I was watching an excellent LinkedIn learning course, Advanced Django, when I came across an example where the author talked about setting up a 404 page. 

I implemented it on blogthedata.com with this commit. Go ahead, try it out!

https://blogthedata.com/doesnotexist

I first needed to adjust my views so that if a post/category was not found, it threw a 404 error instead of a 500.

# views.py
from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404
def get_queryset(self):
        post = get_object_or_404(Post, slug=self.kwargs["slug"])

The second was to add a 404 handler to my view. This references a template containing all HTML shown when a 404 is thrown. I thought it would be fun to search '404 page' within public Github repositories, and I was not disappointed! I came across this one which appears to be the result of a coding challenge where they were tasked to create a 404 page.

# views.py
def handler_404(request, exception):
    return render(request, "blog/404_page.html")

Finally, add the handler to urls.py

# urls.py
handler404 = "django_project.views.handler_404"

We now have a pretty 404 page instead of an ugly default page. If I want to go further, I could design templates and handlers for other types of errors, such as 500 (server error) and 403 (Not allowed). Perhaps I'll tackle that in the future!

Back to Home
 Profile Picture
Profile Picture

About John Solly

I am a Senior Software Engineer with a focus on geospatial applications, based in the Columbus, OH metropolitan area. This blog is where I delve into the intricacies of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), offering deep dives into different components of the geospatial technology stack. For those who share a passion for GIS and its applications, you've found a spot to explore and learn.

Interested in collaborating or learning more about my work? Take a look at my portfolio for a showcase of my projects and expertise.

Comments

  • No comments yet.
Login to Comment