[pdxdjango] WebApp compare and contrast with Django

[mark gross]

I really wont to get some input / have a discussion about
app-engine/webapp vrs app-engine/Djando.

I'm starting a simple app (Its a farmers market web page, with a few
dynamic features for geo-location, recipes, weather, ect.)

I just started on it yesterday, (I did the tutorial, and got basic
templates sort of working)

It seems that webapp uses the Django template engine, and I'm thinking
of doing a first prototype in webapp, and then perhaps move to a more
full up Django (mostly to harvest existing Django stuff I could
re-use) after getting something working.

Are there any AppEngine lessons learned or gotchas I should look out
for as I start down this project?

--mgross

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[Charles Anderson]

In my case, I used Django rather than "pure" webapp.  So, for me, the biggest issue was figuring out how to do things and where to look.  I spent way too much time trying to find documentation to do something when the answer ended up being "the Django way." (I never knew if I should look at webapp, the Django helper, or Django docs.)  So, I'd say if you already know Django and are planning on getting there eventually, just use Django and the helper from the beginning.


Charles.

[Brent Washburne]

I would agree.  Since so much is being written for Django, you will benefit from all the pluggable modules out there now and in the future.

I just went live with my Django-on-AE site a few weeks ago.  Things are running smoothly except for a few gotchas that I overlooked.  All times (datetime) are stored in GMT so I have to adjust for PST/PDT, etc.

There is definitely a learning curve involved in working with Google's database (BigTable), and the ways to request data -- Entity.all().filter('name =', name) instead of Entity.objects.all().filter(name=name), for example.

I'm also using the app-engine-patch to make the transition easier (anyone else using that module?).

I really like the Dashboard with its Log Viewer.  Simply "import logging" and use "logging.debug()" to record what's going on in the code, and then use the web interface to see it.

The API includes methods for  using memcache and performing image manipulations so I use them to store scaled images and serve them up fast.

I especially like being able to rely on Google's engineers to provide a stable platform without the worries of software upgrades, database/memcache/mail servers and configurations, database backups and Google Checkout for e-commerce payments.

    ~Brent