Tutorial #1 (poll app) raises ImproperlyConfigured error

Using Django Getting Started
1

I am new to django and I am following tutorial 1 (polls app)

after updating the mysite/urls.py file and running the runserver command I get the following error:

django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: The included URLconf '<module 'polls.urls' from 'C:\\Users\\Me\\Desktop\\Personal\\Django\\mysite\\polls\\urls.py'>' does not appear to have any patterns in it. If you see the 'urlpatterns' variable with valid patterns in the file then the issue is 
probably caused by a circular import.

I am not sure how I am getting this issue as I am literally copying and pasting the code directly from the tutorial page (not exactly encouraging).

Can anyone advise what is going wrong?

polls/urls.py looks like this:

from django.urls import path

from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path("", views.index, name="index"),
]

mysite/urls.py looks like this:

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
    path("polls/", include("polls.urls")),
    path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
]
2

Side note: I strongly encourage you to not just “copy / paste” the code from the tutorial text. It is well-known that going through the physical process of typing in the code has benefits toward understanding and knowledge retention that isn’t obtained otherwise. Additionally, learning to debug your typos has additional benefits as well.

Please confirm your directory structure.

The error message shows a reference to C:\\Users\\Me\\Desktop\\Personal\\Django\\mysite\\polls\\urls.py

This implies that your other urls.py file would be in:
C:\\Users\\Me\\Desktop\\Personal\\Django\\mysite\\mysite\\urls.py

Is this correct?

Also, you have written:

Please confirm that the file name you have is actually polls/urls.py and not polls/url.py.

3

good spot, but yes I have it as polls/urls.py. I have amended the OP

Directories are also correct.

4

What does your polls/views.py file look like?

Is there more to the error message being reported than the one line you quoted above?

5

polls/views is as follows:

from django.shortcuts import render

# Create your views here.

from django.http import HttpResponse

def index(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello, world. You're at the polls index.")

this is the full exception:

Exception in thread django-main-thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\urls\resolvers.py", line 740, in url_patterns
    iter(patterns)
TypeError: 'module' object is not iterable

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\threading.py", line 1016, in _bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\threading.py", line 953, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\utils\autoreload.py", line 64, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\commands\runserver.py", line 133, in inner_run
    self.check(display_num_errors=True)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\base.py", line 486, in check
    all_issues = checks.run_checks(
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\checks\registry.py", line 88, in run_checks
    new_errors = check(app_configs=app_configs, databases=databases)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\checks\urls.py", line 14, in check_url_config
    return check_resolver(resolver)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\checks\urls.py", line 24, in check_resolver
    return check_method()
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\urls\resolvers.py", line 520, in check
    messages.extend(check_resolver(pattern))
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\core\checks\urls.py", line 24, in check_resolver
    return check_method()
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\urls\resolvers.py", line 519, in check
    for pattern in self.url_patterns:
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\utils\functional.py", line 47, in __get__
    res = instance.__dict__[self.name] = self.func(instance)
  File "C:\Users\me\anaconda3\envs\mynewenv\lib\site-packages\django\urls\resolvers.py", line 748, in url_patterns
    raise ImproperlyConfigured(msg.format(name=self.urlconf_name)) from e
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: The included URLconf '<module 'polls.urls' from 'C:\\Users\\me\\Desktop\\Personal\\Django\\mysite\\polls\\urls.py'>' does not appear to have any patterns in it. If you see the 'urlpatterns' variable with valid patterns in the file then the issue is probably caused by a circular import.

I have a hunch its from this line

from . import views

which location does the ‘.’ refer to in this case?

6

What versions of Python and Django are involved here?

If you’re using anaconda, I’d suggest not doing so for the purposes of this tutorial.

I’d suggest following the installation instructions as described in the docs. It’s hard to tell what issues that a different installation or packaging method may cause.

The current directory of the urls.py file. It’s fine, the tutorial is accurate in what it presents.

7

python 3.10.13
django 5.0.3

my Visual Studio is set up to use Anaconda. So I basically have to change IDE to continue?

8

No, you can still use Visual Studio, I’m just recommending getting Anaconda out of the way. It’s too opaque an environment for me to be able to diagnose a runtime error.

(I use Visual Studio Code exclusively now, but never use Anaconda.)

9

I set up a new virtual environment in VS using the locally installed python and installed Django there.
Ran the same code and it looks like it worked. Just needed to use the interpreter saved on my local drive.
Thank you for your help!