Django: text-input instead selection on foreignkey - django

Question

I want to create a messaging function in ma django app. User should be able to write other users a textmessage.
models.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
class Message(models.Model):
recipient = models.ForeignKey(User, null=True)
contentDescription = models.CharField(max_length=1000, null=True)
By default, with no forms.py entry I get a selection, which will be unuseful with many users. I want the message sender to type in the user name, or in the first step the user id (which I could resolve with ajax from the name) .
Integer
But with forms.py
recipient = forms.IntegerField( widget=forms.NumberInput , required=False,)
I get:
Cannot assign "11": "Transport.recipient" must be a "User" instance.
ChoiceField and NumberInput
with:
recipient = forms.ChoiceField( widget=forms.NumberInput, required=False,)
I get the error message "not valid"
Is it possible to write the foreignkey 'manually' at all?

Answer 1

Try this:
recipient = forms.ModelChoiceField(queryset=User.objects.all(), widget=forms.Select, required=False)

Answer 2

considering your
models.py -
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
class Message(models.Model):
recipient = models.ManytoMany(User, null=True)
contentDescription = models.TextField()
forms.py
from .models import Message
from django import forms
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
class MailForm(forms.ModelForm):
recipient = forms.Charfield()
class Meta:
model = Message
fields = ('contentDescription',)
def clean_recipient(self):
user_list = self.cleaned_data.get('recipient')
# considering you post user_list of usernames as 'username1,username2,username3'
if user_list is not None:
user_list = user_list.split(',')
user_qs = User.objects.filter(username__in=userlist)
else:
raise forms.ValidationError('Error in this field')
return user_qs
def save(self, user_qs):
self.instance.user = user_qs
return super().save()
in views.py -
from .forms import MailForm
def your_view(request):
form = MailForm(request.POST or None)
if form.is_valid():
user_qs=form.cleaned_data.get('recipient')
form.save(user_qs)
#return render here
else:
#create your context here and return render
This is not perfect but can give you an idea how to implement. With the details you gave this is the best I can do for now.