How to use an existing PostGIS database in a Flask web app - python

I'm building a web app using Flask and a PostGIS database I already created. I'm struggling to get Flask-SQLAlchemy to accept the geom column of my existing database. I declare db in an init.py file:
from flask import Flask, request, current_app
from config import Config
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from flask_migrate import Migrate
import os, logging
db = SQLAlchemy()
migrate = Migrate()
def create_app(config_class=Config):
app = Flask(__name__)
app.config.from_object(config_class)
db.init_app(app)
migrate.init_app(app, db)
My code for my models.py file looks like this:
from app import login, db
from datetime import datetime
from geoalchemy2 import Geometry
from time import time
from flask import current_app
class Streets(db.Model):
id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
street = db.Column(db.String(50))
geom = db.GeometryColumn(db.LineString(2))
The error I get is: AttributeError: 'SQLAlchemy' object has no attribute 'GeometryColumn'
And if I try to remove db. from the geom line, I get this error: NameError: name 'GeometryColumn' is not defined
Because Flask-SQLAlchemy wants you to declare a column using db.Column, it seems to override geoalchemy2. Has anyone found a solution to this?

It does not override GeoAlchemy2. You could use GeometryColumn as a column, if you were using the previous version of GeoAlchemy.
The first error is caused by the fact that the SQLAlchemy object from Flask-SQLAlchemy gives you access to functions etc. from sqlalchemy and sqlalchemy.orm. It does not include stuff from GeoAlchemy2 or such.
The second error is due to not having the name GeometryColumn in scope. You do import Geometry from geoalchemy2, but don't use it.
Reading the GeoAlchemy2 ORM tutorial you'd notice that geometry columns are defined as
geom = Column(Geometry('POLYGON'))
or in your case
geom = db.Column(Geometry('LINESTRING')) # dimension defaults to 2
Note that db.Column is sqlalchemy.schema.Column, just in another namespace.

Related

Flask SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI is not defined

I am having a problem setting up the skeleton of my Flask API, where I am getting an error regarding the URI for my database.
I have it set up like this
from flask import Flask
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from sqlite3 import Connection as SQLite3Connection
from datetime import datetime
from sqlalchemy import event
from sqlalchemy.engine import Engine
from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
app = Flask(__name__)
app.config[SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI] = "sqlite:///sqlitedb.file"
app.config[SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS] = 0
but I am getting the error in my IDE that [SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI] is not defined and I also get the same error when trying to execute the program.
The modules import fine, so I'm not sure what I'm missing.
Edit: RESOLVED. I didn't have quotes around my config dictionary entries.
From the docs:
The config is actually a subclass of a dictionary and can be modified
just like any dictionary
this is how you modify app.config:
app.config["SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI"] = "sqlite:///sqlitedb.file"
app.config["SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS"] = 0
A crucial step is how SQLAlchemy gets informed of configuration. That'll look something like:
app = Flask(__name__)
# ... configuration
db = SQLAlchemy()
db.init_app(app)

