thomasoide / command_line_tutorial

command_line_tutorial

This is everything you need to know to run the django-rmp-data project from the command line.

1. cd into the correct directory

A quick explanation about what this means. From the Finder bar, click the 'Go' tab and select home. You should see something like this:

This is what's called your home directory. It houses your desktop, documents, music, photos, etc. If you use finder a lot, you'll see that they are directories you use on a daily basis.

Now, open your terminal and type this command

ls

So if you compare the two screens, you'll see that they are basically the same. This is where your terminal always starts.

So, what does the command 'cd' actually mean?

Imagine that your computer's file hierarchy is like a tree. In order to climb that tree to get to a specific branch, you'll need to climb using the lower branches.

When you 'cd' into a location, it's like you're clicking and opening a folder. For this project, you're going to have to 'cd' into the django-rmp-data folder, wherever it is on your computer.

If the folder is on your desktop, the commands will look something like this:

cd Desktop ; cd django-rmp-data

If the folder is in your home directory, the command is as simple as:

cd django-rmp-data

2. Start the virtual environment

So now that you've 'cd'ed into the correct folder, you'll need to start the virtual environment.

pipenv shell

The web server on your local machine will not run unless you run this command.

3. Start the web server

It's as simple as this:

python manage.py runserver

4. Navigate to the page in your web browser.

Instead of writing out the whole complicated IP Address, you can simply type 'localhost:8000' without quotes into your browser.

5. The page should show up

Any changes you make to the page should appear in real-time, just like on Github Pages.

Remember, the files you will be working with are in two locations:

rmp/static/rmp/style.css -- This is where all of your css will go.

rmp/templates/rmp/*.html -- This is where all of the html templates are. accident_list.html has all of the comments I wrote to guide you guys if you forgot what everything does.

6. When you're done working with the project

Go back to your Terminal and type control + c to shutdown the local web server. Note: It's not the command key that you'd usually use to copy and paste stuff.

Once you close down the web server, hit control + d to exit the virtual environment.

You'll need to start the process over again from Step 1 to restart the server.