/docs/howto/legacy-databases.txt

 1=========================================
 2Integrating Django with a legacy database
 3=========================================
 4
 5While Django is best suited for developing new applications, it's quite
 6possible to integrate it into legacy databases. Django includes a couple of
 7utilities to automate as much of this process as possible.
 8
 9This document assumes you know the Django basics, as covered in the
10:doc:`tutorial </intro/tutorial01>`.
11
12Once you've got Django set up, you'll follow this general process to integrate
13with an existing database.
14
15Give Django your database parameters
16====================================
17
18You'll need to tell Django what your database connection parameters are, and
19what the name of the database is. Do that by editing the :setting:`DATABASES`
20setting and assigning values to the following keys for the ``'default'``
21connection:
22
23    * :setting:`NAME`
24    * :setting:`ENGINE`
25    * :setting:`USER`
26    * :setting:`PASSWORD`
27    * :setting:`HOST`
28    * :setting:`PORT`
29
30Auto-generate the models
31========================
32
33.. highlight:: bash
34
35Django comes with a utility called :djadmin:`inspectdb` that can create models
36by introspecting an existing database. You can view the output by running this
37command::
38
39    python manage.py inspectdb
40
41Save this as a file by using standard Unix output redirection::
42
43    python manage.py inspectdb > models.py
44
45This feature is meant as a shortcut, not as definitive model generation. See the
46:djadmin:`documentation of inspectdb <inspectdb>` for more information.
47
48Once you've cleaned up your models, name the file ``models.py`` and put it in
49the Python package that holds your app. Then add the app to your
50:setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting.
51
52Install the core Django tables
53==============================
54
55Next, run the :djadmin:`syncdb` command to install any extra needed database
56records such as admin permissions and content types::
57
58    python manage.py syncdb
59
60Test and tweak
61==============
62
63Those are the basic steps -- from here you'll want to tweak the models Django
64generated until they work the way you'd like. Try accessing your data via the
65Django database API, and try editing objects via Django's admin site, and edit
66the models file accordingly.