Django: OperationalError No Such Table

Question:

I’m building a fairly simple application, research, in my Django project that uses Django-CMS. (It’s my first ground-up attempt at a project/application.) Its main purpose is to store various intellectual assets (i.e article, book, etc. written by a researcher).

The problem is that when I point the browser to /research/ I get an error saying that the table 'research_journal' doesn't exist ("no such table").

I’m using Djnago 1.6.5 with a sqlite3 database.

Looking at python manage.py sql research yields:

BEGIN;
CREATE TABLE "research_researchbase" (
    "id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    "pub_date" datetime NOT NULL,
    "authors" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "year" varchar(25) NOT NULL,
    "title" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "subtitle" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "image_id" integer NOT NULL REFERENCES "filer_image" ("file_ptr_id"),
    "link" varchar(200) NOT NULL
)
;
CREATE TABLE "research_journal" (
    "researchbase_ptr_id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES "research_researchbase" ("id"),
    "journal" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "abstract" text NOT NULL,
    "citation" varchar(200) NOT NULL
)
;
CREATE TABLE "research_encyclopedia_chapter" (
    "researchbase_ptr_id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES "research_researchbase" ("id"),
    "encyclopedia" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "publisher" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "summary" varchar(200) NOT NULL
)
;
CREATE TABLE "research_book" (
    "researchbase_ptr_id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES "research_researchbase" ("id"),
    "publisher" varchar(200) NOT NULL,
    "summary" varchar(200) NOT NULL
)
;

COMMIT;

I’ve run python manage.py migrate research and get:

/Users/XXX/Documents/repos/sfs/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages/app_data/fields.py:2: DeprecationWarning: django.utils.simplejson is deprecated; use json instead.
  from django.utils import simplejson as json

Running migrations for research:
- Nothing to migrate.
 - Loading initial data for research.
Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s)

I’ve run python manage.py syncdb and get the following:

Syncing...
Creating tables ...
Installing custom SQL ...
Installing indexes ...
Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s)

Synced:
 > djangocms_admin_style
 > django.contrib.auth
 > django.contrib.contenttypes
 > django.contrib.sessions
 > django.contrib.admin
 > django.contrib.sites
 > django.contrib.sitemaps
 > django.contrib.staticfiles
 > django.contrib.messages
 > mptt
 > south
 > sekizai
 > django_select2
 > hvad

Not synced (use migrations):
 - djangocms_text_ckeditor
 - cms
 - menus
 - djangocms_style
 - djangocms_column
 - djangocms_file
 - djangocms_flash
 - djangocms_googlemap
 - djangocms_inherit
 - djangocms_link
 - djangocms_picture
 - djangocms_teaser
 - djangocms_video
 - reversion
 - polls
 - djangocms_polls
 - aldryn_blog
 - easy_thumbnails
 - filer
 - taggit
 - research
(use ./manage.py migrate to migrate these)

Here’s the models.py:

from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone
from filer.fields.image import FilerImageField

import datetime

class ResearchBase(models.Model):
    pub_date = models.DateTimeField('date published')
    authors = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    year = models.CharField(max_length=25)
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    subtitle = models.CharField(max_length=200, blank=True)
    image = FilerImageField()
    link = models.CharField(max_length=200, blank=True)
    
    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.title
    
    def was_published_recently(self):
        return self.pub_date >= timezone.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=1)
        

class Journal(ResearchBase):
    journal = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    abstract = models.TextField()
    citation = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    
    
class Encyclopedia_Chapter(ResearchBase):
    encyclopedia = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    publisher = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    summary = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    
        
class Book(ResearchBase):
    publisher = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    summary = models.CharField(max_length=200)

Here’s my views.py (note that I am passing two objects through render, ignore the fact that I have yet to include the class Books in the whole deal):

from django.shortcuts import render, get_object_or_404
from django.http import HttpResponse, Http404
from django.template import RequestContext, loader

from research.models import Journal, Encyclopedia_Chapter, Book

def research_index(request):
    latest_journal_list = Journal.objects.order_by('-pub_date')[:5]
    latest_chapter_list = Encyclopedia_Chapter.objects.order_by('-pub_date')[:5]
    
    context = {
        'latest_journal_list': latest_journal_list,
        'latest_chapter_list': latest_chapter_list
    }
    
    return render(request, 'research/index.html', context)
    
def journal_detail(request, journal_id):
    journal = get_object_or_404(Journal, pk=journal_id)
    return render(request, 'research/journal_detail.html', {'journal': journal})
    
def chapter_detail(request, chapter_id):
    chapter = get_object_or_404(Encyclopedia_Chapter, pk=chapter_id)
    return render(request, 'research/chapter_detail.html', {'chapter': chapter})

Here’s the application’s url.py:

from django.conf.urls import patterns, url

from research import views

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'^$', views.research_index, name='research'),
    url(r'^(?P<journal_id>d+)/$', views.journal_detail, name='journal_detail'),
    url(r'^(?P<chapter_id>d+)/$', views.chapter_detail, name='chapter_detail'),
)

