Flask-Model-Management

• This is a Flask extension for managing Flask-SQLAlchemy models.
• This extension allows the user to perform CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations on the models registered using the UI

The frontend is built using:

• Bootstrap4 (https://getbootstrap.com/)
• JQuery (https://jquery.com/)
• Datatables (https://datatables.net/)
• Feather Icons (https://feathericons.com/)
• This bootstrap theme (https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.5/examples/dashboard/)
• Flatpickr for date(time) fields (https://flatpickr.js.org/)
• Jinja2

NB: all the above JS & CSS are bundled into this package currently

The backend is built using:

• Flask-SQLAlchemy & SQLAlchemy
• Flask-WTF & WTForms

Status: In Alpha Development

BE WARNED: INSTALLING CRUD APPLICATIONS INTO PRODUCTION SERVERS ALLOWS USERS TO PERFORM POTENTIALLY IRREVERSIBLE DATA OPERATIONS

Install

pip install:

pip install flask_model_management

Use

• an example of how to use without app factory might look something like:

from flask import Flask
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from flask_model_management import ModelManager

app = Flask(__name__)
# from flask_sqlalchemy docs
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:////tmp/test.db'
db = SQLAlchemy(app)
model_manager = ModelManager(app, db)

# showing model declaration for the example
class User(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = "user"

    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    username = Column(String)

model_manager.register_model(User)

• with app factory:

from flask import Flask
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from flask_model_management import ModelManager

db = SQLAlchemy()
model_manager = ModelManager()

# showing model declaration for the example
class User(db.Model):
    __tablename__ = "user"

    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    username = Column(String, nullable=False)

def create_app():
    app = Flask(__name__)
    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:////tmp/test.db'
    db.init_app(app)
    model_manager.init_app(app, db)

    model_manager.register_model(User, nullable=False)

UI Examples

• Home page

• Table page

• Create (single entry) page

• Read (bulk entries) page

• Update (single) page

• Update (bulk) page

• Delete (single) page

• Delete (bulk) page

How it works

frontend perspective

• Once you plug-in this extension then at: /model-management/ you will find the home dashboard
• You can browse around the pages and perform CRUD operations on your models

backend perspective

• A blueprint is added to your app called model_management with the url prefix /model-management
• 4 url routes are added to this blueprint:
  • A home page at: /
  • A table page at: /<tablename>
  • An operation page at: /<tablename>/<operation>
    • Operations limited to: create, read, update or delete
  • An operation API at: /api/<tablename>
    • CRUD operations are mapped to HTTP methods:
      • POST = create
      • GET = read
      • PUT = update
      • DELETE = delete
• The data from the frontend forms are then sent via ajax request to the operation API with the required data and HTTP method
• WARNING: this library will therefore wrap your Flask-SQLAlchemy models with an API endpoint
• There are 2 'protocols': single & bulk
  • single is for CRUD applied to one entry
    • always applied to: CREATE
    • sometimes applied to: UPDATE, DELETE
  • bulk is for CRUD applied to multiple entries (and is default in all but CREATE)
    • always applied to: READ
    • sometimes (default) applied to: UPDATE, DELETE

Todo

• re-add decorators to models
• excluded columns
• excluded operations