How to save MultipleChoiceField data using Django ModelForm - django

Question

I'm trying to save data from a ModelForm that has MultipleChoiceFields. I want the user to be able to select multiple timeframes and have that data saved to the database.
So far, when submitting the form using the MultipleChoiceField, I get nothing returned.
Here's my models.py:
class InfoFormModel(models.Model):
YES_NO = (
('yes', 'Yes'),
('no', 'No'),
)
TIMEFRAME = (
('1_weeks', '1 Week'),
('2_weeks', '2 Weeks'),
('3_weeks', '3 Weeks'),
('4_weeks_plus', '4 Weeks+'),
)
PAGES_NEEDED = (
('about_page', 'About Page'),
('contact_page', 'Contact Page'),
('blog_page', 'Blog Page'),
('map_page', 'Map Page'),
('ecommerce_page', 'Ecommerce Page'),
)
brand_name = models.CharField(
blank=False, null=False, max_length=500, default='')
logo = models.CharField(choices=YES_NO, blank=False,
null=False, max_length=500, default='no')
what_is_the_service = models.TextField(
blank=False, null=False, max_length=5000, default='')
contact_number = models.BigIntegerField(blank=True, null=True, default='')
email = models.EmailField(blank=True, null=True,
max_length=300, default='')
timeframe = models.CharField(
choices=TIMEFRAME, max_length=100, blank=False, null=False, default='')
aim = models.TextField(blank=False, null=False,
max_length=5000, default='')
products_product_images = models.CharField(
choices=YES_NO, blank=False, max_length=500, null=False, default='')
products_info = models.CharField(
choices=YES_NO, blank=False, null=False, max_length=500, default='')
pages_needed = models.CharField(
choices=PAGES_NEEDED, blank=True, null=True, max_length=500, default='')
def __str__(self):
return self.brand_name
forms.py:
class InfoForm(forms.ModelForm):
YES_NO = (
('yes', 'Yes'),
('no', 'No'),
)
TIMEFRAME = (
('1_weeks', '1 Week'),
('2_weeks', '2 Weeks'),
('3_weeks', '3 Weeks'),
('4_weeks_plus', '4 Weeks+'),
)
PAGES_NEEDED = (
('about_page', 'About Page'),
('contact_page', 'Contact Page'),
('blog_page', 'Blog Page'),
('map_page', 'Map Page'),
('ecommerce_page', 'Ecommerce Page'),
)
brand_name = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={'placeholder' : 'Business/Brand Name?'}))
logo = forms.CharField(label='Do you have a logo?', widget=forms.RadioSelect(choices=YES_NO))
what_is_the_service = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.Textarea(attrs={'placeholder' : 'What service are you providing?'}))
contact_number = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.NumberInput(attrs={'placeholder' : 'Contact number'}))
email = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.EmailInput(attrs={'placeholder' : 'Email address'}))
timeframe = forms.MultipleChoiceField(widget=forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple,
choices=TIMEFRAME)
aim = forms.CharField(label='', widget=forms.Textarea(attrs={'placeholder' : 'What will be the aim for your website?'}))
products_product_images = forms.CharField(label='Do you have any product images?', widget=forms.RadioSelect(choices=YES_NO))
products_info = forms.CharField(label='Do you your product info (eg, product names, pricing, descriptions etc.)?', widget=forms.RadioSelect(choices=YES_NO))
pages_needed = forms.CharField(label="Select which pages you'll need?", widget=forms.RadioSelect(choices=PAGES_NEEDED))
class Meta:
model = InfoFormModel
fields = (
'brand_name',
'logo',
'what_is_the_service',
'contact_number',
'email',
'timeframe',
'aim',
'products_product_images',
'products_info',
'pages_needed',
)
views.py
def home(request):
submitted = False
if request.method == 'POST':
form = InfoForm(request.POST)
if form.is_valid():
form.save()
return render(request, 'thanks.html')
# return HttpResponseRedirect('/?submitted=True')
else:
form = InfoForm()
if 'submitted' in request.GET:
submitted = True
form = InfoForm
context = {
'form': form,
'submitted': submitted,
}
return render(request, 'home.html', context)
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

I think that there is a discrepancy between your model fields and the form fields.
In your model, you have defined the timeframe field as:
timeframe = models.CharField(choices=TIMEFRAME, max_length=100, blank=False, null=False, default='')
And in your form code, you have defined the timeframe field as:
timeframe = forms.MultipleChoiceField(widget=forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple, choices=TIMEFRAME)
After validating the data, MultipleChoiceField will try to assign a list to the timeframe attribute on the InfoFormModel (btw, terrible naming). This model attribute should contain a string.
I think there are two ways to resolve this.
Use posgtres' ArrayField in the model. The ArrayField supports assigning lists to it. Don't forget to make migrations and run them. Also, note that this only works if you're using a PostgreSQL DB.
from django.contrib.postgres.fields import ArrayField
class InfoFormModel(models.Model):
...
timeframe = ArrayField(CharField(choices=TIMEFRAME, max_length=100), default=[])
...
Override MultipleChoiceField to return a string instead of a list. By overriding, you can make the field to return the list as a comma-separated string instead. This would also mean that you need to remove the choices kwarg from the field in the model code since the fields will not pass validation in case of more than one option being saved.