Does django support separating your templates into parts? - django

I would like to create separate templates for each part of the page like Navigation, Side bar, Login panel, etc. Django seems to use inheritance rather than composition. I was wondering if there is any support for separating templates out into parts and passing in template specific models to each template. I'm thinking of something like:
values = {
'navbar_data' = ...
'sidebar_data' = ...
}
{{ template.render('navbar', navbar_data) }}
{{ template.render('sidebar', sidebar_data) }}

There are many good ways to do this.
You can use the builtin templatetage include for this. This template tag allows you to to use and reuse specific fragments of a template. This is usually most useful for mini templates that say represent a single model and will be used throughout the site. This can be especially useful if you combine it with the with templatetag to allow you to craft the context used in the included template
Alternatively just simply using block may give you the feel you're looking for
Finally you can use custom inclusion templatetags (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/howto/custom-template-tags/#inclusion-tags) to give you an even deeper level of control. These will allow you to render a subtemplate with a completely custom context.

That is what templatetags are for. You define a tag in a file called myapp/templatetags/mytags.py, then in your template do this
{% load mytags %}
{% navbar %} {% sidebar %}
The official documentation has plenty of information about this.

Related

Tag or inherit the same code in Django template with minor changes

I have a bunch of code that I will need to use repeatedly on a page, and on multiple pages. For example, here is a shorter version of the code:
<a href="#"
data-toggle="popover"
title="{% for terms in s_terms %}{% if terms.slug == 'neuron' %}{{terms.title}}{% endif %}{% endfor %}"
data-content="{% for terms in s_terms %}{% if terms.slug == 'neuron' %}{{terms.para_one}}{% endif %}{% endfor %}">
Toggle popover
</a>
There is a lot more code in the block. Now, for obvious reasons I do not want to keep repeating such large chunks of code. I am a fan of the DRY approach.
However, I can't figure out how to render this same piece of code repeatedly. The only thing that would change is the word = "neuron" in there. I thought of using template tags, but that didn't work.
I tried saving the code as a separate file, and inherit it within my template, but then I can't change the keyword ('neuron'). I also tried creating a separate dynamic page, and include that in my Django template, but looks like the include tag only works for templates, and not for dynamic pages.
Can anyone help, please? Thank you, in advance.
You could use Django template built-in template tag include.
From the documentation:
Loads a template and renders it with the current context. This is a
way of “including” other templates within a template.
So, you can just extract your snippet in a separate template and then use it with:
{% include "snippet_template.html" %}
Additionally, you can pass a variable to the include template using the with keyword - you would use this to pass your word parameter:
{% include "snippet_template.html" with word="neuron" %}
As #bonidjukic wrote the include statement is what you search.
But include statement inside for-loop could reach one weakness of Django template Engine (vs Jinja). You include just variables, so it will be fast.
In the case of needing tags (like trans), Django will load tags at each include. Where Jinja will have global "tags".
So just be careful, with how you DRY you templates.

Django's equivalence of ASP.NET UserControl

If anyone here is ASP.NET pro, you might know what I mean by user control. I wish to create a similar one in django instead.
So, my problem is that I have several pages in my website, but I need a search bar to appear in every pages. Since I require the views.py to operate this search bar, I cannot do a simple method of
{% include 'something.html' %}
Therefore, can anyone suggest how can I do it?
There are a couple of ways to accomplish what you're wanting to do:
Context Processors
Template Tags
Context Processors can augment the template context with values, regardless of which template is loaded. They are akin to filters in Rails.
Template Tags, like Context Processors, can accomplish anything you can do in Python, but are implemented at the template level.
If you need something to be present on every template, one of the simplest ways to accomplish this is with an inclusion tag, which can also accept values passed to it. An inclusion tag could be implemented at your highest level template, a.k.a your MasterPage, and as long as you don't put it in a block and override it, it would appear on every page that includes that template in its inheritance chain.
If it's just something you want to include on every page, and it doesn't need to do any processing, you should just be able to place the code you want in the top-most template and have subsequent templates inherit that.
I typically have a "base.html" template that all of my templates inherit from. If I need something to be in every page, I put it there. If it's something I want there by default, but want to be able to augment it in subsequent templates, I will place it into a block. That block will let you include or override its default content.
I know this post is kind of old but I just came across it and found a kind-of-solution that works. I call it kind-of-solution because it is a workaround.
I have a few different sites on which I want to display logging information. This display always looks the same (it has the same html) and has the same database table and model class behind it.
My solution/workaround uses the django filters:
in views.py I put the list of log-entries in the context
context = {'list_log': Log.objects.filter(condition = True) }
template = loader.get_template('my_html_file.html')
return HttpResponse(template.render(context, request))
in my_html_file.html I use a custom filter
{{ list_log|get_log_uc|safe }}
in the filters.py I load another html file with this custom filter
#register.filter
def get_log_uc(list_log):
template = loader.get_template('user_control_log.html')
context = { 'list_log' : log }
return template.render(context)
in user_control_log.html I have the user control equivalent html
{% for log in list_log %}
<p>log.something</p>
{% endfor %

