django/docs/ref/forms/fields.txt

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.. _ref-forms-fields:
===========
Form fields
===========
.. module:: django.forms.fields
:synopsis: Django's built-in form fields.
.. currentmodule:: django.forms
.. class:: Field(**kwargs)
When you create a ``Form`` class, the most important part is defining the
fields of the form. Each field has custom validation logic, along with a few
other hooks.
.. method:: Field.clean(value)
Although the primary way you'll use ``Field`` classes is in ``Form`` classes,
you can also instantiate them and use them directly to get a better idea of
how they work. Each ``Field`` instance has a ``clean()`` method, which takes
a single argument and either raises a ``django.forms.ValidationError``
exception or returns the clean value::
>>> f = forms.EmailField()
>>> f.clean('foo@example.com')
u'foo@example.com'
>>> f.clean(u'foo@example.com')
u'foo@example.com'
>>> f.clean('invalid e-mail address')
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValidationError: [u'Enter a valid e-mail address.']
Core field arguments
--------------------
Each ``Field`` class constructor takes at least these arguments. Some
``Field`` classes take additional, field-specific arguments, but the following
should *always* be accepted:
``required``
~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.required
By default, each ``Field`` class assumes the value is required, so if you pass
an empty value -- either ``None`` or the empty string (``""``) -- then
``clean()`` will raise a ``ValidationError`` exception::
>>> f = forms.CharField()
>>> f.clean('foo')
u'foo'
>>> f.clean('')
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValidationError: [u'This field is required.']
>>> f.clean(None)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValidationError: [u'This field is required.']
>>> f.clean(' ')
u' '
>>> f.clean(0)
u'0'
>>> f.clean(True)
u'True'
>>> f.clean(False)
u'False'
To specify that a field is *not* required, pass ``required=False`` to the
``Field`` constructor::
>>> f = forms.CharField(required=False)
>>> f.clean('foo')
u'foo'
>>> f.clean('')
u''
>>> f.clean(None)
u''
>>> f.clean(0)
u'0'
>>> f.clean(True)
u'True'
>>> f.clean(False)
u'False'
If a ``Field`` has ``required=False`` and you pass ``clean()`` an empty value,
then ``clean()`` will return a *normalized* empty value rather than raising
``ValidationError``. For ``CharField``, this will be a Unicode empty string.
For other ``Field`` classes, it might be ``None``. (This varies from field to
field.)
``label``
~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.label
The ``label`` argument lets you specify the "human-friendly" label for this
field. This is used when the ``Field`` is displayed in a ``Form``.
As explained in "Outputting forms as HTML" above, the default label for a
``Field`` is generated from the field name by converting all underscores to
spaces and upper-casing the first letter. Specify ``label`` if that default
behavior doesn't result in an adequate label.
Here's a full example ``Form`` that implements ``label`` for two of its fields.
We've specified ``auto_id=False`` to simplify the output::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField(label='Your name')
... url = forms.URLField(label='Your Web site', required=False)
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> f = CommentForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Your name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Your Web site:</th><td><input type="text" name="url" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
``initial``
~~~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.initial
The ``initial`` argument lets you specify the initial value to use when
rendering this ``Field`` in an unbound ``Form``.
The use-case for this is when you want to display an "empty" form in which a
field is initialized to a particular value. For example::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField(initial='Your name')
... url = forms.URLField(initial='http://')
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> f = CommentForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" value="Your name" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Url:</th><td><input type="text" name="url" value="http://" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
You may be thinking, why not just pass a dictionary of the initial values as
data when displaying the form? Well, if you do that, you'll trigger validation,
and the HTML output will include any validation errors::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField()
... url = forms.URLField()
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> default_data = {'name': 'Your name', 'url': 'http://'}
>>> f = CommentForm(default_data, auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" value="Your name" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Url:</th><td><ul class="errorlist"><li>Enter a valid URL.</li></ul><input type="text" name="url" value="http://" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><ul class="errorlist"><li>This field is required.</li></ul><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
This is why ``initial`` values are only displayed for unbound forms. For bound
forms, the HTML output will use the bound data.
