Creating a New BL_Python.web Application

BL_Python.web is a web application framework that ties together the common features of web applications, such as database connectivity, API endpoints, etc.

As an important feature of BL_Python.web is to get up and running quickly, the library bundles a scaffolder named bl-python-scaffold.

Install Scaffolding

First install the BL_Python.web scaffolding tool. You can do this in your system Python install, or in a separate virtual environment. Read more about virtual environments at docs.python.org or realpython.com.

Install necessary dependencies:

• pip install bl-python.web

Scaffold a New Application

The command used is bl-python-scaffold create. Please run bl-python-scaffold create -h to review the possible options. The current options are explained here as well.

🚩 The command bl-python-scaffold has two modes: create and modify. The former is used to create a new application, while the latter is used to modify an existing one.

Scaffold "create" help

These options are for the bl-python-scaffold create command.

Option	Explanation	Required?
-h	Show the tool help text.	No
-n <name>	This is the name of your application. It is the name Flask will use to start up, and also acts as a default value for other options when they are not specified when running this tool.	Yes
-e <endpoint>	An optional endpoint to create. By default, an endpoint sharing the name of your application is created. If -e is specified even once, the default is not created. This option can be specified more than once to create multiple endpoints.	No
-t <type>	The type of template to scaffold. This defaults to basic. basic: BL_Python.web searches your application for Flask "blueprint" files and uses them to create API endpoints. This is the easiest way to get started, but lacks some advantages of using openapi. openapi: BL_Python.web uses an OpenAPI spec file to describe API endpoints and their code location. This option is more complicated, however, it gives you the ability to validate your API endpoints during development, and allows for automatic request and response validation. It also gives you the ability to use Swagger as a test UI, which can be installed with pip install connexion[swagger-ui]. The OpenAPI spec file can also be fed into 3rd-party tools that further help with development.	No
-m <module>	Optional modules to include in your application. This option can be specified more than once to include multiple modules; however, currently the only available module is database. database: Include BL_Python.database and set up minimum requirements to utilize an SQLite database in your application.	No
-o <output directory>	Store the new application in a directory other than one that matches the application name.	No

Scaffold "modify" help

These options are for the bl-python-scaffold modify command.

Option	Explanation	Required?
-h	Show the tool help text.	No
-n <name>	This is the name of your application. It is the name Flask will use to start up, and also acts as a default value for other options when they are not specified when running this tool.	Yes
-e <endpoint>	An endpoint to create. By default, an endpoint sharing the name of your application is created. If -e is specified even once, the default is not created. This option can be specified more than once to create multiple endpoints.	No
-o <output directory>	Modify the application in a directory other than one that matches the application name.	No

To create an application with a single API endpoint, run bl-python-scaffold create -n <name> where <name> is replaced with the desired name of your application. By default, the scaffolder will output into a directory matching the name of your application. ❗ Existing files will be overwritten.

🚩 Scaffolding modules can only be done during creation of the application. If you need database functionality, for example, be sure to include -m database! If the module is not included during scaffolding, it can only be used through manually adding it to your application.

Run Your Application

The scaffolder will have created several files and directories, including a README.md, under the output directory. Follow the instructions in your newly scaffolded application's README.md to run and configure your application.