UnboundLocalError: local variable 'form' referenced before assignment in Django

Question

So I'm working on a Django project and this is my views.py file:

def new_topic(request, pk):
    board = get_object_or_404(Board, pk=pk)
    user = User.objects.first()  # TODO: get the currently logged in user

    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = NewTopicForm(request.POST)
    if form.is_valid():
        topic = form.save()
        return redirect('board_topics', pk=board.pk)
    else:
        form = NewTopicForm()
    return render(request, 'new_topic.html', {'form': form})

When I ran my server, I got an error saying:

UnboundLocalError: local variable 'form' referenced before assignment

This is my new_topic.html file

{% extends 'base.html' %}

{% block title %}Start a New Topic{% endblock %}

{% block breadcrumb %}
    <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="{% url 'home' %}">Boards</a></li>
    <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="{% url 'board_topics' board.pk %}">{{ board.name }}</a></li>
    <li class="breadcrumb-item active">New topic</li>
{% endblock %}

{% block content %}
    <form method="post">
        {% csrf_token %}
        {{ form.as_p }}
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-success">Post</button>
    </form>
{% endblock %}

Note that Django made a reference to this line: if form.is_valid(): — Adeola Adesina
– Adeola Adesina, Commented Dec 30, 2017 at 1:03

meshy · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-30 01:16:05Z

4

The line if form.is_valid(): fails on a GET request, because you're only defining form when request.method == 'POST'.

This can be fixed by changing some indentation:

if request.method == 'POST':
    form = NewTopicForm(request.POST)
    if form.is_valid():
        topic = form.save()
        return redirect('board_topics', pk=board.pk)
else:
    form = NewTopicForm()
return render(request, 'new_topic.html', {'form': form})

edited Dec 30, 2017 at 1:16

answered Dec 30, 2017 at 0:40

meshy

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Comments

Chirag Maniar · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-23 14:03:55Z

0

I don't find any issue with indentation, but with initialization. Kindly initialize for before rendering it! Make changes as shown below will definitely work out and it's a very genuine and proper way to get rid of it:

def new_topic(request, pk):
    board = get_object_or_404(Board, pk=pk)
    user = User.objects.first()  # TODO: get the currently logged in user
    form = NewTopicForm()
    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = NewTopicForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
           topic = form.save()
           return redirect('board_topics', pk=board.pk)
        else:
            form = NewTopicForm()
    return render(request, 'new_topic.html', {'form': form})

answered Apr 23, 2019 at 14:03

Chirag Maniar

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