It appears that there's no way for me to get an ORM object with numerous select_related objects and create a Form and run my data through all the cleaning and additional validations I have.
I'm simply trying to reduce the number of queries that get executed, the form either takes an id and re-creates the object, or does not take advantage of the additional fields (I've tried using model_to_dict)
Is there anything I'm missing? How can I use select_related inside of a form?
Django 1.4
Do:
form = MyFormClass(instance=my_object)
Your form will need to be a ModelForm, see the docs for more information!
Related
I am pretty new to Django and I was wondering what is the best method to validate your models in Django? Are there any advantages to using clean vs adding validators to your models? By validators I mean when you do declare the field, populating the validator=[] list. I find the models to be easier to read with the validators in another package, and declared in the field list. Also, I try to validate the data before in services, before initializing the models. What do you think / prefer? Thanks a lot.
The difference is that a validator will apply to model objects created in forms and directly, i.e.:
form = MyModelForm(...
# and
my_model = MyModel(...
Whereas clean will only apply to a form. If you are creating model objects outside of forms then you should consider using validators. You might also find using validators to be a cleaner, more DRY method of checking what is created rather than overriding form clean functions.
I have a ManyToMany relationship between two Django Models: Team and Member. A single Member can be part of multiple teams. I am able to successfully bind a Form class to a CreateView, and, using the standard ModelMultipleChoiceField,can successfully save the Form using the save_m2m method.
However, the default widget for the field is not suitable for my user experience. Instead of using a picklist, I would like to create a separate select box for each number of selectable Members per team. For example, if the Team can have 7 Members, I would like to show 7 select boxes, rather than one pick list that a user selects 7 different objects from.
I understand I may not get a complete answer, but would appreciate any pointers on if I should be looking into overriding the Field with a custom MultiWidget, or if using an inline formset might be a more appropriate route. Or, something else...
At the end of the day, I ultimately decided to stick with a single ModelForm for the Create Team form. Within this ModelForm, I dynamically create the number of fields I will need for the number of Member per team, and have created a function within the form that yields those fields.
I perform validation on those fields within the generic clean method of the ModelForm. I use the yield method within the Template to control displaying the individual fields.
I am sure it is not the most Django-y approach, as many people seem to use inlineformsets in theory, but this worked and the code does not seem overly hacky or unmaintainable.
I am having very complex models in my project, that I cannot display easily on HTML page using modelForms.
So I want to to use normal forms instead and store the values in Models.is it possible?
It is possible. You simply create your own form by inheriting forms.Form.
Then get the form input from request in your views and create your object.
In short what you are asking is possible.
Here is the official documentation for forms: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/forms/
I'm working on a django project with a legacy DB, using formset to edit a set of rows. There are fields in that DB that I don't want django to update, although I need them in my model. In other words, I want them to be treated as READ-ONLY fields.
Thus, I was happy to read the documentation on saving model formsets, which states:
"When fields are missing from the form (for example because they have
been excluded), these fields will not be set by the save() method. You
can find more information about this restriction, which also holds for
regular ModelForms, in Selecting the fields to use."
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/forms/modelforms/#saving-objects-in-the-formset
Indeed, when forms.model.BaseModelForm.save() is invoked, it calls forms.model.save_instance(), nicely passing in all the form fields. BUT than then calls instance.save() WITHOUT passing along the update_fields!! And so ALL the model fields are included in the update query :-(
As a test, I modified forms.model.save_instance() to pass the fields:
instance.save(update_fields=fields)
and voila - the model only saves fields listed by its form.
I'm hoping someone more involved in the django project can tell me if this a bug, or a documentation issue? Should I submit a bug report? Am I missing something - is there some other way I should be enforcing "read only" on those fields?
Using django1.8 and python3.4
I'm not sure why you think this behaviour contradicts that documentation, or why it would need to pass along the fields to update. The instance already has the unchanged data; Django will update the rest of the fields from the form, and save the whole thing.
Just curious. What is the best practice for when to use form vs model validation?
From what I understand currently, form validation should be used for:
AJAX / HTTP requests params
Forms that do not correlate to a model?
Another question is: I have a HTML form that roughly correlates to a model instance, do I use a ModelForm for it?
Definitely use ModelForm, if your form resembles model object even in a tiny bit.
If there are some minor differences (e.g. you don't use some of the fields or you want to use different error messages etc.) it's much easier to customize ModelForm then to use Form and implement all this functionality from scratch.
For more reference regarding ModelForm please checkout PyDanny's Core Concepts of Django ModelForms.
I am also trying to understand what is the difference/relation between form and model validation and I would like to share my notes that are formed after reading several docs.
I am currently interested in Creating Forms from Models
#mariodev shared the document Core Concepts of Django ModelForms and this provided a good start.
ModelForms select validators based off of Model field definitions
The main story behind the scenes seems to be the DRY principal. This article explains very well what exactly is the case here.
All right, all this is fair. The question is "Where in the Django Documentation is this explained"?
I bumped on a very brilliant article where it states that:
The form.full_clean() method is called by django at the start of the validation process (by form.is_valid(), usually immediately after the view receives the posted data).
Correct me if I am wrong but that line reads that everytime I enter data and hit 'enter' the validation process begins!
OK, this is simple now:
The validation on a ModelForm begins when we hit 'enter'.
Django first validates the form by checking one by one every applicable validation method on Fields, Field Subclasses (This is the documentation for a model's field subclass, not for a form field subclass), Form Subclasses and ModelForm (since it is a ModelForm).
Finally, it validates the Model Instance.
This is how all this works theoretically. The only thing that remains is to implement it.