Also note that ``initial`` values are *not* used as "fallback" data in
validation if a particular field's value is not given. ``initial`` values are
*only* intended for initial form display::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField(initial='Your name')
... url = forms.URLField(initial='http://')
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> data = {'name': '', 'url': '', 'comment': 'Foo'}
>>> f = CommentForm(data)
>>> f.is_valid()
False
# The form does *not* fall back to using the initial values.
>>> f.errors
{'url': [u'This field is required.'], 'name': [u'This field is required.']}
``widget``
~~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.widget
The ``widget`` argument lets you specify a ``Widget`` class to use when
rendering this ``Field``. See :ref:`ref-forms-widgets` for more information.
``help_text``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.help_text
The ``help_text`` argument lets you specify descriptive text for this
``Field``. If you provide ``help_text``, it will be displayed next to the
``Field`` when the ``Field`` is rendered by one of the convenience ``Form``
methods (e.g., ``as_ul()``).
Here's a full example ``Form`` that implements ``help_text`` for two of its
fields. We've specified ``auto_id=False`` to simplify the output::
>>> class HelpTextContactForm(forms.Form):
... subject = forms.CharField(max_length=100, help_text='100 characters max.')
... message = forms.CharField()
... sender = forms.EmailField(help_text='A valid e-mail address, please.')
... cc_myself = forms.BooleanField(required=False)
>>> f = HelpTextContactForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f.as_table()
<tr><th>Subject:</th><td><input type="text" name="subject" maxlength="100" /><br />100 characters max.</td></tr>
<tr><th>Message:</th><td><input type="text" name="message" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Sender:</th><td><input type="text" name="sender" /><br />A valid e-mail address, please.</td></tr>
<tr><th>Cc myself:</th><td><input type="checkbox" name="cc_myself" /></td></tr>
>>> print f.as_ul()
<li>Subject: <input type="text" name="subject" maxlength="100" /> 100 characters max.</li>
<li>Message: <input type="text" name="message" /></li>
<li>Sender: <input type="text" name="sender" /> A valid e-mail address, please.</li>
<li>Cc myself: <input type="checkbox" name="cc_myself" /></li>
>>> print f.as_p()
<p>Subject: <input type="text" name="subject" maxlength="100" /> 100 characters max.</p>
<p>Message: <input type="text" name="message" /></p>
<p>Sender: <input type="text" name="sender" /> A valid e-mail address, please.</p>
<p>Cc myself: <input type="checkbox" name="cc_myself" /></p>
``error_messages``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. attribute:: Field.error_messages
**New in Django development version**
The ``error_messages`` argument lets you override the default messages that the
field will raise. Pass in a dictionary with keys matching the error messages you
want to override. For example, here is the default error message::
>>> generic = forms.CharField()
>>> generic.clean('')
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValidationError: [u'This field is required.']
And here is a custom error message::
>>> name = forms.CharField(error_messages={'required': 'Please enter your name'})
>>> name.clean('')
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValidationError: [u'Please enter your name']
In the `built-in Field classes`_ section below, each ``Field`` defines the
error message keys it uses.
Dynamic initial values
----------------------
The ``initial`` argument to ``Field`` (explained above) lets you hard-code the
initial value for a ``Field`` -- but what if you want to declare the initial
value at runtime? For example, you might want to fill in a ``username`` field
with the username of the current session.
To accomplish this, use the ``initial`` argument to a ``Form``. This argument,
if given, should be a dictionary mapping field names to initial values. Only
include the fields for which you're specifying an initial value; it's not
necessary to include every field in your form. For example::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField()
... url = forms.URLField()
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> f = CommentForm(initial={'name': 'your username'}, auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" value="your username" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Url:</th><td><input type="text" name="url" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
>>> f = CommentForm(initial={'name': 'another username'}, auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" value="another username" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Url:</th><td><input type="text" name="url" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
Just like the ``initial`` parameter to ``Field``, these values are only
displayed for unbound forms, and they're not used as fallback values if a
particular value isn't provided.
