Faker() raised Django ImproperlyConfigured Error - django

Question

trying to run some fake data using Faker but been trying for 2 days now to solve and i cant. i need a little help here would be much appreciated below is the code and the error.I've tried multiple way to try an access Django's setting module but its not working i believe problem is in line 10 os.eniron....etc
im working on Windows 10, Sqlite, python 3.8.2 and django 3 and venv enviroment python -m venv name
i have the django admin on already i do not know what would be the problem now...
any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
test_first_app.py
import django
import os
import random
from faker import Faker
from first_app.models import AccessRecord, WebPage, Topic
os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'first_project.settings')
django.setup()
fake = Faker
topics = ['Search', 'Social', 'Marketplace']
def add_topic():
t = Topic.objects.get_or_create(top_name=random.choice(topics))[0]
t.save()
return t
def populate(n=5):
for entry in range(n):
top = add_topic()
fake_url = fake.url()
fake_date = fake.date()
fake_name = fake.company()
webpge = WebPage.objects.get_or_create(topic=top, url=fake_url, name=fake_name)[0]
fkacc = AccessRecord.objects.get_create(name=webpge, date=fake_date)[0] # for some reason pycharm saying this variable is not used
if __name__ == '__main__':
print("Populating script")
populate(20)
print("Done!!")
models.py
from django.db import models
class Topic(models.Model):
top_name = models.CharField(max_length=50, unique=True)
def __str__(self):
return self.top_name
class WebPage(models.Model):
topic = models.ForeignKey(Topic, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
name = models.CharField(max_length=150, unique=True)
url = models.URLField(unique=True)
def __str__(self):
return self.name
class AccessRecord(models.Model):
name = models.ForeignKey(WebPage, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
date = models.DateField()
def __str__(self):
return str(self.date)
settings.py
"""
Django settings for first_project project.
Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 3.0.
For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/topics/settings/
For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/settings/
"""
import os
# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/howto/deployment/checklist/
# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = '-2gjsys0wt$&8sod%662o$=#2&s)+n_*8o$l)5=i3t#f(af+2y'
# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True
ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
# Application definition
INSTALLED_APPS = [
'first_app',
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]
MIDDLEWARE = [
'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]
ROOT_URLCONF = 'first_project.urls'
TEMPLATES = [
{
'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
'DIRS': [],
'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',
],
},
},
]
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'first_project.wsgi.application'
# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/settings/#databases
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
}
}
# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
},
]
# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/topics/i18n/
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
USE_I18N = True
USE_L10N = True
USE_TZ = True
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/howto/static-files/
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static"),
'/Django-Udemy/udemy/static/',
]
Error message:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test_first_app.py", line 7, in <module>
from first_app.models import AccessRecord, WebPage, Topic
File "D:\OneDrive\School\Django-Udemy\udemy\first_app\models.py", line
4, in <module>
class Topic(models.Model):
File "C:\Users\T\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-pac
kages\django\db\models\base.py", line 107, in __new__
app_config = apps.get_containing_app_config(module)
File "C:\Users\T\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-pac
kages\django\apps\registry.py", line 252, in get_containing_app_config
self.check_apps_ready()
File "C:\Users\T\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-pac
kages\django\apps\registry.py", line 134, in check_apps_ready
settings.INSTALLED_APPS
File "C:\Users\T\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-pac
kages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 76, in __getattr__
self._setup(name)
File "C:\Users\T\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-pac
kages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 57, in _setup
raise ImproperlyConfigured(
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS,
but settings are not configured. You must either define the environment variable
e DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings
.

Answer 1

I saw several problem with the code above:
You haven't instantiated Faker
from faker import Faker
fake = Faker()
I think you tried to access django outside django apps. If my guess is correct you tried to populate some random data. For this purpose I think you can do it using django custom command :
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/howto/custom-management-commands/

Answer 2

I just debug my populate.py file and found that i was importing the models.py before configuring Django so first you need to set environment then you need to setup django and at last you can import models in populate.py file.
from faker import Faker
import random
import django
import os
# Configure settings for project
# Need to run this before calling models from application!
os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'first_model.settings') # this should be done first.
# Import settings
django.setup() # This needs to be done after you set the environ
from first_app.models import Topic, WebPage, AccessRecord # At last you can import models in populate.py file
# Now you are good to go for running this file
fakegen = Faker()
topics = ['Search', 'Social', 'Marketplace', 'News', 'Games']
def add_topic():
t = Topic.objects.get_or_create(top_name=random.choice(topics))[0]
t.save()
return t
def populate(N=5):
'''
Create N Entries of Dates Accessed
'''
for entry in range(N):
# Get Topic for Entry
top = add_topic()
# Create Fake Data for entry
fake_url = fakegen.url()
fake_date = fakegen.date()
fake_name = fakegen.company()
# Create new Webpage Entry
webpg = WebPage.objects.get_or_create(
topic=top, name=fake_name, url=fake_url,)[0]
# Create Fake Access Record for that page
# Could add more of these if you wanted...
accRec = AccessRecord.objects.get_or_create(
name=webpg, date=fake_date)[0]
if __name__ == '__main__':
print("Populating the databases...Please Wait")
populate(20)
print('Populating Complete')