UpdateView – Class Based Views Django
UpdateView refers to a view (logic) to update a particular instance of a table from the database with some extra details. It is used to update entries in the database, for example, updating an article at w3wiki. We have already discussed basics of Update View in Update View – Function based Views Django. Class-based views provide an alternative way to implement views as Python objects instead of functions. They do not replace function-based views, but have certain differences and advantages when compared to function-based views:
- Organization of code related to specific HTTP methods (GET, POST, etc.) can be addressed by separate methods instead of conditional branching.
- Object oriented techniques such as mixins (multiple inheritance) can be used to factor code into reusable components.
Class based views are simpler and efficient to manage than function-based views. A function based view with tons of lines of code can be converted into a class based views with few lines only. This is where Object Oriented Programming comes into impact.
Django UpdateView – Class Based Views
Illustration of How to create and use UpdateView using an Example. Consider a project named w3wiki having an app named Beginner.
Refer to the following articles to check how to create a project and an app in Django.
After you have a project and an app, let’s create a model of which we will be creating instances through our view. In Beginner/models.py,
# import the standard Django Model # from built-in library from django.db import models # declare a new model with a name "BeginnerModel" class BeginnerModel(models.Model): # fields of the model title = models.CharField(max_length = 200) description = models.TextField() # renames the instances of the model # with their title name def __str__(self): return self.title |
After creating this model, we need to run two commands in order to create Database for the same.
Python manage.py makemigrations Python manage.py migrate
Now let’s create some instances of this model using shell, run form bash,
Python manage.py shell
Enter following commands
>>> from Beginner.models import BeginnerModel
>>> BeginnerModel.objects.create(
title="title1",
description="description1").save()
>>> BeginnerModel.objects.create(
title="title2",
description="description2").save()
>>> BeginnerModel.objects.create(
title="title2",
description="description2").save()
Now we have everything ready for back end. Verify that instances have been created from http://localhost:8000/admin/Beginner/Beginnermodel/
Class Based Views automatically setup everything from A to Z. One just needs to specify which model to create UpdateView for, then Class based UpdateView will automatically try to find a template in app_name/modelname_form.html. In our case it is Beginner/templates/Beginner/Beginnermodel_form.html. Let’s create our class based view. In Beginner/views.py,
# import generic UpdateView from django.views.generic.edit import UpdateView # Relative import of BeginnerModel from .models import BeginnerModel class BeginnerUpdateView(UpdateView): # specify the model you want to use model = BeginnerModel # specify the fields fields = [ "title", "description" ] # can specify success url # url to redirect after successfully # updating details success_url ="/" |
Now create a url path to map the view. In Beginner/urls.py,
from django.urls import path # importing views from views..py from .views import BeginnerUpdateView urlpatterns = [ # <pk> is identification for id field, # <slug> can also be used path('<pk>/update', BeginnerUpdateView.as_view()), ] |
Create a template in templates/Beginner/Beginnermodel_form.html,
<form method="post"> {% csrf_token %} {{ form.as_p }} <input type="submit" value="Save"> </form> |
Let’s check what is there on http://localhost:8000/1/update/