Finally, note that if a ``Field`` defines ``initial`` *and* you include
``initial`` when instantiating the ``Form``, then the latter ``initial`` will
have precedence. In this example, ``initial`` is provided both at the field
level and at the form instance level, and the latter gets precedence::
>>> class CommentForm(forms.Form):
... name = forms.CharField(initial='class')
... url = forms.URLField()
... comment = forms.CharField()
>>> f = CommentForm(initial={'name': 'instance'}, auto_id=False)
>>> print f
<tr><th>Name:</th><td><input type="text" name="name" value="instance" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Url:</th><td><input type="text" name="url" /></td></tr>
<tr><th>Comment:</th><td><input type="text" name="comment" /></td></tr>
Built-in ``Field`` classes
--------------------------
Naturally, the ``forms`` library comes with a set of ``Field`` classes that
represent common validation needs. This section documents each built-in field.
For each field, we describe the default widget used if you don't specify
``widget``. We also specify the value returned when you provide an empty value
(see the section on ``required`` above to understand what that means).
``BooleanField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: BooleanField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``CheckboxInput``
* Empty value: ``False``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``True`` or ``False`` value.
* Validates that the check box is checked (i.e. the value is ``True``) if
the field has ``required=True``.
* Error message keys: ``required``
**New in Django development version:** The empty value for a ``CheckboxInput``
(and hence the standard ``BooleanField``) has changed to return ``False``
instead of ``None`` in the development version.
.. note::
Since all ``Field`` subclasses have ``required=True`` by default, the
validation condition here is important. If you want to include a checkbox
in your form that can be either checked or unchecked, you must remember to
pass in ``required=False`` when creating the ``BooleanField``.
``CharField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: CharField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates ``max_length`` or ``min_length``, if they are provided.
Otherwise, all inputs are valid.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``max_length``, ``min_length``
Has two optional arguments for validation:
.. attribute:: CharField.max_length
.. attribute:: CharField.min_length
If provided, these arguments ensure that the string is at most or at least
the given length.
``ChoiceField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: ChoiceField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``Select``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates that the given value exists in the list of choices.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid_choice``
Takes one extra required argument:
.. attribute:: ChoiceField.choices
An iterable (e.g., a list or tuple) of 2-tuples to use as choices for this
field.
``DateField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: DateField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``datetime.date`` object.
* Validates that the given value is either a ``datetime.date``,
``datetime.datetime`` or string formatted in a particular date format.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
Takes one optional argument:
.. attribute:: DateField.input_formats
A list of formats used to attempt to convert a string to a valid
``datetime.date`` object.
If no ``input_formats`` argument is provided, the default input formats are::
'%Y-%m-%d', '%m/%d/%Y', '%m/%d/%y', # '2006-10-25', '10/25/2006', '10/25/06'
'%b %d %Y', '%b %d, %Y', # 'Oct 25 2006', 'Oct 25, 2006'
'%d %b %Y', '%d %b, %Y', # '25 Oct 2006', '25 Oct, 2006'
'%B %d %Y', '%B %d, %Y', # 'October 25 2006', 'October 25, 2006'
'%d %B %Y', '%d %B, %Y', # '25 October 2006', '25 October, 2006'
``DateTimeField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: DateTimeField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``DateTimeInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``datetime.datetime`` object.
* Validates that the given value is either a ``datetime.datetime``,
``datetime.date`` or string formatted in a particular datetime format.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
Takes one optional argument:
.. attribute:: DateTimeField.input_formats
A list of formats used to attempt to convert a string to a valid
``datetime.datetime`` object.
