Python program - running it on a website question?

TheSetMiner wrote: »

So basically I am doing Python in college at the moment and have began experimenting with some code at home. I have a pretty useful program that collates statistics from a websites source code based on user input so for me it is useful in the Python shell.
I want to go one step further, however, and allow people be able to input their details into a form on a website, which would then run my python program with these details and deliver the user the output after computing the stats.

I am having difficulty finding any concrete way of doing this relatively simply. I would have thought it would simply involve saving the file online and then running it from there but it appears it is more complicated than that.

Bear in mind the site doesn't need to look great or anything. I would just like one input field and a submit button which when clicked computes and delivers the data, any ideas?

Greatly appreciate some help as I was a little annoyed it wasn't was easy as uploading the file

Might be worth taking a look at https://www.djangoproject.com/

Disclaimer: I've never written a line of python in my life.

I would recommend something like Flask rather than Django.
http://flask.pocoo.org/

Flask is designed to be a really lightweight simple web framework.
Its easy to get started with, and will probably take less learning than Django.


You'll need a machine to host it on, though. If you already have shell access to a machine on the internet, that'll be easy.


Otherwise, maybe find a hosting provider that does Flask hosting (maybe https://www.pythonanywhere.com/ - I've never used it.) ; or configure your own EC2 machine (expect to spend maybe a day learning how to work ec2.)


If you wanted a reliable platform-as-a-service offering, then check out google app engine, as already stated. Expect to spend a few days getting to grips with it, though.

TheSetMiner wrote: »

so I would import it in my python file and add the code given on the flask homepage to the file. Then what would I do? just upload the file to my website?

Normally, when your web browser accesses a website, there is a program that listens. This program is called a web server. The web server knows how to look for files that live on the same computer as it, in specific places. It knows how to take these files, and 'serve' them to the browser.

So, for example, it might know how to serve a file '/home/SetMiner/www/homepage.html' when someone comes to the web server looking for 'http://theWebServersIP/users/SetMiner/homepage.html'.


In other words, it knows how to serve static files to users that ask for them.

However, you do not want the computer to just GIVE the web browser the static file when they come to the right address. Instead, you want the computer to EXECUTE the file, as if it were a python program, and to somehow give some OUTPUT of that program to the web browser.

That is a very different task.

It is not enough to simply upload your python program, as a static file, to a web server.

You need to have something more special, that knows how to run the python program.

That's why this is a little more complex than it first seems to you.


There are many options to solve this more complex program.

Expect to sink a little bit of time into understanding what is actually going on.

Flask is one option. If you write your python program in a certain way, using the Flask library, then a special program will know how to EXECUTE your program in response to users visiting a website.

Supposedly, pythonanywhere makes this easy to do.

So try and go play with their service, and read their docs.

This isn't completely trivial to make happen, so expect to spent a little while learning about whatever service you use, if you are complete new to web dev.

The free sample of the book I mentioned above contains a simple Python CGI script for processing a HTML form.