Is it possible to return an HttpResponse in django with text & a json object? - django

Question

In my view function, I'd like to return a json object (data1) and some text/html (form). Is this possible?
Here is part of my views.py:
if request.is_ajax() and request.method == 'POST':
...
if form.is_valid():
answer = form.cleaned_data['answer'] # Answer extracted from form is also a string
a1 = ques1.correct_answer
if a1 == answer:
test1 = question_list.get(id=nextid)
form = AnswerForm(test1)
ques1 = question_list.filter(id=nextid) # Filter next question as <qs>
data1 = serializers.serialize("json",ques1) # Json-ize
# ********EDITED HERE **********
variables1 = Context({
'form' : form,
'q1' : data1,
})
#response = HttpResponse()
#response['data1'] = response.write(data1)
#response['form'] = response.write(form)
if nextid <= qsnlen:
return HttpResponse(variables1, mimetype="application/json")
#return HttpResponse(response)
else:
...
I'd like to send back both the form html and the ques1 json object. How can I do this? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Just put both pieces of data in a JSON container, one key with the form data and one with the HTML as a rendered string. In the browser, you can just pull both keys out & do your thing.
In your view:
form_json_data = get_form_json_data()
rendered_html = get_the_html()
return HttpResponse(json.dumps({
"formdata": form_json,
"html": rendered_html}),
content_type="application/json")
In js:
$.post(foo, postdata, function(data){
var formdata = data.formdata
var html = data.html;
$(".html-target").replaceWith(html);
do_whatever(formdata);
})

Answer 2

Use JsonResponse
from django.http import JsonResponse
response_data = {put your data into a dict}
return JsonResponse(response_data, status=201)

Answer 3

To do this with one response; you need to send the JSON as a plain text in the context of your template response (HTML).
If you need to send JSON as as a separate JSON object, with its own mime type, then you need to write two views; one that sends back the JSON as application/json and the other that sends back the form (HTML).
EDIT:
You are not returning JSON objects, but you are turning a dictionary that has two items of two different types. As I explained in the comments, in one request/response cycle; you can only return one response which has a specific mime type that is based on the content and how you want the browser to handle it. Most of the time the content type is 'text/html'.
In your scenario, if you want to return both the HTML (which is your form), and the JSON response (which is a string), you need to return HTML.
If you want to return JSON to Jquery as a JSON object; you need to detect the request type. In your front end (the templates), you will initiate two requests - one from the browser, which will return back the form. The other from jQuery, which will return the appropriate JSON object.
Here is a possible approach to this:
def foo(request):
if request.is_ajax():
ctx = dict()
ctx['hello'] = 'world'
return HttpResponse(json.dumps(ctx),content_type='application/json')
else:
return HttpResponse('hello world')