Trying to access ModelForm field modelChoice choices in Django template - django

Question

I'm generating ModelForms and want some granular control over how they are output in my template. Specifically, I need to add some markup to the end of each radio button in each of my select lists.
Code:
# order-form.html
{% load catname %}
<form id = "order-form">
{% for form in forms %}
<div id="gun-{{ forloop.counter }}">
{% for field in form.fields %}
<div id="{{ field }}-item" class="item">
<h3>{{ field|catname }}</h3>
{% for choice in form.field.choices %} {# <-- Help me out here #}
{{ choice.id }}
{{ choice.title }}
{% endfor %}
</div>
{% endfor %}
{% endfor %}
<button type="submit" id="standard-gun-form-submit">Continue to next step</button>
</form>
# views.py
def get_form(request):
if request.method == 'POST':
if request.POST['gun_type'] == 'standard':
forms = [StandardGunForm(prefix=p) for p in range(0,2)]
return render_to_response('main/order-form.html', {'forms' : forms,}, RequestContext(request))
# forms.py
class StandardGunForm(ModelForm):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(StandardGunForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
for field in self.fields:
if isinstance(self.fields[field], ModelChoiceField):
self.fields[field].empty_label = None
class Meta:
model = BaseGun
widgets = {
'FrameTuning' : RadioSelect(),
'FrameConnection' : RadioSelect(),
}
exclude = ('price')
Endgame: markup that looks like this
<form id="foo">
<div class="category">
<div class="item">
<input type="radio" name="srsbzns" value="1">Option 1</input>
<img src="http://placekitten.com/150/150">
<p>Other foo here</p>
</div>
<div class="item">
<input type="radio" name="srsbzns" value="2">Option 2</input>
<img src="http://placekitten.com/150/150">
<p>Other foo here</p>
</div>
<div class="item">
<input type="radio" name="srsbzns" value="3">Option 3</input>
<img src="http://placekitten.com/150/150">
<p>Other foo here</p>
</div>
</div>
</form>
From the shell, this returns what I want
>>> forms = [StandardGunForm(prefix=p) for p in range(0,2)]\
>>> forms[0].fields['frame_tuning'].choices.queryset
I'm surprised this is proving so challenging!
Bonus: I have DEBUG = True and Django Debug toolbar enabled. Is it possible to dump the variables to the browser, so I can see what this stuff looks like as I drill down?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I had to do something similar and started down this path as well. I wanted to create table rows from a ModelChoiceField where each column had a different field of the model instance (and then I'd allow filtering the table rows via JavaScript).
I couldn't find it in the Django docs, but a quick perusal of the Django source showed the way. You can get to the queryset to access the model instances like so:
<form action="{% url 'some_view' %}" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}
{% if form.non_field_errors %}
{{ form.non_field_errors }}
{% endif %}
{% for field in form %}
{{ field.label }}
{% if field.field.choices %}
{% for model_instance in field.field.choices.queryset %}
{{ model_instance.id }}
{% endfor %}
{% else %}
{{ field }}
{% endif %}
{% if field.errors %}
{{ field.errors|striptags }}
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
However, at this point we've disassembled the shiny widget (in my case a CheckboxSelectMultiple) and must re-assemble the HTML form input using template code. I found no direct way to simultaneously iterate over the ModelChoiceField to access the model instance fields and get the HTML form tags for the choices.
Maybe there's a way, but I abandoned my attempt and built my own HTML form, handling all the POST data in a view. It ended up much easier that way. ModelForms are really nice and convenient, but using them for something they weren't built for can end up being more difficult.
I figured I'd post this in case anyone is trying to do it for some other reason. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Very late, but I'm reading now and this is what it worked for me
{% for field in form %}
{% for x, y in field.field.choices %}
{{x}}
{{y}}
{% endfor %}
{% endfor %}
Where "x" is the id or code, and "y" is the readable value or title.

Answer 3

You can access the underlying model instance for each choice:
{% for choice, label in form.field_name.field.choices %}
{{ choice.value }}
{{ choice.instance }}
{{ choice.instance.instance_attribute }}
{{ label }}
{% endfor %}

Answer 4

{% for choice in form.field.choices %} {# <-- Help me out here #}
{{ choice.id }}
{{ choice.title }}
{% endfor %}
Look what you're doing here, you're literally trying to access a field called "field" every time in this loop, which presumably does not exist.
You need to take the field object you're iterating through, and access the choices attribute on that.
{% for field in form.fields %}
{% for choice in field.choices %}