slash
        'STATS_FILE': os.path.join(FRONTEND_DIR, 'webpack-stats.json')
    }
}

Now update your templates index1.html and index2.html to load webpack generated files something like this

{% load render_bundle from webpack_loader %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <title>Django React Webpack - Raturi.in</title>
    {% render_bundle 'staticfiles' 'css'%}
</head>

<body>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index1' %}">Index1</a></li>
        <li><a href="{% url 'pages:index2' %}">Index2</a></li>
    </ul>

    <center>
        At index1
    </center>
    {% render_bundle 'staticfiles' 'js' %}
</body>

</html>

In the above code, render_bundle 'staticfiles': staticfiles is the name of the entrypoint and render_bundle will load the files generated by webpack inside dist folder.

How to run the server

Run django normally with runserver command
To run react open a seperate terminal inside frontend directory and run

npm run watch 

# this command will automatically look for changes for static files and will update the dist folder.
# You have to just refresh your browser where django is running.

In case of production run
```
npm run build
```
Finally check the source code of html file in browser you can see webpack generated files inside dist folder.

That all.

This is the end, if you have any queries or improvements for this article, feel free to put below in the comments?

About the author

Hi, My name is Nitin Raturi.
I'm a passionate software developer from India. I write about python, django and web development. Read More.

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