Easy-to-use Web Application with Flask and Heroku – Introduction to Python GUIs for Novices

In this tutorial, we will walk through the process of creating a simple web app with Flask and deploying it to Heroku. Flask is a lightweight web application framework for Python, and Heroku is a cloud platform that allows you to deploy and run your web applications.

To get started, make sure you have Python installed on your computer. You can install Python from the official website (https://www.python.org/downloads/). Once you have Python installed, you can proceed with the following steps.

Step 1: Install Flask

First, we need to install Flask. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

pip install Flask

Step 2: Create a new Python file

Create a new Python file in your desired directory. You can name this file app.py or any other name you prefer. To create the file, you can use a text editor or an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as VS Code or PyCharm.

Step 3: Write the Flask web app code

In your app.py file, write the following code to create a simple Flask web app:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def home():
    return 'Hello, World!'

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

This code creates a basic Flask web app that displays "Hello, World!" when you visit the homepage.

Step 4: Run the Flask web app

To run the Flask web app, navigate to the directory where your app.py file is located using the terminal or command prompt. Then, run the following command:

python app.py

This command will start a local development server, and you can access the web app by visiting http://127.0.0.1:5000 in your web browser.

Step 5: Sign up for Heroku

If you don’t already have a Heroku account, you can sign up for free at https://www.heroku.com/. Once you have signed up and logged in to your Heroku account, you can proceed with deploying your Flask web app.

Step 6: Configure the Heroku app

Before deploying your Flask web app to Heroku, you need to create a requirements.txt file and a Procfile in your project directory.

To create the requirements.txt file, run the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

This command will generate a list of all Python packages installed in your virtual environment and write them to the requirements.txt file.

Next, create a Procfile in your project directory (the same directory as your app.py file) and add the following line to it:

web: python app.py

Step 7: Deploy the Flask web app to Heroku

To deploy your Flask web app to Heroku, you first need to install the Heroku Command Line Interface (CLI). You can download and install the Heroku CLI from https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-cli.

After installing the Heroku CLI, log in to your Heroku account by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

heroku login

Next, navigate to your project directory in the terminal or command prompt and create a new Heroku app by running the following command:

heroku create

This command will create a new Heroku app and provide you with a URL where your web app will be deployed.

Finally, deploy your Flask web app to Heroku by running the following command:

git push heroku master

This command will push your code to the Heroku remote repository and deploy your Flask web app to the Heroku platform.

Step 8: Access your Flask web app on Heroku

Once the deployment process is complete, you can access your Flask web app by visiting the URL provided by Heroku after running the heroku create command.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a simple web app with Flask and deployed it to Heroku. This tutorial provides a basic introduction to building web applications with Flask and deploying them to a cloud platform such as Heroku. You can further customize and enhance your Flask web app by adding additional routes, templates, and functionality. Happy coding!