Validating an Autocomplete field in Django - django

I have models similar to the following:
class Band(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(unique=True)
class Event(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=50, unique=True)
bands = models.ManyToManyField(Band)
and essentially I want to use the validation capability offered by a ModelForm that already exists for Event, but I do not want to show the default Multi-Select list (for 'bands') on the page, because the potential length of the related models is extremely long.
I have the following form defined:
class AddEventForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Event
fields = ('name', )
Which does what is expected for the Model, but of course, validation could care less about the 'bands' field. I've got it working enough to add bands correctly, but there's no correct validation, and it will simply drop bad band IDs.
What should I do so that I can ensure that at least one (correct) band ID has been sent along with my form?
For how I'm sending the band-IDs with auto-complete, see this related question: Django ModelForm Validate custom Autocomplete for M2M, instead of ugly Multi-Select

You can override the default fields in a ModelForm.
class AddEventForm(forms.ModelForm):
band = forms.CharField(max_length=50)
def clean_band(self):
bands = Band.objects.filter(name=band,
self.data.get('band', ''))
if not bands:
raise forms.ValidationError('Please specify a valid band name')
self.cleaned_data['band_id'] = bands[0].id
Then you can use your autocomplete widget, or some other widget. You can also use a custom widget, just pass it into the band field definition: band = forms.CharField(widget=...)

Related

Can I override default CharField to ChoiceField in a ModelForm?

I have a (horrible) database table that will be imported from a huge spreadsheet. The data in the fields is for human consumption and is full of "special cases" so its all stored as text. Going forwards, I'd like to impose a bit of discipline on what users are allowed to put into some of the fields. It's easy enough with custom form validators in most cases.
However, there are a couple of fields for which the human interface ought to be a ChoiceField. Can I override the default form field type (CharField)? (To clarify, the model field is not and cannot be constrained by choices, because the historical data must be stored. I only want to constrain future additions to the table through the create view).
class HorribleTable( models.Model):
...
foo = models.CharField( max_length=16, blank=True, ... )
...
class AddHorribleTableEntryForm( models.Model)
class Meta:
model = HorribleTable
fields = '__all__' # or a list if it helps
FOO_CHOICES = (('square', 'Square'), ('rect', 'Rectangular'), ('circle', 'Circular') )
...?
Perhaps you could render the forms manually, passing the options through the context and make the fields in html.
Take a look at here:https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/topics/forms/#rendering-fields-manually
I think you can easily set your custom form field as long it will match the data type with the one set in your model (e.g. do not set choices longer than max_length of CharField etc.). Do the following where foo is the same name of the field in your model:
class AddHorribleTableEntryForm(forms.ModelForm):
foo = forms.ChoiceField(choices=FOO_CHOICES)
class Meta:
model = HorribleTable
...
I think this is perfectly fine for a creation form. It's will not work for updates as the values in the DB will most probably not match your choices. For that, I suggest adding a second form handling data updates (maybe with custom permission to restrict it).
UPDATE
Another approach will be to override the forms init method. That way you can handle both actions (create and update) within the same form. Let the user select from a choice field when creating an object. And display as a normal model field for existing objects:
class AddHorribleTableEntryForm(forms.ModelForm):
foo = forms.ChoiceField(choices=FOO_CHOICES)
class Meta:
model = HorribleTable
fields = '__all__' # or a list if it helps
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
instance = kwargs.get("instance", None)
if instance is None:
self.fields["foo"].widget = forms.widgets.Select(choices=self.FOO_CHOICES)

