1 =========================================

     2 Integrating Django with a legacy database

     3 =========================================

     4 

     5 While Django is best suited for developing new applications, it's quite

     6 possible to integrate it into legacy databases. Django includes a couple of

     7 utilities to automate as much of this process as possible.

     8 

     9 This document assumes you know the Django basics, as covered in the

    10 :doc:`tutorial </intro/tutorial01>`.

    11 

    12 Once you've got Django set up, you'll follow this general process to integrate

    13 with an existing database.

    14 

    15 Give Django your database parameters

    16 ====================================

    17 

    18 You'll need to tell Django what your database connection parameters are, and

    19 what the name of the database is. Do that by editing the :setting:`DATABASES`

    20 setting and assigning values to the following keys for the ``'default'``

    21 connection:

    22 

    23     * :setting:`NAME`

    24     * :setting:`ENGINE`

    25     * :setting:`USER`

    26     * :setting:`PASSWORD`

    27     * :setting:`HOST`

    28     * :setting:`PORT`

    29 

    30 Auto-generate the models

    31 ========================

    32 

    33 .. highlight:: bash

    34 

    35 Django comes with a utility called :djadmin:`inspectdb` that can create models

    36 by introspecting an existing database. You can view the output by running this

    37 command::

    38 

    39     python manage.py inspectdb

    40 

    41 Save this as a file by using standard Unix output redirection::

    42 

    43     python manage.py inspectdb > models.py

    44 

    45 This feature is meant as a shortcut, not as definitive model generation. See the

    46 :djadmin:`documentation of inspectdb <inspectdb>` for more information.

    47 

    48 Once you've cleaned up your models, name the file ``models.py`` and put it in

    49 the Python package that holds your app. Then add the app to your

    50 :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting.

    51 

    52 Install the core Django tables

    53 ==============================

    54 

    55 Next, run the :djadmin:`syncdb` command to install any extra needed database

    56 records such as admin permissions and content types::

    57 

    58     python manage.py syncdb

    59 

    60 Test and tweak

    61 ==============

    62 

    63 Those are the basic steps -- from here you'll want to tweak the models Django

    64 generated until they work the way you'd like. Try accessing your data via the

    65 Django database API, and try editing objects via Django's admin site, and edit

    66 the models file accordingly.