How to work with an existing Django project

I have installed Komodo and I would like to use it with an existing Django project (which is a git repo, and has its own virtual environment).

How do I set up Komodo to import this Django project, and run the server with an interactive debugger?

(I am debating which IDE to purchase; I have been working with PyCharm for about 3 weeks now and I am especially interested in pros and cons of both IDEs. I found an old thread that hints that Komodo can’t automatically reload as I make changes to source files, which is a huge disadvantage over PyCharm if still true.)

When you create a project with Komodo the place where you save your project becomes the root of that project. If there are already files there then these files will become part of your project. You do not need to go through a manual import process of some sort.

As for the interactive debugger, please have a look at our documentation here:

http://docs.komodoide.com/Manual/debugpython#debugging-python-komodo-ide-only_using-the-python-remote-debugger_invoking-the-python-remote-debugger

Was really hoping for a dead-simple, step-by-step guide to take me from starting Komodo to having an interactive debugging session, stopping on a breakpoint in my Django code, making a change, and immediately seeing the server reload. If anything like that exists, it would make my life a lot easier at the moment, since I’m hoping to spend as little time as possible piecing together a “how-to” from scratch, which is why I came here.

Reloading a django web page while debugging based on changes you made in the debugging session is impossible, as it would restart the session and thus the debugging session. If you place your breakpoints at the right places you can however change the page as it is rendered.

We currently do not cover debugging django in our documentation, however our ex dev lead Todd Whiteman posted a short guide on our old forums that may be of interest to you:

https://community.activestate.com/forum-topic/debugging-django-apps

I was not describing reloading while debugging. What I was describing was being able to make a change in the code, save the file, and have the server automatically reload from disk. Then I can click refresh on my browser to test my changes. All the while having breakpoints set that don’t need to be re-set after the server reloads. (Like I can with PyCharm.) It’s still not clear by your answer that Komodo will keep my breakpoints around between reloads, as suggested by an older forum post somewhere else. I would like to get that confirmed. (I’m thinking about the cost of overhead of the debugging cycle between different IDEs.)

Thanks for the link. It’s from 2007, which is almost 9 years now. If Komodo hasn’t added any first-class support for debugging Django projects, I suspect it’s probably not high on your priority list. Am I wrong?

Komodo would indeed keep your breakpoints, the only thing that would remove them is you removing them or you removing relevant code.

We do not explicitly support “any” framework for debugging, we support the language, which in turn supports the framework.