Flask

revised: 30-Mar-2025

A 3-page site example

Prerequisites: Basic Server (Ubuntu22.04 64bit) with Webmin, FTP, Firewall and Fail2Ban: a server linked with a domain name (eg. example.com)

For a National Office or a Local Assembly seeking a more complex, adaptable website with the option to have a mail-form within and possibly including a Google map link, then Flask (a python-based environment) offers significant potential and ease.

As with the BasicSite, the setup proposed here is to have the Flask website up and running first on the PC then to have the same site established on the server (running iRedmail/Nginx) with the two sites synchronized via FTP (eg. FileZilla)

Part A: Creating the Python/Flask Environment on the PC

Step01: Install Python on a PC (Windows)

As Python 2 has become outdated, it is recommended to install the version 3 of Python by following this link: how-to-install-python-on-windows

Step02 Alter Execution Policy

For more information on this policy see: Managing the execution policy with PowerShell

sing these commands via 'PowerShell' with administrator rights [right-click upon loading Powershell to get these rights]:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Step03 Create a 'Scripts' folder as a sub-directory of 'Documents' and create there a folder called 'myproject'. Open a new file in a text editor (eg. Notepad++), copy & paste this text ( app01-py.txt) within and save it in the 'myproject' folder as 'app.py'

Open the console (via 'PowerShell'[Win10] or in Win 7+, typing in 'cmd')and enter these commands:

C:\...Documents\Scripts> mkdir myproject
C:\...Documents\Scripts> cd myproject
At this point, one creates the file within this directory: app.py and copy within the above text.
C:\...Documents\Scripts\myproject> python3 -m venv .venv
C:\...Documents\Scripts\myproject> . .venv/Scripts/activate // command begins with a "."
(.venv) C:\...\myproject$ pip3 install flask
(.venv) C:\...\myproject$ flask run

Enter in the browser, type in this url: localhost:5000 (eg. http://localhost:5000), the result should 'Hello there!' in red letters. Type in the console: 'ctl'+c to exit.

Download the 3-page Flask Website[myproject.zip] and unzip in the 'Scripts' folder and do the following:

cd Documents\Scripts\myproject
flask run // This 3-page Flask website should appear.

Step04(Optional) Site with Email Contact Form

Where the website associated with a mailserver (eg. using iRedmail), then there is the option to execute and add the following extensions:

python3 -m pip install flask-wtf flask-mail email_validator

Download the enhanced 3-page Flask Website with Email Contact Form [myproject2.zip] and unzip in the 'Scripts' folder and redo the above and typing in this addition line.

Flask	Flask-PartB
Flask-PartC	Flask-PartD