AWS CLI is not available

Since you mentioned the AWS CLI is not available, we will focus on configuring AWS directly in your Django project using environment variables. This approach ensures that your AWS credentials are securely managed and can be easily changed without modifying your code.

Step 1: Set Up Environment Variables

First, set up your environment variables to store AWS credentials. You can do this in your operating system or in a .env file if you're using a library like django-environ.

Using Operating System Environment Variables

You can set environment variables in your shell configuration file (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) or directly in your terminal session:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID='your-access-key-id'
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='your-secret-access-key'
export AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME='your-bucket-name'
export AWS_S3_REGION_NAME='your-region-name'

Using a .env File

If you prefer using a .env file, first install django-environ:

pip install django-environ

Then, create a .env file in the root of your Django project:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME=your-bucket-name
AWS_S3_REGION_NAME=your-region-name

Step 2: Configure Django to Read Environment Variables

If you’re using django-environ, update your settings.py to read from the .env file:

import environ

# Initialise environment variables
env = environ.Env()
environ.Env.read_env()

# AWS S3 settings
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID')
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY')
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME = env('AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME')
AWS_S3_REGION_NAME = env('AWS_S3_REGION_NAME')
AWS_S3_SIGNATURE_VERSION = 's3v4'

DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto3.S3Boto3Storage'

Step 3: Create a Function to Upload Files

Create a function in a utility file to handle file uploads. This function will use boto3 to interact with S3:

import boto3
from django.conf import settings

def upload_file_to_s3(file, bucket_name=settings.AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME, object_name=None):
    # If S3 object_name was not specified, use file name
    if object_name is None:
        object_name = file.name

    # Upload the file
    s3_client = boto3.client(
        's3',
        aws_access_key_id=settings.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
        aws_secret_access_key=settings.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
        region_name=settings.AWS_S3_REGION_NAME,
    )
    try:
        s3_client.upload_fileobj(file, bucket_name, object_name)
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error uploading file to S3: {e}")
        return False
    return True

Step 4: Using the Upload Function in a View

In your views, use the upload function to handle file uploads:

from django.http import HttpResponse
from .utils import upload_file_to_s3  # Adjust the import according to your project structure

def upload_view(request):
    if request.method == 'POST' and request.FILES['file']:
        file = request.FILES['file']
        success = upload_file_to_s3(file)
        if success:
            return HttpResponse("File uploaded successfully")
        else:
            return HttpResponse("File upload failed", status=500)
    return HttpResponse("Upload a file")

Step 5: Create a Simple HTML Form for Upload

Create a simple HTML form to upload files:

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <input type="file" name="file">
    <button type="submit">Upload</button>
</form>

Step 6: Add URL Configuration

Add a URL pattern to access the upload view in your urls.py:

from django.urls import path
from .views import upload_view

urlpatterns = [
    path('upload/', upload_view, name='upload'),
]

Summary

By following these steps, you will have a Django application configured to upload files to Amazon S3 using environment variables for configuration, eliminating the need for the AWS CLI. This approach ensures that your credentials are managed securely and can be easily updated.