Getting Started with the TOM Toolkit

So you’ve decided to run a Target Observation Manager. This article will help you get started.

The TOM Toolkit is a Django project. This means you’ll be running an application based on the Django framework when you run a TOM. If you decide to customize your TOM, you’ll be working in Django. You’ll likely need some basic understanding of python and we recommend all users work their way through the Django tutorial first before starting with the TOM Toolkit. It doesn’t take long, and you most likely won’t need to utilize any advanced features.

Ready to go? Let’s get started.

Prerequisites

The TOM toolkit requires Python >= 3.7

If you are using Python 3.6 and cannot upgrade to 3.7, install the dataclasses backport:

pip install dataclasses

Installing the TOM Toolkit and Django

First, we recommend using a virtual environment for your project. This will keep your TOM python packages seperate from your system python packages.

python3 -m venv tom_env/

Now that we have created the virtual environment, we can activate it:

source tom_env/bin/activate

You should now see (tom_env) prepended to your terminal prompt.

Now, install the TOM Toolkit:

pip install tomtoolkit

…and create a new project, just like in the tutorial:

django-admin startproject mytom

You should now have a fully functional standard Django installation inside the mytom folder, with the TOM dependencies installed as well.

Getting started with the tom_setup script.

We need to add the tom_setup app to our project’s INSTALLED_APPS. Locate the settings.py file inside your project directory (usually in a subdirectory of the main folder, i.e. mytom/mytom/settings.py) and edit it so that it looks like this:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'tom_setup',
]

Run the setup script

The tom_setup app contains a script that will bootstrap a new TOM in your current project. Run it:

./manage.py tom_setup

The install script will ask you a few questions and then install your TOM.

Running the dev server

Now that the toolkit is installed, you’re ready to try it out!

First, run the necessary migrations:

./manage.py migrate

Now, start the dev server:

./manage.py runserver

Your new TOM should now be running on http://127.0.0.1:8000!