Access GET request in another method django - django

Question

I have a form elements in my html.
<form action="" method="GET">
<input type="text" name="start_date" placeholder="From" value="{{ request.GET.start_date }}">
<input type="text" name="end_date" placeholder="To" value="{{ request.GET.end_date }}">
</form>
I want to access to the start_date and end_date inside one of my view.py methods, but Im getting None all the time.
So far I have tried:
temp = request.GET.get('start_date', None)
temp = request.GET['start_date']
What might be the problem? How can I access start_date and end_date?
EDIT: Im tring to access it in this method:
def download_pdf(request):
response = HttpResponse(content_type='application/pdf')
response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=%s' % 'invoice.pdf'
books = books.objects.all()
date = request.GET.get('start_date', None)
books.filter(order__date = temp)
c = canvas.Canvas(response)
c.drawText(date)
c.showPage()
c.save()
return response

Answer 1

You can get the start_date and end_date once you submit that form. Like POST method GET form also expect you to submit from the frontend.
<form action="." method="GET">
<input type="text" name="start_date" placeholder="From" value="{{ request.GET.start_date }}">
<input type="text" name="end_date" placeholder="To" value="{{ request.GET.end_date }}">
<input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>
Or forget the form method just append the parameter in the url is enough. Like this...
http://localhost:8000/?start_date=test_start_date&end_date=test_end_date
Edit:
You have to check the GET dictionary before accessing. Because start_date will be not be present in the every GET request. Once the user submitted the GET request then we can access the GET parameter....
start_date = request.GET.get('start_date')
if start_date:
print(start_date)
Edit 2:
# Create your views here.
def index(request):
start_date = request.GET.get('start_date')
if start_date:
print(start_date)
return render(request, 'base.html')
# base.html
<form action="." method="GET">
<input type="text" name="start_date" placeholder="From" value="testing">
<input type="text" name="end_date" placeholder="To" value="testing">
<input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>