Django: How save partial filled form state - django

Question

I don't know exactly how to ask this question.
The thing is that I have a main view to create new entries in a model. This model has some 1-many relations, so I added a + button to add new entries of this fields (secondary model) in case they did not exist. When I submit this new data I redirect to the previous page (main view), and if you already filled some fields in the main view, that information is lost.
Can someone suggest me what the best way to deal with this would be?
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE:
'main model view'
class OrganismCreate(LoginRequiredMixin,CreateView):
"""Template: //catalog/templates/catalog/organism_form.html"""
model = Organism
fields = '__all__'
'main model template' (part)
<form action="" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}
<div class="panel-group">
<div class="panel panel-default">
<div class="panel-heading">Add a new entry: </div>
<div class="panel-body">
<hr>
<div class="row">
<div class="form-group col-sm-4 col-md-3">
<div class="form-group col-sm-4 col-md-3">
<label for="id_inst_own">Owner:</label>
{% render_field form.inst_own class="form-control" %}
<i class="fa fa-plus-circle "></i> Add new
</div>
<div class="panel panel-default">
<div class="panel-body">
...........................................
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary"> <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-filter"></span> submit </button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Then the related model view:
def test_f(request):
if request.method == "GET":
Form = InstitutionForm()
render(request, 'catalog/institution_form.html')
if request.method == "POST":
Form = InstitutionForm(request.POST)
if Form.is_valid():
Form.save()
next = request.POST.get('next', '/')
return redirect(next)
pre=request.META.get('HTTP_REFERER')
return render(request, 'catalog/institution_form.html',{"form" : Form, "pre": pre})
And the related model template
{% block content %}
<form action="" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}
<table>
{{ form.as_table }}
</table>
<input type="hidden" name="next" value="{{ pre }}">
<input type="submit" class="btn btn-success" value="Submit" />
</form>
{% endblock %}

Answer 1

There are a number of ways to solve this problem. Here's some suggestions. Not an exclusive list:
Save the incomplete model data in the database as as a 'draft' version of the final data. This could be a totally different model or else using the same model (assuming the related fields are nullable) and giving it a 'draft' flag or similar.
Use an inline formset to create the related objects in the same view. Django Extra Views has some useful tools for this (https://github.com/AndrewIngram/django-extra-views).
Using JavaScript, save the unfinished form data to local storage and then recover it when the original form is loaded again.

Answer 2

I have implemented a draft system to do this along the lines of 1. in #ChidG's answer.
In models I have something like
class AbstractThing(models.Model):
field = models.CharField()
class Meta:
abstract = True
class CompleteThing(AbstractThing):
class Meta:
managed = True
db_table = 'complete_thing'
class IncompleteThing(AbstractThing):
fields_to_not_blank = [AbstractThing._meta.get_field(x) for x in []] #if you don't want to change some fields
for f in AbstractThing._meta.fields:
if f not in fields_to_not_blank:
f.blank = True
f.null = True
class Meta:
managed = True
db_table = 'incomplete_thing'
Then you can use model forms and handle the cases in your views.