Python Django Tutorial : Dynamic Landing Page with Live Data From TMDB API + Bootstrap Styling [2]

In this video, we power up our Django app by creating a dynamic landing page from scratch. In this episode, you'll learn how to:

Securely Manage API Keys:
Get your free TMDB API key and keep it safe using a .env file with python-dotenv.

Configure Environment Variables:
Update your Django settings to load your API key securely.

Build Dynamic Views & Templates:
Write a Django view that fetches movie data from the TMDB API based on user-specified criteria (category or search term) and pass that data to your template.

Design a Responsive Landing Page:
Create a user-friendly page using Django's templating language and Bootstrap. You'll add a category dropdown, search form, and display movies in sleek Bootstrap cards.

Implement Robust Error Handling:
Use try/except blocks to manage API errors gracefully and inform users if something goes wrong.

This hands-on, beginner-friendly video teaches you real-world techniques to integrate external APIs and build dynamic, production-ready web pages with Django, and Bootstrap.

Chapters:

00:00 – What We'll Do and Learn (Objectives)
01:24 – Quick Recap: What We Covered in the Last Video
02:20 – Introducing the Live Data Source (The Movie Database TMDB API)
02:57 – Using Python-dotenv & .env: Keeping Our API Key Safe and Accessible
05:30 – Creating a Dropdown Menu with Categories and Styling it with Bootstrap
09:22 – Building the Categories Form
12:07 – Setting Up the TMDB API Categories/Movie Lists Base URL
13:00 – Overview of Python's Requests Library
13:36 – Making GET Requests to the TMDB API to Fetch Movie Data and Passing it to the Template
16:36 – Looping Through Movies and Placing Them in Bootstrap Cards
18:23 – Displaying Movie Posters (Using Django Template Variables)
19:25 – Ensuring the Category Dropdown Shows the Selected Category (Using Django Template If Statements/Conditions)
23:24 – Using the Django Template Filter: floatformat
24:07 – Finalizing the Landing Page Layout and Card Styling
26:45 – Adding Movie Search Functionality
33:40 – Implementing Request Error Handling (Try/Except Block)
35:28 – Adding an Error Message to the Template

🔗Important Resources and Links:
Github Repo (Part 1):

Github Repo [ source code ]:

Django Docs:

Htmx Docs:

🧡 If you have found this content useful consider becoming my Patreon: 💜

[abhityagi]

Awesome tutorial Piko 👍, you made me feel that I can fly too with django and wagtail! I am python user but missing the whole bootstrap, css and mixing html/css with django experience. Another thing which I liked about your videos is that you are keeping it close to the visuals, i.e. after making small edits you show how it renders on the webpage.

[BlueSophora]

I like this. Easy to follow but not boring and full of useful information for newbs like me and you show how you fix bugs, very helpful. Thanks for making it.

[pancake-lover]

Now i understand how views and forms work in Django. Very good explanation 🙏🙏🙏

[rayncodes]

I've learnt a lot today, thank you 👍
So please make a video about Django channels 🙏🙏

[friendlyalien-joys]

Another great one! Thanks yiu! Will the next video show how to use htmx?

[arefsa]

thank you
when part 3 goes for public?