መድብለ-አምባ Library Management System

A full-stack Library Management System with:

• Django REST backend
• Flutter frontend (web)
• JWT authentication
• Custom user model
• Book browse/search/borrow/favorite flows

Tech Stack

• Backend: Django, Django REST Framework, SimpleJWT
• Frontend: Flutter, Riverpod
• Database: SQLite (default) or MySQL

Project Structure

Library-Management-System/
├── django_backend/
│   ├── library_project/
│   │   ├── library_project/      # Django settings/urls
│   │   ├── library_app/          # Models, API, migrations, commands
│   │   ├── Media/                # Uploaded/generated images
│   │   └── manage.py
│   └── requirements.txt
├── flutter_app/
│   ├── lib/
│   └── web/
└── README.md

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Flutter SDK
• Chrome browser (for Flutter web)
• Optional: MySQL 8+

1) Backend Setup (Django)

From repo root:

cd django_backend
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run migrations:

cd library_project
python manage.py migrate

Start backend:

python manage.py runserver 127.0.0.1:8001

Backend base URL used by Flutter in this project:

• http://127.0.0.1:8001/

2) Frontend Setup (Flutter Web)

From repo root:

cd flutter_app
flutter clean
flutter pub get
flutter run -d chrome

3) Seed Books and Covers

From django_backend/library_project:

Seed 100 popular books (10 per genre)

python manage.py seed_popular_books

Generate simple local covers (recommended)

Creates clean placeholder covers with title/author/genre so users can identify books.

python manage.py generate_simple_covers --force

Optional: fetch official covers from Open Library

Requires internet access.

python manage.py fetch_official_covers --force

4) MySQL Setup (Optional)

By default, project uses SQLite. To use MySQL:

Create DB:

CREATE DATABASE library_management CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Set env vars before runserver:

export DB_ENGINE=mysql
export MYSQL_DATABASE=library_management
export MYSQL_USER=root
export MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_password
export MYSQL_HOST=127.0.0.1
export MYSQL_PORT=3306

Then migrate:

python manage.py migrate

5) Admin Access

Create superuser:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Admin URL:

• http://127.0.0.1:8001/admin/

6) Common Issues

Signup/Login works but books are not visible

1. Confirm backend is running on 127.0.0.1:8001
2. Confirm books exist:

   python manage.py shell -c "from library_app.models import Book; print(Book.objects.count())"

3. Regenerate covers:

   python manage.py generate_simple_covers --force

4. Hard refresh browser (Ctrl+Shift+R)

Duplicate user error on signup

Use a different username, or log in with the existing account.

7) Useful Commands

From django_backend/library_project:

python manage.py check
python manage.py showmigrations
python manage.py seed_popular_books
python manage.py generate_simple_covers --force

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.