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Pyramid Web Framework Cheat Sheet

A quick reference guide to the Pyramid web framework for Python, covering configuration, views, routing, and more.

Core Concepts & Configuration

Basic Setup

Installation:

pip install pyramid

Project Structure (minimal):

myproject/
├── __init__.py
├── views.py
└── models.py

Configuration:
Using a Configurator to set up the application.

from pyramid.config import Configurator
from pyramid.response import Response

def hello_world(request):
    return Response('Hello World!')

with Configurator() as config:
    config.add_route('home', '/')
    config.add_view(hello_world, route_name='home')
    app = config.make_wsgi_app()

Configuration Options

config.include(module)

Include a configuration snippet from another module.

config.scan()

Scan a package for configuration directives (e.g., views).

config.set_request_property(lambda request: ..., name='...')

Adds a property to the request object.

config.add_static_view(name='static', path='myproject:static')

Serve static files from a directory.

Routes & Views

Routes

Routes map URLs to view callables.

Example:

config.add_route('blog_entry', '/blog/{id}')

Route parameters are available in the request.matchdict.

Example:

def blog_view(request):
    entry_id = request.matchdict['id']
    # ...

You can use pyramid.url.route_url to generate URLs based on routes.

from pyramid.url import route_url

def my_view(request):
    url = route_url('blog_entry', request, id=123)
    return Response(f'URL: {url}')

Views

Views are callables that handle requests.

Example:

from pyramid.view import view_config
from pyramid.response import Response

@view_config(route_name='home', renderer='templates/mytemplate.pt')
def my_view(request):
    return {'project':'MyProject'}

Views can return a Response object directly or a dictionary for rendering with a template.

from pyramid.response import Response

def my_view(request):
    return Response('Hello!')

View lookups are based on:

  • route_name
  • view_name
  • context (the object the view is being rendered for)
  • request_method (GET, POST, etc.)
  • accept (Accept header)

View Predicates

request_method

Matches a specific HTTP method (e.g., 'POST')

accept

Matches the Accept header (e.g., 'application/json')

xhr

Matches if the request is an AJAX request (True or False)

custom_predicate

Use custom predicate function

Templates & Static Assets

Template Rendering

Pyramid supports various templating languages, including:

  • Chameleon
  • Jinja2
  • Mako

Configure a renderer in the view_config or using config.add_view.

@view_config(route_name='home', renderer='templates/mytemplate.pt')
def my_view(request):
    return {'project':'MyProject'}

Chameleon:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:tal="http://xml.zope.org/namespaces/tal">
<head>
  <title tal:content="project" />
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Welcome to <span tal:content="project" />!</h1>
</body>
</html>

Jinja2:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>{{ project }}</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to {{ project }}!</h1>
</body>
</html>

Static Assets

Serving static assets (CSS, JavaScript, images) using config.add_static_view.

config.add_static_view(name='static', path='myproject:static')

Accessing static assets in templates:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="${request.static_url('myproject:static/style.css')}" type="text/css" />

Make sure to create the static directory.

Request & Response Objects

Request Object

The request object provides access to incoming request data.

  • request.params: GET/POST parameters
  • request.matchdict: Route parameters
  • request.POST: POST data
  • request.GET: GET data
  • request.cookies: Cookies
  • request.session: Session object

Example:

def my_view(request):
    name = request.params.get('name', 'Guest')
    return Response(f'Hello, {name}!')

Response Object

The Response object is used to return data to the client.

  • Response(body='...'): Set the response body
  • Response(status=200): Set the HTTP status code
  • Response(content_type='text/html'): Set the Content-Type header

Example:

from pyramid.response import Response

def my_view(request):
    response = Response('Hello, World!')
    response.status = '200 OK'
    response.content_type = 'text/plain'
    return response

You can also set cookies on the response object:

response.set_cookie('mycookie', value='somevalue', max_age=3600)

Sessions

Pyramid provides session support.

To enable it, configure a session factory (e.g., SignedCookieSessionFactory):

from pyramid.config import Configurator
from pyramid.session import SignedCookieSessionFactory

my_session_factory = SignedCookieSessionFactory('itsaseekreet')

with Configurator(session_factory=my_session_factory) as config:
    # ...

Accessing the session:

def my_view(request):
    session = request.session
    session['foo'] = 'bar'
    return Response('Session updated!')
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