If no ``input_formats`` argument is provided, the default input formats are::
'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', # '2006-10-25 14:30:59'
'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M', # '2006-10-25 14:30'
'%Y-%m-%d', # '2006-10-25'
'%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S', # '10/25/2006 14:30:59'
'%m/%d/%Y %H:%M', # '10/25/2006 14:30'
'%m/%d/%Y', # '10/25/2006'
'%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S', # '10/25/06 14:30:59'
'%m/%d/%y %H:%M', # '10/25/06 14:30'
'%m/%d/%y', # '10/25/06'
**New in Django development version:** The ``DateTimeField`` used to use a
``TextInput`` widget by default. This has now changed.
``DecimalField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: DecimalField(**kwargs)
**New in Django development version**
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``decimal``.
* Validates that the given value is a decimal. Leading and trailing
whitespace is ignored.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``max_value``,
``min_value``, ``max_digits``, ``max_decimal_places``,
``max_whole_digits``
Takes four optional arguments:
.. attribute:: DecimalField.max_value
.. attribute:: DecimalField.min_value
These attributes define the limits for the fields value.
.. attribute:: DecimalField.max_digits
The maximum number of digits (those before the decimal point plus those
after the decimal point, with leading zeros stripped) permitted in the
value.
.. attribute:: DecimalField.decimal_places
The maximum number of decimal places permitted.
``EmailField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: EmailField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates that the given value is a valid e-mail address, using a
moderately complex regular expression.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
Has two optional arguments for validation, ``max_length`` and ``min_length``.
If provided, these arguments ensure that the string is at most or at least the
given length.
``FileField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: FileField(**kwargs)
**New in Django development version**
* Default widget: ``FileInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: An ``UploadedFile`` object that wraps the file content
and file name into a single object.
* Validates that non-empty file data has been bound to the form.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``missing``, ``empty``
To learn more about the ``UploadedFile`` object, see the :ref:`file uploads
documentation <topics-file-uploads>`.
When you use a ``FileField`` in a form, you must also remember to
:ref:`bind the file data to the form <topics-file-uploads>`.
``FilePathField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: FilePathField(**kwargs)
**New in Django development version**
* Default widget: ``Select``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A unicode object
* Validates that the selected choice exists in the list of choices.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid_choice``
The field allows choosing from files inside a certain directory. It takes three
extra arguments; only ``path`` is required:
.. attribute:: FilePathField.path
The absolute path to the directory whose contents you want listed. This
directory must exist.
.. attribute:: FilePathField.recursive
If ``False`` (the default) only the direct contents of ``path`` will be
offered as choices. If ``True``, the directory will be descended into
recursively and all descendants will be listed as choices.
.. attribute:: FilePathField.match
A regular expression pattern; only files with names matching this expression
will be allowed as choices.
``FloatField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python float.
* Validates that the given value is an float. Leading and trailing
whitespace is allowed, as in Python's ``float()`` function.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``max_value``,
``min_value``
Takes two optional arguments for validation, ``max_value`` and ``min_value``.
These control the range of values permitted in the field.
``ImageField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: ImageField(**kwargs)
**New in Django development version**
* Default widget: ``FileInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: An ``UploadedFile`` object that wraps the file content
and file name into a single object.
* Validates that file data has been bound to the form, and that the
file is of an image format understood by PIL.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``missing``, ``empty``,
``invalid_image``
Using an ImageField requires that the `Python Imaging Library`_ is installed.
When you use an ``ImageField`` on a form, you must also remember to
:ref:`bind the file data to the form <topics-file-uploads>`.
.. _Python Imaging Library: http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
``IntegerField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: IntegerField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python integer or long integer.
* Validates that the given value is an integer. Leading and trailing
whitespace is allowed, as in Python's ``int()`` function.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``max_value``,
``min_value``
Takes two optional arguments for validation:
.. attribute:: IntegerField.max_value
.. attribute:: IntegerField.min_value
These control the range of values permitted in the field.
``IPAddressField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: IPAddressField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates that the given value is a valid IPv4 address, using a regular
expression.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
``MultipleChoiceField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: MultipleChoiceField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``SelectMultiple``
* Empty value: ``[]`` (an empty list)
* Normalizes to: A list of Unicode objects.