django extends different base templates

I understand we can use "extends variable" in the template to switch between two different extended templates.
e.g.
views:
if something:
base = 'base1.html'
else:
base = 'base2.html'
return render_to_response ('template.html', {'base':base})
template.html:
{% extends base %}
Normally that works fine. However, my problem is that I am using django-registration of which I don't have to write my own view to handle the registration and login process. That also means that I am not able to pass the variable to the template. Though I do have the registration templates under my project directory. (like login.html)
Unfortunately, Django can't do this in the template:
{% if something %}
{% extends 'base1.html' %}
{% else %}
{% extends 'base2.html' %}
{% endif %}
The only way I know that the 'variable base' can be passed down to the auth-login is to write my own views like login, logout,etc. This seems like not fitting the DRY model and fairly error prone going forward.
Is there another way that I can accomplish this? Or any pointers to workaround the problem?
Thanks.
-P
If it's just 2 (or 3) options where that 'something' can be made to a Boolean, then you could use the yesno filter:
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/templates/builtins/#yesno
So:
{% extends something|yesno:"base1.html,base2.html" %}
If you want something a bit more free-form, then you could make use of the extra context / custom context processor option mentioned above, and try something like:
{% extends selected_template|default:"base2.html" %}
where selected template is just the path to whatever base template you like.
To be honest this looks to me like a code smell - I've used django-registration a few times, I work on quite large sites and I never needed to extend a template from another template which is only known at run time.
Anyway, if you really want to pass a custom variable to a template rendered by 3rd party module, and you don't want to hack that module, then you have to use e.g. custom template context processor. Also, django-registration allows extra_context to be passed to its views, maybe that would be enough. You can also try monkey-patching. Or maybe you can try manipulating template folders or template loaders to get what you need.
But all these things are IMHO hacks and you shouldn't use different templates for one view, unless it's a generic view.
I think you should not place differences between the templates into the selection of different base templates. Having different base templates is what violates the DRY principle. Place the common things into a template, ie. registration.html, the differences into other templates that you call via 'include':
{%extends base.html%}
{%if something%}
{%include "type1.html"%}
{%else%}
{%include "type2.hmtl"%}
where the template names are the same as you would use in the view definition.
This probably isn't what you are looking for, but could you just include your conditionals in your base.html?

Django templates, pass template language through a template variable

I was thinking about putting my static pages in the database (simple model of url, title and content) and then having a basic base_static.html template - making them super easy to edit (from admin interface) if necessary.
I know you can easily escape html like so:
{{ content|safe }}
or
{% autoescape off %}
{{ content }}
{% endautoescape %}
But I need to be able to use some of the template language in the static pages, e.g. a simple for loop to go over variables passed to it from the view.
Is this possible, or would you recommend simply using templates to serve the static pages?(They won't change that much ever)
Thank you for your help.
If you want to store templates in db (and that is what you want if you want to use a template language) you can use this app : django-dbtemplates.
Check this question: Extending Django Flatpages to accept template tags
You may get some ideas from the solution exposed there

django: how to interconnect various logical pieces of a webpage

everyone. I'm just starting with django, so sorry for a possibly stupid question.
Imagine, I have a webpage with 3 logical pieces: content, dynamic menu, banners. It seems ok to me to have a template with something like:
{% include "banners.html" %}
{% include "menu.html" %}
{% include "content.html" %}
But then, how do I do it? Every piece has its separate logic in a separate view in its' separate app. How do I trigger execution of all three views and render all three templates?
P.S. Is there a sourceforge-like site for django apps where I could take a look at how people are doing stuff in real projects?
The standard way to do it is something as follows:
Templates:
Have a base.html that has the banners, menu and a body block which is empty.
For each template, extend the base.html and override the body block.
{% extends "base.html" %}
{% block body %}
-- Your this page's content goes here.
{% endblock %}
You can use the includes, where necessary, but prefer the extends where possible. Include was debated to be included in the template language.
Populating Context:
You now have a lot of templates with placeholders that need to be replaced with the real "context" values.
Pass the RequestContext, that should contain many standard requirements for the template.
For the values that you need in every template, write a template context processor.
Those context's that you need in this template, you populate in the view.
Using multiple app's views:
Most apps written for reuse will include template_name as a standard parameter, along with extra_context. You will need to call those views with these parameters.
Some apps go out of their way, to create a lazily evaluated response (like TemplateResponse) so that you can grab the context they populate, in your view.
Django reusable apps:
Are you kidding me? They are all over the Internet!
http://github.com/search?q=django&type=Everything
http://bitbucket.org/repo/all/?name=django
http://code.google.com/hosting/search?q=django&projectsearch=Search+projects