Integrating with a legacy database
This document is for Django's SVN release, which can be significantly different from previous releases. Get old docs here: 0.96, 0.95.
While Django is best suited for developing new applications, it’s quite possible to integrate it into legacy databases. Django includes a couple of utilities to automate as much of this process as possible.
This document assumes you know the Django basics, as covered in the official tutorial.
Give Django your database parameters
You’ll need to tell Django what your database connection parameters are, and what the name of the database is. Do that by editing these settings in your settings file:
Auto-generate the models
Django comes with a utility that can create models by introspecting an existing database. You can view the output by running this command:
python manage.py inspectdb
Save this as a file by using standard Unix output redirection:
python manage.py inspectdb > models.py
This feature is meant as a shortcut, not as definitive model generation. See the django-admin.py documentation for more information.
Once you’ve cleaned up your models, name the file models.py and put it in the Python package that holds your app. Then add the app to your INSTALLED_APPS setting.
Install the core Django tables
Next, run the manage.py syncdb command to install any extra needed database records such as admin permissions and content types:
python manage.py syncdb
See whether it worked
That’s it. Try accessing your data via the Django database API, and try editing objects via Django’s admin site.
Questions/Feedback
If you notice errors with this documentation, please open a ticket and let us know!
Please only use the ticket tracker for criticisms and improvements on the docs. For tech support, ask in the IRC channel or post to the django-users list.