* Validates that every value in the given list of values exists in the list
of choices.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid_choice``, ``invalid_list``
Takes one extra argument, ``choices``, as for ``ChoiceField``.
``NullBooleanField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: NullBooleanField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``NullBooleanSelect``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``True``, ``False`` or ``None`` value.
* Validates nothing (i.e., it never raises a ``ValidationError``).
``RegexField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: RegexField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates that the given value matches against a certain regular
expression.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
Takes one required argument:
.. attribute:: RegexField.regex
A regular expression specified either as a string or a compiled regular
expression object.
Also takes ``max_length`` and ``min_length``, which work just as they do for
``CharField``.
The optional argument ``error_message`` is also accepted for backwards
compatibility. The preferred way to provide an error message is to use the
``error_messages`` argument, passing a dictionary with ``'invalid'`` as a key
and the error message as the value.
``TimeField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: TimeField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``None``
* Normalizes to: A Python ``datetime.time`` object.
* Validates that the given value is either a ``datetime.time`` or string
formatted in a particular time format.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``
Takes one optional argument:
.. attribute:: TimeField.input_formats
A list of formats used to attempt to convert a string to a valid
``datetime.time`` object.
If no ``input_formats`` argument is provided, the default input formats are::
'%H:%M:%S', # '14:30:59'
'%H:%M', # '14:30'
``URLField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~
.. class:: URLField(**kwargs)
* Default widget: ``TextInput``
* Empty value: ``''`` (an empty string)
* Normalizes to: A Unicode object.
* Validates that the given value is a valid URL.
* Error message keys: ``required``, ``invalid``, ``invalid_link``
Takes the following optional arguments:
.. attribute:: URLField.max_length
.. attribute:: URLField.min_length
Same as ``CharField.max_length`` and ``CharField.min_length``.
.. attribute:: URLField.verify_exists
If ``True``, the validator will attempt to load the given URL, raising
``ValidationError`` if the page gives a 404. Defaults to ``False``.
.. attribute:: URLField.validator_user_agent
String used as the user-agent used when checking for a URL's existence.
Defaults to the value of the ``URL_VALIDATOR_USER_AGENT`` setting.
Slightly complex built-in ``Field`` classes
-------------------------------------------
The following are not yet documented.
.. class:: ComboField(**kwargs)
.. class:: MultiValueField(**kwargs)
.. class:: SplitDateTimeField(**kwargs)
Fields which handle relationships
---------------------------------
For representing relationships between models, two fields are
provided which can derive their choices from a ``QuerySet``:
.. class:: ModelChoiceField(**kwargs)
.. class:: ModelMultipleChoiceField(**kwargs)
These fields place one or more model objects into the ``cleaned_data``
dictionary of forms in which they're used. Both of these fields have an
additional required argument:
.. attribute:: ModelChoiceField.queryset
A ``QuerySet`` of model objects from which the choices for the
field will be derived, and which will be used to validate the
user's selection.
``ModelChoiceField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allows the selection of a single model object, suitable for
representing a foreign key.
The ``__unicode__`` method of the model will be called to generate
string representations of the objects for use in the field's choices;
to provide customized representations, subclass ``ModelChoiceField``
and override ``label_from_instance``. This method will receive a model
object, and should return a string suitable for representing it. For
example::
class MyModelChoiceField(ModelChoiceField):
def label_from_instance(self, obj):
return "My Object #%i" % obj.id
``ModelMultipleChoiceField``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allows the selection of one or more model objects, suitable for
representing a many-to-many relation. As with ``ModelChoiceField``,
you can use ``label_from_instance`` to customize the object
representations.
Creating custom fields
----------------------
If the built-in ``Field`` classes don't meet your needs, you can easily create
custom ``Field`` classes. To do this, just create a subclass of
``django.forms.Field``. Its only requirements are that it implement a
``clean()`` method and that its ``__init__()`` method accept the core arguments
mentioned above (``required``, ``label``, ``initial``, ``widget``,
``help_text``).