Forem: Jack Darracott

Setup a Virtual Python Environment and a new Flask Project on WSL2

Jack Darracott — Fri, 21 May 2021 11:52:46 +0000

This post will guide you through setting up basic local python development environment on a Windows PC using WSL 2.

Click here for steps for setting up WSL 2 and installing the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS distribution.

Install Python

Open Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Terminal:

Download available package information

sudo apt-get update

Install python pacakges

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-venv pythonpy

Create Project Environment

You'll want to keep your projects separated, so create a new directory, navigate to it, then set up a python virtual environment.

Create a directory for the project

mkdir python-project
cd python-project

Create a virtual environment for the project

python3 -m venv venv

Activate The Project Environment

You'll need to remember to do this each time you start work on the project.

. venv/bin/activate

If done correctly, your terminal commands should be prefixed with (venv) - indicating you're in the python virtual environment.

Get Started With Flask

Ensuring the project environment has been activated, run the below command to install Flask into the project.

pip install Flask

Now you can create the first script:

touch index.py

Finally, open the project in Visual Studio Code:

code .

Hello World!

Enter the below code into index.py. This will import the flask package you installed previously and store it in the "app" variable.

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route("/")
def home():
    return "Hello World";

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

Save the file and return to the terminal, you can now use python3 to serve the script, so you can view it in a web browser:

python3 index.py

You'll be prompted with the access URL:

Which when accessed via a web browser, displays the return returned in the "home" function:

Disclaimer

This was written for a friend in my lunch break. I don't know anything about Flask or Python so do not use for production.

Setup a Local PHP & MySQL Development Environment using Windows Subsystem for Linux 2

Jack Darracott — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 15:32:17 +0000

This post will guide you through setting up a local PHP development environment using MySQL on a Windows PC. We'll setup Windows to use WSL 2 and install the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS distribution. Then we'll install Git, PHP, Node and MySQL as well as install and configure Visual Studio Code and TablePlus.

Prerequisites

To use WSL 2, you must be running Windows 10:

For x64 systems: Version 1903 or higher, with Build 18362 or higher.
For ARM64 systems: Version 2004 or higher, with Build 19041 or higher.
Builds lower than 18362 do not support WSL 2. Use the Windows Update Assistant to update your version of windows.

Install WSL2

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a new Windows 10 feature than enables you to run native Linux command-line tools directly on Windows.

Open PowerShell as an administrator and enter the following commands:

Enable WSL

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

Enable Virtual Machine Platform

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Once you've done this, you'll need to restart your PC. Then click here to download and install the Linux kernel update package.

Finally, open PowerShell as an administrator and set the default WSL version:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and mostly composed of free and open-source software.

Open the Microsoft Store App and search for Ubuntu. Choose the 20.04 LTS Option and install.

Once installed open the distribution from your programs:

As this is the first use of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, you will be asked to set up a new user:

Finally, you'll need to update the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Operating System:

Download available package information

sudo apt update

Install available upgrades of all packages

sudo apt upgrade

Install Git

Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in source code during software development.

Install git

sudo apt-get install git-all

Check install and version

git --version

Install PHP

PHP is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development.

Install PHP package

sudo apt install php

Check install and version

php -v

Install Composer

Composer is an application-level package manager for the PHP programming language that provides a standard format for managing dependencies of PHP software and required libraries.

Click here and copy the script from the downloads page:

Paste the script into your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS terminal to download Composer. You'll then want to make Composer available globally:

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Check install and version

composer -V

Install Node & NPM

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform, back-end, JavaScript runtime environment that executes JavaScript code outside a web browser and npm is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language.

We'll use Node Version Manager(NVM) to manage Node and NPM. Use the following command to download and install:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.37.0/install.sh | bash

Check install and version

nvm -v

You can then use NVM to install the latest version of node:

nvm install node

Check install and version

node -v

npm -v

Install Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a free source-code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS.

The Remote - WSL extension lets you use VS Code on Windows to build Linux applications that run on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Click here to download and install the latest version of Visual Studio Code.

Once installed you will need to add the Remote - WSL extension:

Once the Remote - WSL extension has been installed, you can open folders within your Ubuntu system within Visual Studio Code.

Install and Configure MySQL

Install MySql Server package

sudo apt install mysql-server

Start the MySQL Server service

sudo service mysql start

Open MySQL command-line client

sudo mysql

You can now send commands to MySQL. First you will need to create a new user and assign permissions:

Create a new database user

CREATE USER 'jack'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'myPassword';

Create a new application database

CREATE DATABASE MY_APP_DB;

Give the user permissions the new application database

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON MY_APP_DB.* TO 'jack'@'localhost';

Exit the MySQL command-line client

exit;

You can now log back into the MySQL command-line client as the user you have just created, use the newly created database and add a table.

Open MySQL command-line client

mysql -u jack -p

Select the database you've just created

USE MY_APP_DB;

Create a new table

CREATE TABLE users(
   id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
   name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
   email VARCHAR(50)
);

Add records to the table you've just created

INSERT INTO `users` (`name`, `email`) VALUES 
('Jack', 'jack@email.com'),
('Dave', 'dave@email.com'),
('Joey', 'joey@email.com');

Exit the MySQL command-line client

exit;

Install the PHP MySQL extension

sudo apt-get install php-mysql

Install and Configure TablePlus

Click here to download the latest version of TablePlus.

Once installed open the application and select "Create a new connection..."

Enter the connection details, using the database and user you created previously:

Field	Value
Name	MY_APP_DB
Host	127.0.0.1
User	jack
Password	myPassword
Database	MY_APP_DB

Test the connection then Save:

Once connected to the database, you'll see the records you created previously:

Create a Test Application

You'll want to close any Ubuntu 20.04 LTS terminals you have open to allow any changes to take place. Once re-opened enter the following commands:

Create a new folder

mkdir my-test-application

Change directory to the new folder

cd my-test-application

Create a new file

touch index.php

Open the directory in Visual Studio Code

code .

This will open Visual Studio Code with the contents of the directory present in the workspace to the left of the screen:

Add the following to the index.php file:

<?php
$servername = "127.0.0.1";
$username = "jack";
$password = "myPassword";
$dbname = "MY_APP_DB";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

$sql = "SELECT id, name, email FROM users";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
  // output data of each row
  while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    echo "id: " . $row["id"]. " - Name: " . $row["name"]. "<br>";
  }
} else {
  echo "0 results";
}
$conn->close();
?>

Save the file in Visual Studio Code, then go back to your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS terminal and enter the following command:

php -S localhost:8000

This will start a local development server. You can now open a web browser and navigate to localhost:8000.

Conclusion

You should now have everything you need to start developing on PHP. Enjoy!