How do Meta field names correspond to model attributes

I am writing a Django Model and different Forms to modify the model's data.
For simplification let's say my model is as follows:
class Profile(models.Model):
user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
birth_date = models.DateField()
# (...) some other properties
__identity_card_front = models.FileField(blank=True)
class IdentityCardForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Profile
fields = ('__identity_card_front',)
My question is: must the fields names correspond to the attributes of Profile class (the exact name of the variables definition)? Do these strings determine the HTML form field name that will be searched in form validation? And if so, how can I customise it? I don't want to have to obligatorily call my field name '__identity_card_front', but instead maybe something like 'id_front', 'idf', etc.
I have seen labels might be used, but I was not clear how Django treats fields tags. I could not find either a good explanation on the Docs without getting lost around low-level class definitions and properties.
Note: I am using django-2.0

django modelform use normal field for relation

I am building a little message system with this model:
class Mail(models.Model):
sender = models.ForeignKey(Character, related_name="+")
to = models.ForeignKey(Character, related_name="+")
sent_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
subject = models.CharField(max_length=127)
body = models.TextField()
now i made a modelform from this:
class ComposeForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Mail
exclude = ["folder", "sender", "sent_at"]
however this gives my "to" field a drop down list with all possible characters.
Id like to make this in a normal charfield (later with auto completer) instead of this drop down.
Any idea how i can achieve this?
I've been in a similar place and I found 2 solutions, depending on the needs. The first one is suposing you're going to use something like a select2 and get the query via ajax:
class ComposeForm(forms.ModelForm):
to_char = forms.CharField(max_length=255, required=False) # use the name you want
class Meta:
model = Mail
exclude = ["folder", "sender", "sent_at","to"]
So to_char is empty, and then you manage that field as you want, and when you do the POST, you'll get the value of to_char in the view, and assign to the model where you need it.
The other option I suggest is to use a ModelChoiceField instead of Charfield like this:
class ComposeForm(forms.ModelForm):
to_char = forms.ModelMultipleChoiceField(queryset=Character.objects.all())
class Meta:
model = Mail
exclude = ["folder", "sender", "sent_at","to"]
This will make easier to use an external select tool as select2 (without AJAX)
I choose the first one when the model has thousands of possible choices, so the select hasn't to load all the choices and the page will be fast. I use a select2 in the template over this field, in this case to_char, that loads the options in an AJAX view
I use the second one when there are hundred of choices and using the autocomplete of select2 over this field has no problems, I think if you don't have too many choices this will be the best for you, the ModelChoiceField, you can attach an autocomplete without any trouble
I might have found even a neater solution to this problem. By overriding the default form field in this way:
class ComposeForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Mail
exclude = ["folder", "sender", "sent_at"]
widgets = {'to': forms.TextInput()}
1) If you do not want to display all the values, then all you need to do is to override to field queryset.
Like:
class ComposeForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Mail
exclude = ["folder", "sender", "sent_at"]
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(ComposeForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['to'].queryset = Character.objects.none()
2) If you want to add autocomplete then you will need view that does the filtering and returns filtered options. You also need some kind of js widget. There are many of those available. On django side you only need to update field widget parameters so your js can pick up the field.

Django forms with odd model relationship

I am working with an existing database that I can not modify and having some trouble trying to deal with presenting forms for modifying the database in Django. The structure in question is as follows and all models are unmanaged.
class Persons(models.Model):
personid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PersonID')
....
class Phones(models.Model):
phoneid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PhoneID')
number = models.CharField(max_length=60, db_column='Number', blank=True)
type = models.CharField(max_length=15, db_column='Type', blank=True)
...
class Personsphones(models.Model):
personphoneid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PersonPhoneID')
personid = models.ForeignKey(Persons, db_column='PersonID')
phoneid = models.ForeignKey(Phones, db_column='PhoneID')
...
I want to create a form to display all of the 'Phones' associated with a particular 'Persons' and in addition be able to modify/add/remove 'Phones' belonging to a 'Persons'. Right now the only thing I can think of is to display the 'Phones' in a modelformset and then if one is added or removed manually set the 'Personsphones' relation. Any ideas on how to best deal with this model setup?
For making changes to your models you may want to use django-south http://south.aeracode.org/docs/
As far as displaying your 'Phone' under your forms.py you may want to set up class meta like so. With this any changes made to models will reflect on change
class Meta:
model = Persons
exclude = ('user')
In models you may want to use Foreignkey fore relationships between phones and Persons. Better seen in action here https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/models/fields/#foreignkey