Avoiding importing application factory into module needing application context

This question is an extension on my previous one here. I was suggested to put more to explain the problem. As the heading says, I am trying to find a way to avoid importing the application factory (create_app function) into a module that needs application context and were "import current_app as app" is not sufficient.
My problem is I have a circular import problem due to this create_app function which I need to pass in order to get the app_context.
In my __ini__.py, I have this:
# application/__init__.py
from flask import Flask
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from flask_restful import Api
from application.resources.product import Product, Products
from application.resources.offer import Offer, Offers # HERE IS THE PROBLEM
api = Api()
db = SQLAlchemy()
api.add_resource(Product, "/product/<string:name>") # GET, POST, DELETE, PUT to my local database
api.add_resource(Products, "/products") # GET all products from my local database
api.add_resource(Offer, "/offer/<int:id>") # POST call to the external Offers API microservise
api.add_resource(Offers, "/offers") # GET all offers from my local database
def create_app(config_filename=None):
""" Initialize core application. """
app = Flask(__name__, instance_relative_config=False)
app.config.from_object("config.Config")
db.init_app(app)
api.init_app(app)
with app.app_context():
db.create_all()
return app
The problem is in this line:
from application.resources.offer import Offer, Offers # HERE IS THE PROBLEM
because in that module, I have:
#application/resources/offer.py
from flask_restful import Resource
from application.models.offer import OfferModel # IMPORTING OFFER MODEL
which in turn imports application/models/offer.py where I have the critical part:
#application/models/offer.py
import requests
# from flask import current_app as app
from application import create_app # THIS CAUSES THE CIRCULAR IMPORT ERROR
from sqlalchemy.exc import OperationalError
app = create_app() # I NEED TO CREATE THE APP IN ORDER TO GET THE APP CONTEXT BECASE IN THE CLASS I HAVE SOME FUNCTIONS THAT NEED IT
class OfferModel(db.Model):
""" Data model for offers. """
# some code to instantiate the class... + other methods..
# THIS IS ONE OF THE METHODS THAT NEED APP_CONTEXT OR ELSE IT WILL ERROR OUT
#classmethod
def update_offer_price(cls):
""" Call offers api to get new prices. This function will run in a separated thread in a scheduler. """
with app.app_context():
headers = {"Bearer": app.config["MS_API_ACCESS_TOKEN"]}
for offer_id in OfferModel.offer_ids:
offers_url = app.config["MS_API_OFFERS_BASE_URL"] + "/products/" + str(offer_id) + "/offers"
res = requests.get(offers_url, headers=headers).json()
for offer in res:
try:
OfferModel.query.filter_by(offer_id=offer["id"]).update(dict(price=offer["price"]))
db.session.commit()
except OperationalError:
print("Database does not exists.")
db.session.rollback()
I have tried to use from flask import current_app as app to get the context, it did not work. I don't know why it was not sufficient to pass current_app as app and get the context because it now forces me to pass the create_app application factory which causes the circular import problem.
Your update_offer_price method needs database interaction and an access to the configuration. It gets them from the application context but it works only if your Flask application is initialized. This method is run in a separate thread so you create the second instance of Flask application in this thread.
Alternative way is getting standalone database interaction and configuration access outside the application context.
Configuration
Configuration does not seem a problem as your application gets it from another module:
app.config.from_object("config.Config")
So you can directly import this object to your offer.py:
from config import Config
headers = {"Bearer": Config.MS_API_ACCESS_TOKEN}
Database access
To get standalone database access you need to define your models via SQLAlchemy instead of flask_sqlalchemy. It was already described in this answer but I post here the essentials. For your case it may look like this. Your base.py module:
from sqlalchemy import MetaData
from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
metadata = MetaData()
Base = declarative_base(metadata=metadata)
And offer.py module:
import sqlalchemy as sa
from .base import Base
class OfferModel(Base):
id = sa.Column(sa.Integer, primary_key=True)
# Another declarations
The produced metadata object is used to initialize your flask_sqlalchemy object:
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from application.models.base import metadata
db = SQLAlchemy(metadata=metadata)
Your models can be queried outside the application context but you need to manually create database engine and sessions. For example:
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
from config import Config
from application.models.offer import Offer
engine = create_engine(Config.YOUR_DATABASE_URL)
# It is recommended to create a single engine
# and use it afterwards to bind database sessions to.
# Perhaps `application.models.base` module
# is better to be used for this declaration.
def your_database_interaction():
session = Session(engine)
offers = session.query(Offer).all()
for offer in offers:
# Some update here
session.commit()
session.close()
Note that with this approach you can't use your models classes for queriing, I mean:
OfferModel.query.all() # Does not work
db.session.query(OfferModel).all() # Works
ok so this is how I solved it. I made a new file endpoints.py where I put all my Api resources
# application/endpoints.py
from application import api
from application.resources.product import Product, Products
from application.resources.offer import Offer, Offers
api.add_resource(Product, "/product/<string:name>") # GET, POST, DELETE, PUT - calls to local database
api.add_resource(Products, "/products") # GET all products from local database.
api.add_resource(Offer, "/offer/<int:id>") # POST call to the Offers API microservice.
api.add_resource(Offers, "/offers") # GET all offers from local database
Then in init.py I import it at the very bottom.
# aplication/__init__.py
from flask import Flask
from flask_restful import Api
from db import db
api = Api()
def create_app():
app = Flask(__name__, instance_relative_config=False)
app.config.from_object("config.Config")
db.init_app(app)
api.init_app(app)
with app.app_context():
from application import routes
db.create_all()
return app
from application import endpoints # importing here to avoid circular imports
It is not very pretty but it works.

