Django Form Error Handling: Wrong url? is_valid()

Question

Hi Stackoverflow people,

I am irritated by the the Django Form handling, if the form submits to new page and the form validation fails. I intended to return to the earlier submitted form, and display the error message for correction.

The error message will be displayed, but the url link is not changing. How can I change the *else statement of the is_valid() statement*, in order to redirect to the earlier form?

Thank you for your advice!

urls.py

urlpatterns = patterns("",
    url(r"^add/$", "remap.views.add_project", name="add_project_location"),
    url(r"^add/details/$", "remap.views.add_project_details", name="add_project_details"),
)

views.py

def add_project_details(request):
if request.method == 'POST': # If the form has been submitted...
    locationForm = LocationForm(request.POST) 
    if locationForm.is_valid(): # All validation rules pass
        locality = locationForm.cleaned_data['locality']
        state = locationForm.cleaned_data['state']
        country = locationForm.cleaned_data['country']

        projectForm = ProjectForm(initial = { 
            'locality': locality, 
            'state': state, 
            'country': country, 
        })
        return render_to_response('map/add_project_details.html', {
            'projectForm': projectForm,
        }, context_instance = RequestContext(request))

    else:
        print locationForm.errors 
        return render_to_response('map/add_project_location.html', {
            'locationForm': locationForm,
        }, context_instance = RequestContext(request))
else:
    return HttpResponseRedirect('../') # Redirect to the location reg if site is requested w/o proper location

Daniel Roseman · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-21 17:15:58Z

4

There's no cause to get irritated about Django doing exactly what it is designed to do.

Your redirect is on the else clause corresponding to if request.method == 'POST'. So, it will only take effect if this is not a form submission. In other words, that view will never actually display an empty form.

Then, depending on whether or not the POSTed form is valid, you display one of two templates. You're not doing any redirecting at this point.

However, even if you had asked Django to redirect when the form is invalid, I doubt you would get the result you want. This is because the rules of HTTP (not Django) say that you can't redirect a POST - so your request to the redirected view would be a GET, without any of the invalid data or error messages.

answered Aug 21, 2011 at 17:15

Daniel Roseman

602k68 gold badges911 silver badges924 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Rob Osborne · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-21 17:11:42Z

0

You can't update the url unless you tell the browser to do a redirect. You are returning two different html versions on the same url which can be confusing to the user.

What you should do instead is have two views. The /add url and add_project_location view would accept a post and validate, staying on that url and view until success.

Upon success it would set some session variables, redirect to the add_project_details page. Merging them like this is just not possible because of how browsers work.

answered Aug 21, 2011 at 17:11

Rob Osborne

5,0254 gold badges35 silver badges43 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Django Form Error Handling: Wrong url? is_valid()

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related