Base Elements — The Visual Workshop

Base elements are the GUI-based development tools that let you build applications without leaving your browser. These tools are themselves Pytigon applications, demonstrating the framework's capabilities even as you use them.

The base element tools are designed around a common philosophy:

1. Visual first — Edit with forms and tables, not raw text files
2. Immediate feedback — Changes reflect instantly in the running application
3. Template-driven — Every generated view and form is backed by an .ihtml template you can customize
4. Permission-aware — All tools respect the same permission system your applications will use

Each base element is documented in detail on its own page. This overview introduces the concepts they share.

Common Concepts Across Base Elements

The Dual-Pane Layout

Most base element editors use a two-pane layout:

• Left pane: The navigation tree or list, showing the structure of what you're editing
• Right pane: The detail/form editor, showing the selected item

This pattern appears in the Project View, Tables Editor, Views Editor, and Forms Editor.

Live Preview

Where applicable, editors include a live preview mode. The Template Editor shows rendered output side-by-side with source code. The Forms Editor lets you test form submissions without leaving the tool.

Auto-Discovery

Pytigon automatically discovers: - Models defined in models.py - Views defined in views.py - URL patterns defined in urls.py - Tasks defined in tasks.py - Template tags and filters in templatetags/

You don't need to register components manually — just create the file in the right place and Pytigon finds it.

Migration Management

When you modify a table structure through the Tables Editor, Pytigon: 1. Detects the schema change 2. Generates a Django migration file 3. Prompts you to apply it 4. Applies it automatically (in development mode)

For production, migrations follow the standard Django workflow.