Django Reservation System

Question

I need to build a web-based reservation system, for example, for a restaurant. Where users will be able to make a table reservation up to a week in advance.

This is my first own web project and first-time using Django, so, the idea is that the users/customers can select a table they want to reserve at a particular time, which is then shown as booked during that period. Other users/customers should be able to see when the table is booked and make bookings for when the table is free.

I was wondering if I could get any advice on how to approach making something along these lines, the best approach to take?

I know this question is extremely vague but any advice would be appreciated! (I am struggling to find similar existing projects)

Thanks :)

Answer 1

I understand how frustrating it can be to come up with a model for a database when you're working on your first project of this sort. It's a pretty rough concept to wrap your head around.

A few resources to start with would be to look into what is called Third Normal Form. This is how databases 'normalize' their information (that is, they separate out pieces of information into their smallest component parts to prevent corruption and keep them discrete).

Here is a really good, in-depth video series on developing database designs

However, back to your question - let's think about what you actually need to track here:

A Customer, A Table, and a Reservation.

A Customer will have their own details (email, username, password, etc.).

A Table will have its own information (number of seats, maybe max and min # of people needed to reserve it, etc.)

A Reservation will be a link to a Customer and a Table with information about the date of the reservation.

This leads us to the following models:

# models.py

class Customer(models.Model):
    email = models.EmailField()
    # And whatever other custom fields here; maybe make a ForeignKey link to User? Whatever.

class Table(models.Model):
    seats = models.IntegerField()
    min_people = models.IntegerField()
    max_people = models.IntegerField()

class Reservation(models.Model):
    table = models.ForeignKey('Table', on_delete=Models.CASCADE)
    party = models.ForeignKey('Customer', on_delete=Models.CASCADE)
    spot = models.DateField()
    # Make sure you don't use 'time' for this field, as that will cause a headache later on.

This way, other customers will be able to use a view that will query the Reservation model and be able to see which tables have slots free based on certain time criteria. You'll have to write some logic for that.

This sort of system will require that you validate the time and whether the party has the correct number of people before saving (so a custom save method on Reservation) and that your ViewReservationTimes() view gathers and produces the appropriate pieces of information for whoever is viewing a particular table.

However, that isn't impossible at all and these models should give you a start on tackling that business.