Creating a database in flask sqlalchemy

I'm building a Flask app with Flask-SQLAlchemy and I'm trying to write a script that will create a Sqlite3 database without running the main application. In order to avoid circular references, I've initialized the main Flask app object and the SQLAlchemy database object in separate modules. I then import and combine them in a third file when running the app. This works fine when I'm running the app, as the database is built and operates properly when create rows and query them. However, when I try to import them in another module, I get the following error:
RuntimeError: application not registered on db instance and no applicationbound to current context
My code looks like the following:
root/create_database.py
from application.database import db
from application.server import app
db.init_app(app)
db.create_all()
root/run.sh
export FLASK_APP=application/server.py
flask run
root/application/init.py
from database import db
from server import app
db.init_app(app)
from routes import apply_routes
apply_routes(app)
root/application/database.py
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy()
root/application/server.py
from flask import Flask
import os
app = Flask(__name__)
path = os.path.dirname( os.path.realpath(__file__) )
database_path = os.path.join(path, '../mydb.sqlite')
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///' + database_path
root/application/models/init.py
from user import User
root/application/models/user.py
from application.database import db
class User(db.Model):
id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
username = db.Column(db.String(80), unique=True)
password = db.Column(db.String(120))
def __init__(self, username, password):
self.username = username
self.password = password
In my create_database.py script I'm trying to make sure that the SQLAlchemy db instance is configured with the config details from the app object, but it doesn't seem to be connecting for some reason. Am I missing something important here?
You either have to create a request or you have to create the models with sqlalchemy directly. We do something similar at work and chose the former.
Flask lets you create a test request to initialize an app. Try something like
from application.database import db
from application.server import app
with app.test_request_context():
db.init_app(app)
db.create_all()

How do I remove a circular dependency between a Flask blueprint and the application initialisation? [duplicate]

I want to structure my Flask app something like:
./site.py
./apps/members/__init__.py
./apps/members/models.py
apps.members is a Flask Blueprint.
Now, in order to create the model classes I need to have a hold of the app, something like:
# apps.members.models
from flask import current_app
from flaskext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy(current_app)
class Member(db.Model):
# fields here
pass
But if I try and import that model into my Blueprint app, I get the dreaded RuntimeError: working outside of request context. How can I get a hold of my app correctly here? Relative imports might work but they're pretty ugly and have their own context issues, e.g:
from ...site import app
# ValueError: Attempted relative import beyond toplevel package
The flask_sqlalchemy module does not have to be initialized with the app right away - you can do this instead:
# apps.members.models
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy()
class Member(db.Model):
# fields here
pass
And then in your application setup you can call init_app:
# apps.application.py
from flask import Flask
from apps.members.models import db
app = Flask(__name__)
# later on
db.init_app(app)
This way you can avoid cyclical imports.
This pattern does not necessitate the you place all of your models in one file. Simply import the db variable into each of your model modules.
Example
# apps.shared.models
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy()
# apps.members.models
from apps.shared.models import db
class Member(db.Model):
# TODO: Implement this.
pass
# apps.reporting.members
from flask import render_template
from apps.members.models import Member
def report_on_members():
# TODO: Actually use arguments
members = Member.filter(1==1).all()
return render_template("report.html", members=members)
# apps.reporting.routes
from flask import Blueprint
from apps.reporting.members import report_on_members
reporting = Blueprint("reporting", __name__)
reporting.route("/member-report", methods=["GET","POST"])(report_on_members)
# apps.application
from flask import Flask
from apps.shared import db
from apps.reporting.routes import reporting
app = Flask(__name__)
db.init_app(app)
app.register_blueprint(reporting)
Note: this is a sketch of some of the power this gives you - there is obviously quite a bit more that you can do to make development even easier (using a create_app pattern, auto-registering blueprints in certain folders, etc.)
an original app.py: https://flask-sqlalchemy.palletsprojects.com/en/2.x/quickstart/
...
app = flask.Flask(__name__)
app.config['DEBUG'] = True
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:////tmp/test.db'
db = flask.ext.sqlalchemy.SQLAlchemy(app)
class Person(db.Model):
id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
...
class Computer(db.Model):
id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
...
# Create the database tables.
db.create_all()
...
# start the flask loop
app.run()
I just splitted one app.py to app.py and model.py without using Blueprint. In that case, the above answer dosen't work. A line code is needed to work.
before:
db.init_app(app)
after:
db.app = app
db.init_app(app)
And, the following link is very useful.
http://piotr.banaszkiewicz.org/blog/2012/06/29/flask-sqlalchemy-init_app/

Unable to import db object more than once in flask and sqlalchemy

I have a couple of modules: start.py, user.py, projects.py
In start.py I have:
from flask import Flask
from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
app = Flask(__name__)
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'my_database_URI'
db = SQAlchemy(app)
db.createAll()
I need to use the db object from both user.py and projects.py. If I import it like so:
from start import db
then I get an error if I do this in both modules. If I only import it to user.py, for example - then it works fine. The error I'm getting is "ImportError: cannot import name db".
Is there a way to solve this?
Sounds like this is a circular import problem.
The way that I've gotten around this is by having another file, a shared.py file in the root directory. In that file, create the database object,
from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy()
In your start.py, don't create a new db object. Instead, do
from shared import db
db.init_app(app)
In any place that you want to use the db object, including your models file, import it from shared.py:
from shared import db
# do stuff with db
This way, the object in the shared file will have been initialized with the app context, and there's no chance of circular imports.

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