3. Django Web App Architecture

The fec.gov website mainly uses code from the fec-cms repo, except for regulations, which uses the fec-eregs app.

• fec-cms - Django project that contains apps for managing the home page and CMS (managed by Wagtail), Data (http://www.fec.gov/data/), and Legal pages.
• fec-eregs - The eRegulations viewer, on /regulations.

High Level Diagram

< Currently being updated >

FEC Django Architecture

• FEC app (main project folder) fec-cms/fec/fec/*
  • settings/ - base.py holds the environment variables and project specific settings.
  • templates/ - base level templates for home page and Wagtail CMS pages. partials/ holds shared navigation, header, footer, site orientation, etc templates that are shared across all apps.
  • static/ - where all the front-end assets reside.
• Wagtail CMS app (includes home page) fec-cms/fec/home/*
  • migrations/ - this is where all the database migrations for Wagtail are.
  • templates/ - where all the templates for CMS pages (including the home page) are.
  • templatetags/ - custom template filters and partial view blocks.
  • models.py - database models for Wagtail
  • views.py - views for Wagtail pages
• Data app (http://www.fec.gov/data) fec-cms/fec/data/*
  • templates/ - Jinja templates for all data pages.
  • templatetags/ - custom filters for Jinja templates (django_jinja specific)
  • api_caller.py - functions for calling and returning data from the API to be passed and manipulated by views.py
  • constants.py - several OrderedDicts of common variable constants
  • urls.py - main routing for data pages
  • utils.py - utility functions for api_caller.py and views.py
  • views.py - views for data pages
  • views_datatables.py - view for datatable pages
• Legal app fec-cms/fec/legal/*
  • templates/ - Jinja templates for legal pages
  • urls.py - main routing for legal pages
  • views.py - views for legal pages