Django Form with no required fields

I want to make a form used to filter searches without any field being required. For example given this code:
models.py:
class Message(models.Model):
happened = models.DateTimeField()
filename = models.CharField(max_length=512, blank=True, null=True)
message = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
dest = models.CharField(max_length=512, blank=True, null=True)
fromhost = models.ForeignKey(Hosts, related_name='to hosts', blank=True, null=True)
TYPE_CHOICES = ( (u'Info', u'Info'), (u'Error', u'Error'), (u'File', u'File'), (u'BPS', u'BPS'),)
type = models.CharField(max_length=7, choices=TYPE_CHOICES)
job = models.ForeignKey(Jobs)
views.py:
WHEN_CHOICES = ( (u'', ''), (1, u'Today'), (2, u'Two days'), (3, u'Three Days'), (7, u'Week'),(31, u'Month'),)
class MessageSearch(ModelForm): #Class that makes a form from a model that can be customized by placing info above the class Meta
message = forms.CharField(max_length=25, required=False)
job = forms.CharField(max_length=25, required=False)
happened = forms.CharField(max_length=14, widget=forms.Select(choices=WHEN_CHOICES), required=False)
class Meta:
model = Message
That's the code I have now. As you can see it makes a form based on a model. I redefined message in the form because I'm using an icontains filter so I didn't need a giant text box. I redefined the date mostly because I didn't want to have to mess around with dates (I hate working with dates! Who doesnt?) And I changed the jobs field because otherwise I was getting a drop down list of existing jobs and I really wanted to be able to search by common words. So I was able to mark all of those as not required
The problem is it's marking all my other fields as required because in the model they're not allowed to be blank.
Now in the model they can't be blank. If they're blank then the data is bad and I don't want it in the DB. However the form is only a filter form on a page to display the data. I'm never going to save from that form so I don't care if fields are blank or not. So is there an easy way to make all fields as required=false while still using the class Meta: model = Message format in the form? It's really handy that I can make a form directly from a model.
Also this is my first serious attempt at a django app so if something is absurdly wrong please be kind :)
You can create a custom ModelForm that suit your needs. This custom ModelForm will override the save method and set all fields to be non-required:
from django.forms import ModelForm
class SearchForm(ModelForm):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(SearchForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
for key, field in self.fields.iteritems():
self.fields[key].required = False
So you could declare your forms by simply calling instead of the ModelForm, e.g.:
class MessageForm(SearchForm):
class Meta:
model = Message
You could also pass empty_permitted=True when you instantiate the form, e.g.,
form = MessageSearch(empty_permitted=True)
that way you can still have normal validation rules for when someone does enter data into the form.
I would give a try to the django-filter module :
http://django-filter.readthedocs.io/en/develop/
fields are not required. these are filters actually. It would look like this :
import django_filters
class MessageSearch(django_filters.FilterSet):
class Meta:
model = Message
fields = ['happened', 'filename', 'message', '...', ]
# django-filter has its own default widgets corresponding to the field
# type of the model, but you can tweak and subclass in a django way :
happened = django_filters.DateFromToRangeFilter()
mandatory, hidden filters can be defined if you want to narrow a list of model depending on something like user rights etc.
also : setup a filter on a 'reverse' relationship (the foreignkey is not in the filtered model : the model is referenced elsewhere in another table), is easy, just name the table where the foreign key of the filtered model field is :
# the 'tags' model has a fk like message = models.ForeignKey(Message...)
tags= django_filters.<some filter>(name='tags')
quick extendable and clean to setup.
please note I didn't wrote this module, I'm just very happy with it :)