Student DBMS (Django)

A simple Student Database Management System built with Django. It supports secure login, student CRUD, and attendance tracking with per-day uniqueness and percentage calculations.

Features

• Authentication: Login required for all views
• Student management: Add, view, update, and delete students
• Attendance: Record daily attendance (one record per student per day) and see attendance percentages
• Admin panel: Manage data via Django Admin

Tech stack

• Backend: Django 5
• Language: Python 3.12
• Database: MySQL (via mysqlclient)
• Frontend: Django templates, HTML/CSS

Project structure (key paths)

Mini Project DBS/
  project/
    studentdbms/
      manage.py
      studentdbms/           # Project settings & URLs
      database/              # App (models, views, urls, templates, static)
        models.py
        views.py
        urls.py
        templates/
          base.html
          login.html
          index.html
          database.html
          view.html
          attendance.html
        static/
          css/style.css

Prerequisites

• Python 3.12
• MySQL Server (e.g., 8.x)
• Pipenv or pip
• Build tools for mysqlclient if needed (on Windows, Visual C++ Build Tools)

Database setup (MySQL)

1. Create a database and user (example):

CREATE DATABASE student CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'student_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON student.* TO 'student_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

2. Update Django DB credentials in project/studentdbms/studentdbms/settings.py under DATABASES['default']:
   • NAME: student
   • USER: your MySQL username
   • PASSWORD: your MySQL password
   • HOST: localhost
   • PORT: 3306

Note: The repo currently points to MySQL with placeholders. For production, never hardcode credentials or the Django SECRET_KEY. Prefer environment variables or a .env file with a loader.

Installation

You can use Pipenv (preferred) or plain pip. Run commands from project/studentdbms/ where manage.py lives.

• Using Pipenv:

# from repo root
cd "project/studentdbms"
pipenv install --dev
# Ensure mysqlclient is installed
pipenv run pip install mysqlclient

• Using virtualenv + pip:

# from repo root
cd "project/studentdbms"
python -m venv .venv
# Windows PowerShell
. .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
# macOS/Linux
# source .venv/bin/activate
pip install django mysqlclient

If mysqlclient fails to install on Windows, install the Visual C++ Build Tools and retry, or use a prebuilt wheel appropriate for your Python version.

Environment variables (.env)

This project reads settings from environment variables. A sample file is provided:

• Copy project/studentdbms/.env.example to project/studentdbms/.env and fill values.

On Windows PowerShell:

Copy-Item project\studentdbms\.env.example project\studentdbms\.env

The app will automatically load project/studentdbms/.env during development.

Apply migrations and create a superuser

cd "project/studentdbms"
# If using pipenv, prefix commands with: pipenv run
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser

Run the development server

cd "project/studentdbms"
python manage.py runserver

• App: http://127.0.0.1:8000/
• Admin: http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/

App URLs and usage

• / → Login page
• /home/ → Dashboard
• /database/ → Add a new student (name, email, DOB, course, CGPA, department)
• /view/ → List and manage students (update/delete)
• /attendance/ → Mark daily attendance and view attendance percentage per student
• /logout/ → Logout

Attendance records are unique per student per date. The app computes attendance percentage as (present_days / total_days \times 100) and shows it on the attendance page.

Environment and security

• Set DEBUG=False and configure ALLOWED_HOSTS for production in settings.py.
• Do not commit secrets (e.g., SECRET_KEY, DB password). Use environment variables or a secret manager.

Static files

During development, static files are served from database/static/. For production, configure STATIC_ROOT and run:

python manage.py collectstatic

Troubleshooting

• mysqlclient install issues: Ensure MySQL headers and a compatible compiler are available. On Windows, install the “Desktop development with C++” workload (Visual Studio Build Tools).
• Cannot connect to MySQL: Verify DB name, user, password, host, and that MySQL is running. Test with: mysql -u <user> -p -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306.
• Migrations: If schema changed, run python manage.py makemigrations then python manage.py migrate.

Acknowledgements

Built with Django. Thanks to the Django community for documentation and tooling.