Django 1.6: Matching query does not exist - django

Question

I'm trying to implement a dropdown form which filters objects depending on the selection from the dropdown. I don't have any issues doing that but it gives me an error when nothing is selected and clicked submit. I want it to not filter anything and just give the entire list of the objects but i get the following error Specialization matching query does not exist on line
spec = Specialization.objects.get(name = s_name)
Here is the template where I've the form
<form action="/doclistings/" method="GET" >
<select class="form-control" id="selection" name="selection">
<option><b>Choose a Speciality...</b></option>
{% for value, text in form.selection.field.choices %}
<option name="choicemade" value="{{ value }}">{{ text }}</option>
{% endfor %}
<!-- {% csrf_token %} -->
</select>
<span class="input-group-btn">
<button class="btn btn-primary" type="submit" name="submit" id="ss-submit">Find Doctors</button>
</span>
</form>
here is the form
MY_CHOICES = (
('Dermatologist', 'Dermatologist'),
('Dentist', 'Dentist'),
('Orthopedist', 'Orthopedist'),
('Pediatrician', 'Pediatrician'),
)
class DropdownSelectionForm(forms.Form):
selection = forms.ChoiceField(choices=MY_CHOICES, widget = forms.Select, required = False)
genderselect = forms.ChoiceField(choices=GENDER_CHOICES, widget= forms.Select, required = False)
here is the view that's rendering the dropdown form
def index(request):
d = getVariables(request,dictionary={'page_name': "Home"})
if request.method == "POST":
form = DropdownSelectionForm(request.POST)
if form.is_valid():
selection = form.cleaned_data['selection']
return HttpResponseRedirect('/doclistings')
else:
form = DropdownSelectionForm()
return render(request, 'meddy1/index.html', {'form': form})
Here is the view that's rendering the objects based on the selection
def doclistings(request):
d = getVariables(request)
if request.method == "GET":
s_name = request.GET['selection']
if s_name == "":
doctors = Doctor.objects.all().order_by('-netlikes')
else:
spec = Specialization.objects.get(name = s_name)
doctors = Doctor.objects.filter(specialization = spec).order_by('-netlikes')
else:
return HttpResponseRedirect('/doclistings')
d['doctors'] = doctors
return render_to_response('meddy1/doclistings.html',d)

Answer 1

This is why you should use the QueryDict methods as this:
s_name = request.GET.get('selection', None)
if not s_name:
#if s_name is None
#...
That way it will fallback correctly if s_name is not present.