Django ModelForm custom validation: How to access submitted field values

Question

I have the below model form and want to add custom validation to a field called 'billable_work'.

How do I access a field 'project' which was submitted in the form? I want to check the value of project ('p' in the below example) but can't locate the proper syntax so that I can test the submitted value. Any help would be appreciated.

class EntryForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Entries
        exclude = ('billable_work','notes')  

    billable_work = forms.BooleanField()
    notes = forms.CharField(widget=forms.Textarea,required=False)

    def clean_billable_work(self):
        b = self.cleaned_data['billable_work']
        p = form.fields['project']

        if b == True and p == 523:
            raise forms.ValidationError(_("Entries cannot be both billable and NONE: Indirect."))
        return self.cleaned_data['billable_work']

Lyallpur

Answer 1

I think you want to override the clean() method on your model rather than the clean method of a specific form field. From the docs -

This method should be used to provide custom model validation, and to modify attributes on your model if desired. For instance, you could use it to automatically provide a value for a field, or to do validation that requires access to more than a single field.

If you did want to put the validation in the form then the clean() method on the form provides similar functionality (see docs).

Ertha

Thanks for the link in the docs. I was looking for the syntax self.cleaned_data.get('project'). In order to test the value I have to convert this to a string. Is this a proper/valid method? – Lyallpur

Interesting note-- I'm working to add custom validation to an admin form. Docs for Django 3.1 point out the clean() method does not run for admin interface, and you must use forms. – Uvarovite