Here’s the index.html template:

{% extends 'research/base.html' %}

{% block research_content %}

<div class="container">
    <div class="row featurette">
        <h3 id="research">Peer-reviewed Journal Articles</h3>
        {% if latest_journal_list %}
            <ul id="research">
            {% for journal in latest_journal_list %}
                <li id="research">
                            <img src="{{ journal.image.url }}" id="research">
                            <h4>{{ journal.journal }}</h4>
                            <h5>{{ journal.title }}</h5>
                            <a href="{% url 'research:journal_detail' journal.id %}">Read More</a>
                        </li>
            {% endfor %}
            </ul>
        {% else %}
            <p>No journals are available.</p>
        {% endif %}
    </div>
    
    <div class="row featurette">
        <h3 id="research">Encyclopedia Chapters</h3>
        {% if latest_chapter_list %}
            <ul id="research">
            {% for chapter in latest_chapter_list %}
                <li id="research">
                            <img src="{{ chapter.image.url }}" id="research">
                            <h4>{{ chapter.journal }}</h4>
                            <h5>{{ chapter.title }}</h5>
                            <a href="{% url 'research:chapter_detail' chapter.id %}">Read More</a>
                        </li>
            {% endfor %}
            </ul>
        {% else %}
            <p>No encyclopedia chapters are available.</p>
        {% endif %}
    </div>
</div>

{% endblock %}

Just in case it matters, here’s my cms_app.py:

from cms.app_base import CMSApp
from cms.apphook_pool import apphook_pool
from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _


class ResearchApp(CMSApp):
    name = _("Research App")
    urls = ["research.urls"]
    app_name = "research"

apphook_pool.register(ResearchApp)
Asked By: Brian

||
Source

Answers:

It looks like there was an issue with my migration.

I ran ./manage.py schemamigration research --auto and found that many of the fields didn’t have a default specified.

So, I ran ./manage.py schemamigration research --init followed by ./manage.py migrate research

Rerunning the server from there did the trick!

Answered By: Brian

I’m using Django 1.9, SQLite3 and DjangoCMS 3.2 and had the same issue. I solved it by running python manage.py makemigrations. This was followed by a prompt stating that the database contained non-null value types but did not have a default value set. It gave me two options: 1) select a one off value now or 2) exit and change the default setting in models.py. I selected the first option and gave the default value of 1. Repeated this four or five times until the prompt said it was finished. I then ran python manage.py migrate. Now it works just fine. Remember, by running python manage.py makemigrations first, a revised copy of the database is created (mine was 0004) and you can always revert back to a previous database state.

Answered By: Bradley

Use:

python manage.py migrate --run-syncdb

As stated in this comment by Benyamin Jafari:

--run-syncdb – Creates tables for apps without migrations.

Also don’t forget to specity app path. For example:

python manage.py makemigrations app
python manage.py migrate app
Answered By: the

I’m using Django CMS 3.4 with Django 1.8.
I stepped through the root cause in the Django CMS code.
Root cause is the Django CMS is not changing directory to the directory with file containing the SQLite3 database before making database calls. The error message is spurious. The underlying problem is that a SQLite database call is made in the wrong directory.

The workaround is to ensure all your Django applications change directory back to the Django Project root directory when changing to working directories.

Answered By: mybrid

For django 1.10 you may have to do python manage.py makemigrations appname.

Answered By: Stryker

The issue may be solved by running migrations.

  1. python manage.py makemigrations
  2. python manage.py migrate

perform the operations above whenever you make changes in models.py.

Answered By: Ravi Teja Mureboina

This happened to me and for me it was because I added db.sqlite3 as untracked from repository. I added it and pushed it to server so it worked properly.
Also run makemigartions and migrate after doing this.

Answered By: Steev James

I got through the same error when I went on to the admin panel.
You ought to run this instead-: python manage.py migrate --run-syncdb.
Don’t forget to include migrate, I ran:

python manage.py make migrations and then
python manage.py migrate

Still when the error persisted I tried it with the above suggested command.

Answered By: Abhishek Thakur

This error comes when you have not made migrations to your newly created table,
So,firsty write command on cmd as: python manage.py makemigrations and then write another command for applying these migrations made by makemigrations command: python manage.py migrate

Answered By: Harmanjit Singh Parmar

If anyone finds that any of the suggested:

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py migrate --run-syncdb

fail, you may need to add a folder named "migrations" inside the app directory, and create an empty __init__.py file.

