Question

I’m trying to work out how to run the debug stuff that pycharm seems to offer (well, it allows me to set breakpoints, anyway, so i’m assuming there’s a nice gui for it)

I’ve concluded that i cannot use the ctrl-shift-r and then “runserver” command, and that instead i’d need to setup a “run configuration”? I made a “django server” one, but i don’t know what values to put etc. When i run it, it tells me that some setting is wrong – i’m pretty sure it isn’t, because the standard “runserver” command works fine.

And that’s about all i concluded. If there is a nifty tutorial or steps to get it so i can

1. put in a break point
2. go to the page that triggers that breakpoint and follow the code’s inner working in pycharm

i’d be thrilled!

cheers!

UPDATE: in case you’re wondering, here is the error i got:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File “manage.py”, line 11, in
import settings

File “C:\development\PycharmProjects\dumpstown\settings.py”, line 185, in
add_to_builtins(‘gravatar.templatetags.gravatar’)

File “C:\development\python\lib\site-packages\django\template\base.py”, line 1017, in add_to_builtins

builtins.append(import_library(module))

File “C:\development\python\lib\site-packages\django\template\base.py”, line 963, in import_library

raise InvalidTemplateLibrary(“ImportError raised loading %s: %s” % (taglib_module, e))

django.template.base.InvalidTemplateLibrary: ImportError raised loading gravatar.templatetags.gravatar: Settings cannot be imported, because environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is undefined.

Where the application itself, on a “runserver” never has any issues.

UPDATE: as per my answer below, pycharm is broken for add_to_builtins.

Answer 1

So i gave all the answers here a +1 for trying – but they’re not the issue. Near as i can tell, the answer is that pycharm is broken. Which is a pain, but the solution is easy –

IF you dont’ want to use the little green button at the top of pycharm, or use the pycharm debugging feature? then don’t worry, you don’t need to do anything. Continue using ctrl-shift-r and runserver (or whatever your shortcut to manage.py is)

IF you do want to use the little green “run” button, or if you want to use pycharm’s debugging kit, then you absolutely cannot use the “add_to_builtins”, at least in the settings.py file (I never put it anywhere else myself, pycharm might require it elsewhere?). add_to_builtins doesn’t work in pycharm – it gets itself caught in a loop of grave consequences when you use the little green button or the debug button. Using ctrl-shift-r and runserver doesn’t, curiously, have this problem.

The good news is that “add_to_builtins” isn’t a must-have, just a nice-to-have. Just add the “{% load x %}” command to each template where you use x and you will be set.
Alternatively, save a hundred bucks and use some sort of free eclipse tool.