getting a user-inputed variable in django template wihtout using forms - django

Question

I have a django template which also has a div element that takes in a user_inputed value.
When the value is entered, I call a javascript function say onSubmit(user_input)
<input type="text" class= "inputtext" onKeyPress="return onSubmit(this.value)">
Now in this onSubmit() function which now has the user-inputted value user_input, I want to be able to use url patterns to a direct to a view, like
function onSubmit(user_input) {window.location = "{% url myview user_input %}";}
The problem here is that since user_input is empty when the template is loaded, the url-view reverse lookup gives an error. Is there a way to trigger this lookup only when the onSubmit function is called.
I know form is an alternative, but it just feels like it'll be an overkill for this situation.

Answer 1

You can get the URL via AJAX:
views.py:
def get_url(request):
name = request.GET.get('name')
args = reguest.GET.get('args', [])
kwargs = request.GET.get('kwargs', {})
try:
url = django.core.urlresolvers.reverse(name, args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
except NoReverseMatch:
url = None
return django.http.HttpResponse(url)
urls.py
#...
('^url$', get_url)
#...
js:
function onSubmit(user_input) {
var args = [user_input];
jQuery.get('/url', {'args': args}, function(data) {
var url = data;
if (url) {
window.location = url;
} else {
alert('fail');
}
});
}
Alternatively, if your URL rule is simple enough, you can use some placeholder when resolving and URL, and before submitting the form you should replace it with real input:
var fakeUrl = '{% url myview "%s%" %}';
function onSubmit(user_input) {
window.location = fakeUrl.replace('%s%', user_input);
}