Installation

For the most part, the installation process for this tutorial duplicates the steps described in Installing Pyramid and Creating a Pyramid Project, however it also explains how to install additional libraries for tutorial purposes.

Preparation

Please take the following steps to prepare for the tutorial. The steps to prepare for the tutorial are slightly different depending on whether you’re using UNIX or Windows.

Preparation, UNIX

  1. If you don’t already have a Python 2.6 interpreter installed on your system, obtain, install, or find Python 2.6 for your system.

  2. Make sure the Python development headers are installed on your system. If you’ve installed Python from source, these will already be installed. If you’re using a system Python, you may have to install a python-dev package (e.g. apt-get python-dev). The headers are not required for Pyramid itself, just for dependencies of the tutorial.

  3. Install the latest setuptools into the Python you obtained/installed/found in the step above: download ez_setup.py and run it using the python interpreter of your Python 2.6 installation:

    $ /path/to/my/Python-2.6/bin/python ez_setup.py

  4. Use that Python’s bin/easy_install to install virtualenv:

    $ /path/to/my/Python-2.6/bin/easy_install virtualenv

  5. Use that Python’s virtualenv to make a workspace:

    $ path/to/my/Python-2.6/bin/virtualenv --no-site-packages \
          pyramidtut

  6. Switch to the pyramidtut directory:

    $ cd pyramidtut

  7. (Optional) Consider using source bin/activate to make your shell environment wired to use the virtualenv.

  8. Use easy_install to get Pyramid and its direct dependencies installed:

    $ bin/easy_install pyramid

  9. Use easy_install to install docutils, pyramid_tm, pyramid_zodbconn, pyramid_debugtoolbar, nose and coverage:

    $ bin/easy_install docutils pyramid_tm pyramid_zodbconn \
          pyramid_debugtoolbar nose coverage

Preparation, Windows

  1. Install, or find Python 2.6 for your system.

  2. Install the latest setuptools into the Python you obtained/installed/found in the step above: download ez_setup.py and run it using the python interpreter of your Python 2.6 installation using a command prompt:

    c:\> c:\Python26\python ez_setup.py

  3. Use that Python’s bin/easy_install to install virtualenv:

    c:\> c:\Python26\Scripts\easy_install virtualenv

  4. Use that Python’s virtualenv to make a workspace:

    c:\> c:\Python26\Scripts\virtualenv --no-site-packages pyramidtut

  5. Switch to the pyramidtut directory:

    c:\> cd pyramidtut

  6. (Optional) Consider using bin\activate.bat to make your shell environment wired to use the virtualenv.

  7. Use easy_install to get Pyramid and its direct dependencies installed:

    c:\pyramidtut> Scripts\easy_install pyramid

  8. Use easy_install to install docutils, pyramid_tm, pyramid_zodbconn, pyramid_debugtoolbar, nose and coverage:

    c:\pyramidtut> Scripts\easy_install docutils pyramid_tm \
      pyramid_zodbconn pyramid_debugtoolbar nose coverage

Making a Project

Your next step is to create a project. Pyramid supplies a variety of scaffolds to generate sample projects. For this tutorial, we will use the ZODB -oriented scaffold named pyramid_zodb.

The below instructions assume your current working directory is the “virtualenv” named “pyramidtut”.

On UNIX:

$ bin/paster create -t pyramid_zodb tutorial

On Windows:

c:\pyramidtut> Scripts\paster create -t pyramid_zodb tutorial

Note

If you are using Windows, the pyramid_zodb Paster scaffold doesn’t currently deal gracefully with installation into a location that contains spaces in the path. If you experience startup problems, try putting both the virtualenv and the project into directories that do not contain spaces in their paths.

Installing the Project in “Development Mode”

In order to do development on the project easily, you must “register” the project as a development egg in your workspace using the setup.py develop command. In order to do so, cd to the “tutorial” directory you created in Making a Project, and run the “setup.py develop” command using virtualenv Python interpreter.

On UNIX:

$ cd tutorial
$ ../bin/python setup.py develop

On Windows:

C:\pyramidtut> cd tutorial
C:\pyramidtut\tutorial> ..\Scripts\python setup.py develop

Running the Tests

After you’ve installed the project in development mode, you may run the tests for the project.

On UNIX:

$ ../bin/python setup.py test -q

On Windows:

c:\pyramidtut\tutorial> ..\Scripts\python setup.py test -q

Starting the Application

Start the application.

On UNIX:

$ ../bin/paster serve development.ini --reload

On Windows:

c:\pyramidtut\tutorial> ..\Scripts\paster serve development.ini --reload

Exposing Test Coverage Information

You can run the nosetests command to see test coverage information. This runs the tests in the same way that setup.py test does but provides additional “coverage” information, exposing which lines of your project are “covered” (or not covered) by the tests.

On UNIX:

$ ../bin/nosetests --cover-package=tutorial --cover-erase --with-coverage

On Windows:

c:\pyramidtut\tutorial> ..\Scripts\nosetests --cover-package=tutorial ^
     --cover-erase --with-coverage

Looks like the code in the pyramid_zodb scaffold for ZODB projects is missing some test coverage, particularly in the file named models.py.

Visit the Application in a Browser

In a browser, visit http://localhost:6543/. You will see the generated application’s default page.

One thing you’ll notice is the “debug toolbar” icon on right hand side of the page. You can read more about the purpose of the icon at The Debug Toolbar. It allows you to get information about your application while you develop.

Decisions the pyramid_zodb Scaffold Has Made For You

Creating a project using the pyramid_zodb scaffold makes the following assumptions:

  • you are willing to use ZODB as persistent storage
  • you are willing to use traversal to map URLs to code.

Note

Pyramid supports any persistent storage mechanism (e.g. a SQL database or filesystem files, etc). Pyramid also supports an additional mechanism to map URLs to code (URL dispatch). However, for the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll only be using traversal and ZODB.