Flask-SQLAlchemy import/context issue

Question

The flask_sqlalchemy module does not have to be initialized with the app right away - you can do this instead:

# apps.members.models
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy

db = SQLAlchemy()

class Member(db.Model):
    # fields here
    pass

And then in your application setup you can call init_app:

# apps.application.py
from flask import Flask
from apps.members.models import db

app = Flask(__name__)
# later on
db.init_app(app)

This way you can avoid cyclical imports.

This pattern does not necessitate the you place all of your models in one file. Simply import the db variable into each of your model modules.

Example

# apps.shared.models
from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy

db = SQLAlchemy()

# apps.members.models
from apps.shared.models import db

class Member(db.Model):
    # TODO: Implement this.
    pass

# apps.reporting.members
from flask import render_template
from apps.members.models import Member

def report_on_members():
    # TODO: Actually use arguments
    members = Member.filter(1==1).all()
    return render_template("report.html", members=members)

# apps.reporting.routes
from flask import Blueprint
from apps.reporting.members import report_on_members

reporting = Blueprint("reporting", __name__)

reporting.route("/member-report", methods=["GET","POST"])(report_on_members)

# apps.application
from flask import Flask
from apps.shared import db
from apps.reporting.routes import reporting

app = Flask(__name__)
db.init_app(app)
app.register_blueprint(reporting)

_{Note: this is a sketch of some of the power this gives you - there is obviously quite a bit more that you can do to make development even easier (using a create_app pattern, auto-registering blueprints in certain folders, etc.)}

an original app.py: https://flask-sqlalchemy.palletsprojects.com/en/2.x/quickstart/

...

app = flask.Flask(__name__)
app.config['DEBUG'] = True
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:////tmp/test.db'
db = flask.ext.sqlalchemy.SQLAlchemy(app)

class Person(db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
...

class Computer(db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
...

# Create the database tables.
db.create_all()

...

# start the flask loop
app.run()

I just splitted one app.py to app.py and model.py without using Blueprint. In that case, the above answer dosen't work. A line code is needed to work.

before:

db.init_app(app)

after:

db.app = app
db.init_app(app)

And, the following link is very useful.

http://piotr.banaszkiewicz.org/blog/2012/06/29/flask-sqlalchemy-init_app/