**Course Title:** Mastering Django Framework: Building Scalable Web Applications **Section Title:** Views and Templates **Topic:** Build a dynamic web page using views and templates to display blog posts.(Lab topic) **Objective:** By the end of this topic, you will be able to create a dynamic web page using Django views and templates to display blog posts. You will learn how to: * Create a view to handle business logic for displaying blog posts * Use Django's template engine to render a template for displaying blog posts * Pass data from the view to the template * Use Django's built-in template tags and filters to format data **Prerequisites:** * You have completed the previous topics in the Views and Templates section * You have a basic understanding of Django's MVT architecture and project organization * You have a basic understanding of Django models and database operations **Step 1: Create a View to Handle Business Logic** In this step, we will create a view to handle the business logic for displaying blog posts. We will use a class-based view to handle the logic. ```python # myapp/views.py from django.shortcuts import render from .models import BlogPost class BlogPostView(View): def get(self, request): blog_posts = BlogPost.objects.all() return render(request, 'blog_posts.html', {'blog_posts': blog_posts}) ``` In this code, we are using the `View` class from Django's `django.views.generic` module to create a class-based view. We are overriding the `get` method to handle the GET request. In this method, we are querying the database for all blog posts and passing the results to the template. **Step 2: Create a Template to Display Blog Posts** In this step, we will create a template to display the blog posts. We will use Django's template engine to render the template. ```html <!-- myapp/templates/blog_posts.html --> {% extends 'base.html' %} {% block content %} <h1>Blog Posts</h1> <ul> {% for post in blog_posts %} <li>{{ post.title }} ({{ post.created_at }})</li> {% empty %} <li>No blog posts available.</li> {% endfor %} </ul> {% endblock %} ``` In this code, we are using Django's template engine to render the template. We are using the `extends` tag to extend the base template. We are using the `block` tag to define a block of content. In this block, we are using a `for` loop to iterate over the blog posts and display their titles and creation dates. **Step 3: Pass Data from the View to the Template** In this step, we will pass data from the view to the template. We will use Django's template engine to pass the data. ```python # myapp/views.py from django.shortcuts import render from .models import BlogPost class BlogPostView(View): def get(self, request): blog_posts = BlogPost.objects.all() return render(request, 'blog_posts.html', {'blog_posts': blog_posts}) ``` In this code, we are passing the `blog_posts` variable to the template using the `render` function. **Step 4: Use Django's Built-in Template Tags and Filters** In this step, we will use Django's built-in template tags and filters to format data. We will use the `date` filter to format the creation date of the blog posts. ```html <!-- myapp/templates/blog_posts.html --> {% extends 'base.html' %} {% block content %} <h1>Blog Posts</h1> <ul> {% for post in blog_posts %} <li>{{ post.title }} ({{ post.created_at|date:"Y-m-d" }})</li> {% empty %} <li>No blog posts available.</li> {% endfor %} </ul> {% endblock %} ``` In this code, we are using the `date` filter to format the creation date of the blog posts. **Conclusion:** In this topic, we have learned how to create a dynamic web page using Django views and templates to display blog posts. We have learned how to create a view to handle business logic, use Django's template engine to render a template, pass data from the view to the template, and use Django's built-in template tags and filters to format data. **What's Next:** In the next topic, we will learn about Django forms and form handling. We will learn how to create forms, validate form data, and handle form submissions. **Leave a comment or ask for help:** If you have any questions or need help with this topic, please leave a comment below.