Chapter 13: Complete Blog System

13.1 Project Planning

Requirements Analysis

Before developing a complete blog system, we need to conduct detailed requirements analysis:

Functional requirements:

1. User system: Registration, login, profile management
2. Article management: Create, edit, delete, publish articles
3. Categories and tags: Article categorization and tagging system
4. Comment system: Users can comment on articles
5. Search function: Search articles by title, content, author
6. Admin backend: Administrators can manage articles, users, comments, etc.

Non-functional requirements:

1. Responsive design, support mobile access
2. Good SEO optimization
3. Performance optimization, support high concurrent access
4. Security assurance, prevent common web attacks
5. Easy to maintain and extend

Database Design

Design database models for the blog system:

# models.py
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.urls import reverse
from django.utils.text import slugify

class Category(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100, unique=True)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=100, unique=True, blank=True)
    description = models.TextField(blank=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    
    class Meta:
        verbose_name = "Category"
        verbose_name_plural = "Categories"
        ordering = ['name']
    
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if not self.slug:
            self.slug = slugify(self.name)
        super().save(*args, **kwargs)
    
    def __str__(self):
        return self.name
    
    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('blog:category_detail', kwargs={'slug': self.slug})

class Tag(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=50, unique=True)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=50, unique=True, blank=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    
    class Meta:
        verbose_name = "Tag"
        verbose_name_plural = "Tags"
        ordering = ['name']
    
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if not self.slug:
            self.slug = slugify(self.name)
        super().save(*args, **kwargs)
    
    def __str__(self):
        return self.name
    
    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('blog:tag_detail', kwargs={'slug': self.slug})

class Article(models.Model):
    STATUS_CHOICES = [
        ('draft', 'Draft'),
        ('published', 'Published'),
    ]
    
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=200, unique=True, blank=True)
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='articles')
    category = models.ForeignKey(Category, on_delete=models.SET_NULL, null=True, blank=True)
    tags = models.ManyToManyField(Tag, blank=True, related_name='articles')
    content = models.TextField()
    excerpt = models.TextField(blank=True, help_text="Article excerpt")
    featured_image = models.ImageField(upload_to='articles/%Y/%m/', blank=True)
    status = models.CharField(max_length=10, choices=STATUS_CHOICES, default='draft')
    view_count = models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
    published_at = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)
    
    class Meta:
        verbose_name = "Article"
        verbose_name_plural = "Articles"
        ordering = ['-created_at']
        indexes = [
            models.Index(fields=['status', 'published_at']),
            models.Index(fields=['author']),
        ]
    
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if not self.slug:
            self.slug = slugify(self.title)
        
        if not self.excerpt:
            # Auto-generate excerpt
            self.excerpt = self.content[:200] + '...' if len(self.content) > 200 else self.content
        
        if self.status == 'published' and not self.published_at:
            from django.utils import timezone
            self.published_at = timezone.now()
        
        super().save(*args, **kwargs)
    
    def __str__(self):
        return self.title
    
    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('blog:article_detail', kwargs={'slug': self.slug})
    
    @property
    def is_published(self):
        return self.status == 'published'

class Comment(models.Model):
    article = models.ForeignKey(Article, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='comments')
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='comments')
    parent = models.ForeignKey('self', on_delete=models.CASCADE, null=True, blank=True, related_name='replies')
    content = models.TextField()
    is_approved = models.BooleanField(default=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    
    class Meta:
        verbose_name = "Comment"
        verbose_name_plural = "Comments"
        ordering = ['created_at']
    
    def __str__(self):
        return f'{self.author.username}\'s comment on {self.article.title}'
    
    @property
    def is_reply(self):
        return self.parent is not None

Summary

Key points in the blog system project planning phase:

1. ✅ Clarify functional and non-functional requirements
2. ✅ Design reasonable database model structure
3. ✅ Determine core functional module division
4. ✅ Develop development plan and timeline
5. ✅ Consider system scalability and maintainability

Good project planning is the foundation for successful development.

Next Article

We will implement the core features of the blog system.

13.2 Core Function Implementation →

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