In today’s digital world, creating web apps that are dynamic and engaging is really important. Flask, a lightweight and flexible framework in Python, is perfect for beginners in web programming. This article will help you start your journey with Flask web framework, whether you’re an expert programmer trying out new technology or a newbie excited to learn coding.
We’ll cover the basics, help you set up your coding environment, and show you how to create your first web app using Flask web framework. Get ready to dive into web development with us as we simplify Flask and make learning fun and easy for you.
What Is Flask?
Flask, a small web framework in Python, is commonly used for creating web applications that interact and display data-driven content. While Flask web framework is often linked with web development, Flask is also handy in data science. It helps in making simple web interfaces, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and visualization tools. These tools are useful for data scientists and analysts as they can showcase their data and analyses in a user-friendly and interactive manner.
What is Flask Web Framework Used For?
Many people use the Flask Web framework, to build online apps. It’s a simple and flexible way to create web applications and APIs. Flask is known for its easy-to-use design, allowing developers to choose what they want and customize their apps as needed.
Some common uses of the Flask web framework are written below for your better understanding
- Web Applications: Flask can create different types of websites like blogs, online stores, social media sites, and more. It’s easy to use for both small and big projects.
- API Development: You can make RESTful APIs with Flask to let different software systems communicate, share data, and work together.
- Prototyping: Flask is great for quickly trying out web ideas. It lets developers test their concepts without using complex tools.
- Microservices: Flask is good for building small, independent parts of big apps. Each part can do its own job and work together as a whole.
- Webhooks: Flask can make endpoints that listen for specific events from other services. It can then take action in response to these events.
- Interactive Dashboards: You can use Flask to make dashboards that show data in real time. This is helpful for analyzing data and keeping track of things.
- Educational Projects: Flask is often used in schools to teach web development. It’s simple and helps students learn about how websites work.
- Small to Medium-sized Websites: For websites that don’t need complex tools, Flask is a lightweight option that still has many features.
- Integration with Data Science and Machine Learning: Flask helps make web interfaces for data science and machine learning models. Users can interact with these models without needing to understand the code behind them.
What Are The Key Features Of Flask
Flask web framework in Python is a popular web framework that helps developers create web apps quickly. Here are some important key features of Flask Web framework explaining why it is unique from others:
- Lightweight and Simple: Flask contains only the basics you need for web development, like handling requests, templates, and testing. This simplicity makes it easy to learn and gives you more freedom to design your app the way you want.
- Jinja2 Templating: Flask uses Jinja2 to create dynamic HTML templates. It’s like writing Python code but for web pages. Jinja2 has features for organizing templates, applying filters, and ensuring security.
- WSGI Compatibility: Flask follows the WSGI ( Web Server Gateway Interface) standard for how web servers and web apps talk to each other. This means it can work with various web servers like Gunicorn or Apache.
- Modular and Expandable: Flask Web Framework lets you divide your app into smaller parts called blueprints, making it easier to manage and reuse code. It also has many extensions for extra features like database integration, user authentication, caching, and email handling. You can pick and customize these extensions based on what your app needs.
Installation Of Flask
Step 1- To install Flask on your PC, the first requirement is you should have the latest version of Python language installed on your computer.
Step 2- Create a virtual environment as it helps in keeping your project’s dependencies separate from other projects and the system’s packages. This is crucial to avoid conflicts and ensure that your project works consistently across different environments.
Venv package installed in the Python language helps in attaining virtual dependency; below is the code written for your reference to create a virtual environment.
| For Windows
mkdir myproject cd myproject py -3 -m venv venv |
| For Mac
mkdir myproject cd myproject python3 -m venv venv |
Step 3- The third step is to open the command prompt in Windows or a terminal on Mac and write the below-written command
| <div>
<div> <pre>$ pip install Flask</pre> </div> </div> |
Writing this command will tell the Python package manager to download and install the Flask web framework on your computer.
Step 4- After installation is completed successfully, you can verify the version installed on your computer by writing the below-written command in the command prompt.
flask –version
This command will display the version of Flask installed on your computer, if you see the version number this means Flask web framework is successfully installed on your computer.
Static Routes vs Dynamic Routes in Flask Web Framework
- Static Routes: As specified in the name itself, These are fixed routes where you have to write a separate function for each URL route.
For example, if you want different messages for ‘/Elon’ and ‘/John’, you will need two separate functions, which can get messy if you have many routes.
| Python
@app.route(‘/Elon’) def greet_elon(): return ‘Welcome Elon. What would you like to order.’ @app.route(‘/John’) def greet_john(): return ‘Welcome John. What would you like to order.’ |
- Dynamic Routes: Instead of writing separate functions for each route, you can use a single function with a variable part in the URL, indicated by ‘<variable_name>’. This variable value is then passed to the function as a parameter. This is great for handling many routes without writing a lot of functions.
For Example-
| Python
@app.route(‘/<name>’) def greet(name): return f ‘Welcome {name}. What would you like to order?’ |
Here, ‘<name>’ is a placeholder for any name, and the function ‘greet’ will greet the user based on the name in the URL. For example, ‘/Elon’ will greet “Welcome Elon. What would you like to order?” and ‘/John’ will greet “Welcome John. What would you like to order?”
HTML Injection
HTML injection is a method where a user can change website’s look by inputting code that’s not checked by the website. If a website doesn’t check what users type, hackers can enter harmful HTML code changing the website looks for others, adding things the website shouldn’t have. This can happen when a website doesn’t properly check what users enter, allowing attackers to add their own code and change how the website appears to everyone.
HTML Escaping
We use HTML escaping to prevent the website’s code from HTML injections. HTML escaping is like putting a protective shield around characters in HTML code. Instead of the browser seeing these characters as part of the code, it treats them as regular text.
You can use the HTML escaping technique by manually using the Escape() Function in the HTML Code.
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Flask Web Framework FAQs
What is Flask?
Flask is a lightweight and flexible web framework written in Python. It's used for building web applications, APIs, and other web-based projects.
How do I install Flask?
First prerequisite before installing Flask is that you should have the latest version of Python installed on your computer. After that, You can install Flask using the Python package manager.
Simply run the command prompt or terminal on your PC and write the following code-
$ pip install Flask
, this will start the installation process of Flask on your PC.
Is Flask suitable for beginners in web development?
Yes, Flask is a beginner-friendly web framework due to its simple syntax and easy design. It's a great choice for learning web development concepts.