Answered By: Micheal J. Roberts

Running the following commands solved this for me

  1. python manage.py migrate
  2. python manage.py makemigrations
  3. python manage.py makemigrations appName
Answered By: skrstv123

If you get to the bottom of this list and find this answer, I am almost sure it will solve all your issues 🙂
In my case, I had dropped a database table and I was not getting anywhere with makemigrations and migrate

So I got a very detailed answer on how to reset everything on this link

Answered By: Gakuo

The Thing that worked for me:

  1. Find out which migrations in your migration folder created the table if not add the class in your models.py.
  2. If the class already exist in your models.py, try to delete that one and run python manage.py makemigrations <appname>
  3. And while migrating fake that migrations as your error might say table not found to delete using python manage.py migrate <yourappname> --fake
  4. Add the class again and makemigrations again python manage.py makemigrations <appname>.
  5. And finally migrate again python manage.py migrate <appname>
Answered By: sage poudel

In my case, it was solved by resetting the DB (dev environment actually), by running the reset_db command from Django-Extensions :

python manage.py reset_db

After that I ran the following commands :

  1. python manage.py makemigrations
  2. python manage.py migrate
Answered By: smart-developer

Close the Terminal and again open it and run the following commands:

  1. python manage.py migrate (app name)
  2. python manage.py makemigrations
  3. python manage.py makemigrations (appname)
Answered By: Yabesh

Run this command below:

"migrate" with "–run-syncdb" creates tables for apps without migrations.

python manage.py migrate --run-syncdb

This is the full description about "migrate" with "–run-syncdb":

–run-syncdb

Allows creating tables for apps without migrations. While this isn’t
recommended, the migrations framework is sometimes too slow on large
projects with hundreds of models.

You can check the Django documentation about "migrate" with "–run-syncdb".

Answered By: Kai – Kazuya Ito

Happened to me. It usually happens when we’re doing a lot of changes without checking if each individual changes are correctly applied or not (use migrate and makemigrations after each change in tables/cration of tables).

Now what you can try are –

  1. python manage.py migrate (app name)
  2. python manage.py makemigrations
  3. python manage.py makemigrations (app name)

even if above did not worked then what you can do is –
go to migration folder inside your app folder and then delete files that might have caused error(each time you migrate, a new file will be added here to reflect changes, new tables). So find those files and delete those files, which may cause error. And then again apply migrate and makemigrations.

Even if it did not worked, then below code might work.

python manage.py migrate –run-syncdb

Even if above three things did not worked at last, then you should delete db.sqlite3 file which stores your tables and simply create another db.sqlite3 (of course using vs code or pycharm or any coding environment else computer will create text file). Then after creationg another db.splite3,

python manage.py migrate (app name)

python manage.py makemigrations

python manage.py makemigrations (app name)

Answered By: Kedar K

Clean and re create everything.

Example.

The root folder of my project is:

/media/ubuntu/shareddir1/django001/Character_SW/Character_SW/

i. Delete your database (db.sqlite3 in my case) in your project directory
/media/ubuntu/shareddir1/django001/Character_SW/Character_SW/

find . | grep -i db.sqlite3
rm -Rvf ./db.sqlite3
rm -Rvf ./*/db.sqlite3
rm -Rvf ./*/*/db.sqlite3
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/db.sqlite3
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/*/db.sqlite3
find . | grep -i db.sqlite3



i. Remove everything from __pycache__ folder under your project subdirectory
cd /media/ubuntu/shareddir1/django001/Character_SW/Character_SW/

find . | grep -i pycache
rm -Rvf ./__pycache__
rm -Rvf ./*/__pycache__
rm -Rvf ./*/*/__pycache__
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/__pycache__
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/*/__pycache__
find . | grep -i pycache


i. For the application you are trying to fix, go to the folder and clear migrations directory
find . | grep -i migrations
rm -Rvf ./migrations
rm -Rvf ./*/migrations
rm -Rvf ./*/*/migrations
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/migrations
rm -Rvf ./*/*/*/*/migrations
find . | grep -i migrations

i. re create table etc
cd /media/ubuntu/shareddir1/django001/Character_SW/Character_SW/


python3 manage.py makemigrations
python3 manage.py migrate
python manage.py migrate --run-syncdb 

#python3 manage.py createsuperuser
python3 manage.py runserver
Answered By: quine9997

Even if some solutions are given to this problem, it’s still worth mentioning a common mistake why this error appears.

  1. makemigrations create migrations files required. But actual tables
    are not populated yet in the database.
  2. migrate create tables in the database.

Until these 2 commands successfully completed, there will be no tables in your database.

So, the most common reason for this error is, trying to access some database tables/records before successfully running above 2 commands. Let’s take an example.

  • I have a model called Role.
  • And I haven’t run makemigrations or migrate commands yet.
  • And i have a forms.py file like below

forms.py

def get_roles():
    roles = [(role, role) for role in Role.objects.all()]
    return roles


class UserRegisterForm(UserCreationForm):
    role = forms.ChoiceField(choices=get_roles())

Now if I try to run makemigrations command, this will throw an exception called OperationalError because in my get_role() function I am trying to load database records with my Role model but, that table doesn’t exists in the database yet.

So, when running makemigrations command it read my forms.py file and tried to load data from the model Role, which doesn’t exists yet.

To prevent these kinds of errors, make sure you are not access database without handling exceptions. You may be accidentally doing these kinds of mistakes in your models.py, forms.py, views.py or anywhere in your code.

Otherwise you will have to use syncdb command before running makemigrations and migrate commands.

Answered By: Sahan