Flask

Flask

Short introduction guide on Flask. http://flask.pocoo.org/ (Used for XPPL, so to see a more advanced use in connection with database, see XPPL)

Basic Flask

Flask is a microframework for python to create web applications. It basically connects the webserver with your python code.

Install

$ pip install Flask

Simple text serving

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route("/")
def hello():
    return "Hello World!"

• with @app.route you can define the url flask respons to.
• the function definition after is mandetory as well as the return.
• everything that comes after return gets sent back to the browser (http GET request)

Save the code above as hello.py.

Run it with:

$ flask --app hello run

And if you want to enable the debugger (recommended!):

$ flask --app hello run --debug

Paths

You can use any route you like

@app.route("/any/route/you/like")

You can also use variable routes (example for int)

@app.route("/book/<int:id>")
def book(id):

as you can see you can grab the variable in the url through the function’s parameter

(example for string)

@app.route("/book/<bookname>")
def book(bookname):

Http Methods

Methods like GET or POST (DELETE, PUT…) can be handled by flask

Therefore you need to add the wanted methods to the route definition like:

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/address_to_post', methods= ['POST','GET'])
def respond_to_post():
    answer = ""
    if request.method == 'GET':
        answer = "get"
    if request.method == 'POST':
        answer = "post"
    return answer

with request.method you can determine the incoming kind of request.

Templates

To be able return full html pages, flask uses templates using Jinja to insert variable content.

@app.route('/')
def home():
    message = "Welcome Home!"
    return render_template('home.html', message=message)

You can pass as many variables to a template and keep the code separate from the HTML it generates. In this example we pass message to this template:

<p>{{ message }}</p>

!important: The template file needs to be saved inside a templates folder called "templates" inside your project folder, this is a Flask default.

Helpful function

404 Page not found

@app.errorhandler(404)
def page_not_found(error):
    """Custom 404 page."""
    return render_template('404.html'), 404

Deploying

Running with uwsgi

Flask warns you that using "the development server" isn't good for "production use".

Using software like uwsgi to run your flask project on a server is a good idea. It:

• Is able to deal with many users at the same time
• When configured right lets large static files (like images / videos) be served in a way that works well

https://hackersandslackers.dev/deploy-flask-uwsgi-nginx/

Making a systemd service file

When you deploy your application on a server, you need to make sure the application runs uninterrupted. If the application crashes, you'd want it to automatically restart, and if the server experiences a power outage, you'd want the application to start immediately once power is restored.

SEE: https://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/running-a-flask-application-as-a-service-with-systemd

Useful: https://containersolutions.github.io/runbooks/posts/linux/debug-systemd-service-units/

$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP.service

[Unit]
Description=<a description of your application>
After=network.target

[Service]
User=<username>
WorkingDirectory=<path to your app>
ExecStart=<app start command>
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Here is an example:

 [Unit]
 Description=Bla Bla Bla made in Flask
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
 User=YOUR_USERNAME
 WorkingDirectory=/YOUR/PATH/
 ExecStart=/YOUR/PATH/.venv/bin/flask --app NAME_OF_YOUR_PY_FILE run --port 51?? #DO NOT PUT .py AT THE END + #PUT YOUR_PORT
 Restart=always
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target

1st thing to do when your .service file is new or changed

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Then in order:

$ sudo systemctl start YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP
$ sudo systemctl status YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP

When you see that it's working (checking its status, that it actually is running, etc...)

$ sudo systemctl enable YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP

Will make the "service" auto start when the pi restarts.

Additional commands:

$ sudo systemctl restart YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP
$ sudo systemctl stop YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP

To view the log file (errors):

$ sudo journalctl -u YOUR_NAME_OF_THE_APP -f

You can find documentation here:

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd.exec.html

Boilerplates

You can use these examples as boilerplates for your Flask application!

1. Install Flask
2. Copy a Flask boilerplate and save it as a Python script (filename.py) somewhere
3. Run the Flask application with: flask --app filename run --debug
4. Open the Flask application in your browser at: http://localhost:5000 (5000 is the default port Flask uses)

from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

html_template = """
<h1>transformations</h1>
<form action="/" method="post">
<input type="text" name="search">
<br><br>
<input type="submit" value="transform">
</form>
"""

@app.route("/", methods=["POST","GET"])
def transformations():
    if request.method == "POST":

        search = request.form["search"]
        
        result_list = []
        for character in search:
            unicode_point = format(ord(character))
            result_list.append(character + " " + unicode_point)

        result_string = "<br>\n".join(result_list)

        return html_template + f"<pre>{ result_string }</pre>"
    
    if request.method == "GET":
    
        return html_template

Running Flask applications on the collective hub.xpub.nl servers

gunicorn

First install gunicorn:

$ pip3 install gunicorn

And then make or change the following files:

Makefile

include .env
export

default: local

local:
        @flask run --debug

breadcube:
        @SCRIPT_NAME=${APPLICATION_ROOT} gunicorn -b localhost:${PORTNUMBER} --reload app:app

.env

APPLICATION_ROOT=/overlap
PORTNUMBER=5000

settings.py

import os
from dotenv import main

# Load environment variables from the .env file
main.load_dotenv()

# Bind them to Python variables
APPLICATION_ROOT = os.environ.get('APPLICATION_ROOT', '/')
PORTNUMBER = int(os.environ.get('PORTNUMBER', 5001))

app.py

# load the settings of the applicaiton
# (to handle the routing correctly)
app.config.from_pyfile('settings.py')