Bottle – Python micro framework

Like Flask, Bottle is a Python micro-framework. It is so micro that it only consists of a single file. Whilst Flask is already a fairly small framework, some developers prefer Bottle, mainly for its easy of setup (single file, no dependencies)

The Bottle home page gives a Hello World example

Local trial

1. Create and activate a new virtualenv or use a virtual machine.
   1. I use a VM for experimenting with Python libraries and frameworks, to keep it separate from my client work
2. sudo pip install bottle
3. Create hello_world.py with the code from the Bottle home page
4. Run the script: python hello_world.py
5. Check in your browser: http://localhost:8080/hello/world
   1. This should show “Hello world!”
   2. Also try it with your own name, e.g. http://localhost:8080/hello/Coen

On a server – using wsgi

For Python I use WebFaction, which makes it very easy to create new Python applications

In your WebFaction control panel:

1. Domains / Websites -> Websites
   1. Select the domain
2. Click on “Add an application” -> Create a new application
   1. Name: bottle_hello_world
   2. Category: mod_wsgi
   3. Type: mod_wsgi / Python 2.7 (note: Bottle also works with Python 3.x)
   4. URL: /bottle-hello-world
   5. Save
   6. Click Save again
3. ssh into the host
   1. cd webapps
   2. cd <app name> (e.g. bottle_hello_world)
   3. cd htdocs
   4. pip install bottle
4. Check bottle is installed
   1. python2.7
   2. import bottle
5. Adapt code for wsgi (based on instructions at http://bottlepy.org/docs/dev/deployment.html#apache-mod-wsgi) and replace the contents of index.py with:

   import os
   # Change working directory so relative paths (and template lookup) work again
   os.chdir(os.path.dirname(__file__))

   import bottle
   from bottle import route, run, template
   application = bottle.default_app()

   @route(‘/hello/<name>’)
   def index(name):
   return template(‘<b>Hello {{name}}</b>!’, name=name)

6. Test it, e.g. http://cm-demo.com/bottle-hello-world/index.py/hello/fred
   1. This should show “Hello fred!”