Developing myRobogals on Windows

Here's how to install a local development copy of myRobogals on Windows.

Install Python and Django

We currently use Django 1.3 with Python 2.7. For maximum compatibility with the server, it's recommended that you use these versions too.

The versions of packages currently used are:

• Django 1.3.7 - http://www.djangoproject.com/download/
• django_extensions 1.1.1 - https://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-extensions/1.1.1
• pytz 2013b - https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytz/2013b#downloads
• six 1.3.0 - https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six/1.3.0

1. Install Python 2.7 for Windows.
2. Go to the Command Prompt and try to open the Python interpreter by running python. If this doesn't work, add the Python executable folder to your path, restart the terminal and try again.
3. Download the .tar.gz files of the above packages.
4. Unzip them using 7-Zip.
5. Open a command shell with administrator privileges and run this command in the Django directory: python setup.py install
6. Django is now installed.
7. To install the remaining packages, enter their respective folders and run python setup.py install.
8. To verify you have installed the packages, run help('modules'); from the Python interpreter.

Check out the myRobogals repository

Fork the myRobogals repository from Github to create your own copy of it, then check out that copy. The following pages may be helpful:

Github: Set up git

Github: Fork a repo

myRobogals repo

Create the settings file

In the "myrobogals" directory inside the "myrobogals" directory (yes you read that correctly), copy the file "settings.py.sample" to "settings.py"

Edit the file and fill in the path to your myRobogals directory at the top of the file.

You must put the full static path to the parent myrobogals folder without trailing slashes.

Create the database and import sample data

If you leave the myRobogals sample settings as-is, Django will simply create an SQLite database for you when you execute the following command in the "myrobogals" directory (the same one that has settings.py in it). It will also import the sample data, which includes a few chapters and members.

python manage.py syncdb

Start the development server

python manage.py runserver

The development server will now be running on http://127.0.0.1:8000/ - click there and you'll see your very own local copy of myRobogals.

All the sample accounts have the password "test", so you can log in with the username "marita" and password "test" to get started.

Now get coding, and contribute your changes back to us as a "Pull Request" on Github!