Updating context data in FormView form_valid method?

Asked 2/8, 2011 at 4:50 Answered 26/10, 2021 at 18:20

I have a class QuestionView which is derived from the FormView class. Here is a code snippet to explain my problem:

class QuestionView(FormView):
    ...
    context_var1 = y

    def form_valid (self, form):
        ...
        self.context_var1 = x
        ...

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        ...
        context['context_var1'] = self.context_var1
        ...
        return context

As shown above, I update a set of context variables in form_valid and I intend to use the updated values of these in the template - hence the variables in the context dictionary. The problem with this code is that the change in context_var1 isn't seen - might be because get_context_data is called before the form_valid method. Is there is a workaround for this?

Crymotherapy answered 2/8, 2011 at 4:50 Comment(0)

I do this with form_invalid. Here's how I do it:

from django.views.generic import FormView

class ContextFormView(FormView):
    def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        context = self.get_context_data(**kwargs)
        context['form'] = form
        return self.render_to_response(context)

    def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        if form.is_valid():
            return self.form_valid(form)
        else:
            return self.form_invalid(form, **kwargs)

    def form_invalid(self, form, **kwargs):
        context = self.get_context_data(**kwargs)
        context['form'] = form
        return self.render_to_response(context)

You could do the same but for form_valid. Normally the body of form_valid looks like this:

def form_valid(self, form):
    return HttpResponseRedirect(self.get_success_url())

You would have to override both post and form_valid, because post calls form_valid.

def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    form_class = self.get_form_class()
    form = self.get_form(form_class)
    if form.is_valid():
        return self.form_valid(form, **kwargs)
    else:
        return self.form_invalid(form, **kwargs)

def form_valid(self, form, **kwargs):
    # take some other action here
    return HttpResponseRedirect(self.get_success_url())

oh and just to clarify, the reason this problem exists is that the ProcessFormView class's get method is broken. It normally looks like this:

def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    form_class = self.get_form_class()
    form = self.get_form(form_class)
    return self.render_to_response(self.get_context_data(form=form))

It just throws the kwargs away (._.)

Peba answered 22/11, 2011 at 5:56 Comment(4)

Thanks for the solution. Two years later and Django still doesn't provide a way to update context in form_valid or form_invalid. – Lyons 3/12, 2013 at 17:30

And neither in django 1.7 :( – Jacquerie 21/10, 2014 at 21:50

Do Django 1.8 provide a way to update context in form_valid? – Ricardoricca 17/11, 2015 at 10:8

The correct way to add to the context in form_valid is to use the extra_context attribute in Django 2.0 and newer. Just remember to override it by directly assigning a dictionary to it rather than doing a key assignment because its initial value is None. – Learning 3/2, 2019 at 4:33

In views.py

class UploadTest(FormView):
    template_name = 'test.html'
    ....
    plus_context = dict()

    def form_valid(self, form):
        ...
        self.plus_context['you_want_context'] = value
        ...
        return super(UploadTest, self).form_valid(form)

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        context = super(UploadTest, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
        context['plus_context_key'] = self.plus_context
        return context

In test.html

<html>
    ....
    <body>
    ....
    // first post can not get plus_context_key
    {% if plus_context_key %}
        {{ plus_context_key.you_want_context }}
    {% endif %}    
    </body>
</html>

I just figure out this way in Django 1.10.3. Hope can help you

Mitchmitchael answered 17/11, 2016 at 10:32 Comment(1)

In case the form redirects to itself, this would display the plus_context_key contents even with a GET on the form view. To get around this, use self.plus_context=dict() after context['plus_context_key']=self.plus_context to reset the result for any later GET – Brunk 24/2, 2017 at 11:7

In Django 2.0.1 you can insert context data by overriding either get_context_data or form_invalid.

In your case you could do one of the following overrides:

class QuestionView(FormView):
    ...

    def form_invalid(self, form):
        """If the form is invalid, render the invalid form."""
        return self.render_to_response(
            self.get_context_data(
                form=form, 
                context_key=some_value
            )
        )

Or:

class QuestionView(FormView):
    ...

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        if 'context_key' not in kwargs:  # set value if not present
            kwargs['context_key'] = some_value
        return super().get_context_data(**kwargs)

Django 2.0.1 inserts under the hood the form into the kwargs of get_context_data.

# File: django.views.generic.edit

class FormMixin(ContextMixin):
    ...

    def form_valid(self, form):
        """If the form is valid, redirect to the supplied URL."""
        return HttpResponseRedirect(self.get_success_url())

    def form_invalid(self, form):
        """If the form is invalid, render the invalid form."""
        return self.render_to_response(self.get_context_data(form=form))

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        """Insert the form into the context dict."""
        if 'form' not in kwargs:
            kwargs['form'] = self.get_form()
        return super().get_context_data(**kwargs)

Swop answered 31/1, 2018 at 18:22 Comment(0)

Maybe you can use this approach:

class SomeView(View):

    def post(self, request):
        my_form = MyForm(request.POST)
        if my_form.is_valid():
            context['foo'] = 'bar'

        return render(request, 'valid/path.html', context)

Chaqueta answered 16/5, 2015 at 12:19 Comment(0)

Pass plus_context just if save successfull:

class SomeUpdateView(UpdateView):
    ...
    success_url = reverse_lazy('SomeUpdateView')
    plus_context = dict()

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        context = super().get_context_data(**kwargs)
        if self.plus_context:
            context['success'] = self.plus_context['pass_to_view_just_after_save_successful']
        return context

    def form_valid(self, form, **kwargs):
        self.object.save()
        self.plus_context['pass_to_view_just_after_save_successful'] = 'Save successful!'
        return super(SomeUpdateView, self).form_valid(form)

in template something like:

{% if success %}
<p>{{ success }}</p>
{% endif %}

Chromatograph answered 26/10, 2021 at 18:20 Comment(0)

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