django-app-defaults

A library for managing default static settings for apps and projects. Define default settings for apps and override them in project settings when needed.

Why?

This library encourages loose coupling between apps by defining the settings of each app locally. For authors of reusable apps, it allows to avoid the getattr pattern, and the definition of default values scattered everywhere. Unlike other alternatives, it avoids being too magical, and sticks to the Django conventions. Defining settings should be simple, as they are just settings after all.

Requirements

• Python 2.7, +3.4
• Django 1.8, 1.11, +2.0

Install

pip install django-app-defaults

Usage

# my_app/defaults.py

# `django.conf.settings` or any other
# module can be imported and used

# required for auto discoverability
DEFAULT_SETTINGS_MODULE = True

#: This is a doc comment for
#: my setting I just created
MY_DEFAULT_SETTING = "yay"

Note: all defaults's settings can be overridden in my_project/settings.py

Then anywhere within your project or app:

from app_defaults import settings

print(settings.MY_DEFAULT_SETTING)
# yay

# All `django.conf.settings` are also available
print(settings.DEBUG)
# True

To load default settings for a single app instead of all of the apps, just do:

from app_defaults import Settings

settings = Settings(apps=["my_app"])

# or

from my_app import defaults
settings = Settings(modules=[defaults])

Note: the DEFAULT_SETTINGS_MODULE variable is not required when explicitly passing apps or modules

How it works

It's an extremely simple library. It goes through all installed apps and looks for a defaults.py module at the root of the app. If a DEFAULT_SETTINGS_MODULE var is found, then the module is loaded.

It's similar to the following pattern, but generalized into a reusable lib:

from my_app import defaults
from django.conf import settings

class Settings:
    def __getattr__(self, attr):
        try:
            return getattr(settings, attr)
        except AttributeError:
            return getattr(defaults, attr)

Documentation

django-app-defaults.readthedocs.io

Tests

make test

License

MIT