"""
34. Generating HTML forms from models
Django provides shortcuts for creating Form objects from a model class and a
model instance.
The function django.newforms.form_for_model() takes a model class and returns
a Form that is tied to the model. This Form works just like any other Form,
with one additional method: save(). The save() method creates an instance
of the model and returns that newly created instance. It saves the instance to
the database if save(commit=True), which is default. If you pass
commit=False, then you'll get the object without committing the changes to the
database.
The function django.newforms.form_for_instance() takes a model instance and
returns a Form that is tied to the instance. This form works just like any
other Form, with one additional method: save(). The save()
method updates the model instance. It also takes a commit=True parameter.
The function django.newforms.save_instance() takes a bound form instance and a
model instance and saves the form's clean_data into the instance. It also takes
a commit=True parameter.
"""
from django.db import models
class Category(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(maxlength=20)
url = models.CharField('The URL', maxlength=40)
def __str__(self):
return self.name
class Writer(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(maxlength=50)
def __str__(self):
return self.name
class Article(models.Model):
headline = models.CharField(maxlength=50)
pub_date = models.DateField()
writer = models.ForeignKey(Writer)
article = models.TextField()
categories = models.ManyToManyField(Category, blank=True)
def __str__(self):
return self.headline
__test__ = {'API_TESTS': """
>>> from django.newforms import form_for_model, form_for_instance, save_instance, BaseForm, Form, CharField
>>> import datetime
>>> Category.objects.all()
[]
>>> CategoryForm = form_for_model(Category)
>>> f = CategoryForm()
>>> print f
>>> print f.as_ul()
>>> print f['name']
>>> f = CategoryForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f.as_ul()
Name:
The URL:
>>> f = CategoryForm({'name': 'Entertainment', 'url': 'entertainment'})
>>> f.is_valid()
True
>>> f.clean_data
{'url': u'entertainment', 'name': u'Entertainment'}
>>> obj = f.save()
>>> obj
>>> Category.objects.all()
[]
>>> f = CategoryForm({'name': "It's a test", 'url': 'test'})
>>> f.is_valid()
True
>>> f.clean_data
{'url': u'test', 'name': u"It's a test"}
>>> obj = f.save()
>>> obj
>>> Category.objects.all()
[, ]
If you call save() with commit=False, then it will return an object that
hasn't yet been saved to the database. In this case, it's up to you to call
save() on the resulting model instance.
>>> f = CategoryForm({'name': 'Third test', 'url': 'third'})
>>> f.is_valid()
True
>>> f.clean_data
{'url': u'third', 'name': u'Third test'}
>>> obj = f.save(commit=False)
>>> obj
>>> Category.objects.all()
[, ]
>>> obj.save()
>>> Category.objects.all()
[, , ]
If you call save() with invalid data, you'll get a ValueError.
>>> f = CategoryForm({'name': '', 'url': 'foo'})
>>> f.errors
{'name': [u'This field is required.']}
>>> f.clean_data
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
AttributeError: 'CategoryForm' object has no attribute 'clean_data'
>>> f.save()
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValueError: The Category could not be created because the data didn't validate.
>>> f = CategoryForm({'name': '', 'url': 'foo'})
>>> f.save()
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValueError: The Category could not be created because the data didn't validate.
Create a couple of Writers.
>>> w = Writer(name='Mike Royko')
>>> w.save()
>>> w = Writer(name='Bob Woodward')
>>> w.save()
ManyToManyFields are represented by a MultipleChoiceField, and ForeignKeys are
represented by a ChoiceField.
>>> ArticleForm = form_for_model(Article)
>>> f = ArticleForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f
Headline:
Pub date:
Writer:
Article:
Categories:
You can pass a custom Form class to form_for_model. Make sure it's a
subclass of BaseForm, not Form.
>>> class CustomForm(BaseForm):
... def say_hello(self):
... print 'hello'
>>> CategoryForm = form_for_model(Category, form=CustomForm)
>>> f = CategoryForm()
>>> f.say_hello()
hello
Use form_for_instance to create a Form from a model instance. The difference
between this Form and one created via form_for_model is that the object's
current values are inserted as 'initial' data in each Field.
>>> w = Writer.objects.get(name='Mike Royko')
>>> RoykoForm = form_for_instance(w)
>>> f = RoykoForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f
>>> f = TestArticleForm({'headline': u'New headline', 'pub_date': u'1988-01-04', 'writer': u'1', 'article': 'Hello.'})
>>> f.is_valid()
True
>>> new_art = f.save()
>>> new_art.id
1
>>> new_art = Article.objects.get(id=1)
>>> new_art.headline
'New headline'
Add some categories and test the many-to-many form output.
>>> new_art.categories.all()
[]
>>> new_art.categories.add(Category.objects.get(name='Entertainment'))
>>> new_art.categories.all()
[]
>>> TestArticleForm = form_for_instance(new_art)
>>> f = TestArticleForm(auto_id=False)
>>> print f.as_ul()
Headline:
Pub date:
Writer:
Article:
Categories:
Here, we define a custom Form. Because it happens to have the same fields as
the Category model, we can use save_instance() to apply its changes to an
existing Category instance.
>>> class ShortCategory(Form):
... name = CharField(max_length=5)
... url = CharField(max_length=3)
>>> cat = Category.objects.get(name='Third test')
>>> cat
>>> cat.id
3
>>> sc = ShortCategory({'name': 'Third', 'url': '3rd'})
>>> save_instance(sc, cat)
>>> Category.objects.get(id=3)
"""}