Django import error: No module named models - django

Question

I keep receiving the error Could not import movies.views. Error was: No module named models
Here is my traceback:
Environment:
Request Method: GET
Request URL: http://localhost:8000/movies/awesome-movie/
Django Version: 1.3.1
Python Version: 2.7.3
Installed Applications:
['django.contrib.auth',
'username_patch',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.flatpages',
'south',
'tagging',
'tagging_autocomplete',
'accounts',
'movies',
'tracking',
'djcelery',
'pagination']
Installed Middleware:
('django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware',
'pagination.middleware.PaginationMiddleware')
Traceback:
File "/Users/jeff/Code/filmlibrary/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in get_response
101. request.path_info)
File "/Users/jeff/Code/filmlibrary/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py" in resolve
252. sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
File "/Users/jeff/Code/filmlibrary/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py" in resolve
252. sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
File "/Users/jeff/Code/filmlibrary/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py" in resolve
158. return ResolverMatch(self.callback, args, kwargs, self.name)
File "/Users/jeff/Code/filmlibrary/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py" in _get_callback
167. raise ViewDoesNotExist("Could not import %s. Error was: %s" % (mod_name, str(e)))
Exception Type: ViewDoesNotExist at /movies/awesome-movie/
Exception Value: Could not import movies.views. Error was: No module named models
I am not sure why I have this error. My code is as follows...
I have an django app called tracking and another called movies. I have a python file called tracking.py in the tracking app it consists of the following code:
filmlibrary/tracking/tracking.py
from movies.models import Movie
from tracking.models import MovieView
import os
import base64
def tracking_id(request):
try:
return request.session['tracking_id']
except KeyError:
request.session['tracking_id'] = base64.b64encode(os.urandom(36))
return request.session['tracking_id']
def log_movie_view(request, movie):
t_id = tracking_id(request)
try:
v = MovieView.objects.get(tracking_id=t_id, movie=movie)
v.save()
except MovieView.DoesNotExist:
v = MovieView()
v.movie = movie
v.ip_address = request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR')
v.tracking_id = t_id
v.user = None
if request.user.is_authenticated():
v.user = request.user
v.save()
The above is pretty basic stuff. My views.py in my movies app uses the tracking.py file here:
filmlibrary/movies/views.py
#login_required
def movie_details(request, slug, template_name="movies/movie_detail.html"):
movie = get_object_or_404(Movie, slug=slug)
movie.tracking_id = tracking.tracking_id(request)
movie.save()
tracking.log_movie_view(request, movie)
context = RequestContext(request, {'movie': movie })
if movie:
try:
screener = movie.moviemedia_set.get(movie_type='screener')
.... continued
UPDATE:
Here are the contents of filmlibrary/tracking/models.py
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from movies.models import Movie
class PageView(models.Model):
class Meta:
abstract = True
date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
ip_address = models.IPAddressField()
user = models.ForeignKey(User, null=True)
tracking_id = models.CharField(max_length=50, default='')
class MovieView(PageView):
movie = models.ForeignKey(Movie)
The error appears to come from the import line from tracking.models import MovieView in the tracking.py file and I am not sure why. As soon as I comment out that line the error goes away but then of course I'll have new errors about MovieView not existing as expected. I don't see anything wrong with that import line in tracking.py.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to why I receive that error and how I can resolve this?

Answer 1

Can you try
from models import MovieView
instead of
from tracking.models import MovieView
The reason being both models.py and tracking.py are in the same app folder "tracking", you don't need to write tracking.models, this will make Django think that you have a folder named models inside the tracking directory.

Answer 2

Though this is a good solution in some cases, this error can also be caused by app name conflicts with built in apps.
I know that our team has encountered this error and it was because of the actual app name. This is also important to note, because you won't be able to pull in models to other apps if that is the case.
#You cannot use this format out of scope
from models import Test
#You can use this both in and out of scope in Django
from myapp.models import Test
If the second example isn't working in your Django project you may be using a conflicting app name. Good examples of unusable built in apps include (but are not limited to) "tests", and "admin".
I would caution against a bandaid fix and investigate your app name closely.