inlineformset_factory create new objects and edit objects after created

Question

In the django docs, there\'s an example of using inlineformset_factory to edit already created objects

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/forms/mo

Answer 1

I've done that using Django Class-Based Views.

Here's my approach:

models.py

from django.db import models

class Author(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)


class Book(models.Model):
    author = models.ForeignKey(Author)
    title = models.CharField(max_length=100)

forms.py

from django.forms import ModelForm
from django.forms.models import inlineformset_factory

from crispy_forms.helper import FormHelper
from crispy_forms.layout import Layout, Fieldset

from .models import Author, Book

class AuthorForm(ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Author
        fields = ('name', )

    @property
    def helper(self):
        helper = FormHelper()
        helper.form_tag = False # This is crucial.

        helper.layout = Layout(
            Fieldset('Create new author', 'name'),
        )

        return helper


class BookFormHelper(FormHelper):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(BookFormHelper, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.form_tag = False
        self.layout = Layout(
            Fieldset("Add author's book", 'title'),
        )


BookFormset = inlineformset_factory(
    Author,
    Book,
    fields=('title', ),
    extra=2,
    can_delete=False,
)

views.py

from django.views.generic import CreateView
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect

from .forms import AuthorForm, BookFormset, BookFormHelper
from .models import Book, Author

class AuthorCreateView(CreateView):
    form_class = AuthorForm
    template_name = 'library/manage_books.html'
    model = Author
    success_url = '/'

    def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        self.object = None
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        book_form = BookFormset()
        book_formhelper = BookFormHelper()

        return self.render_to_response(
            self.get_context_data(form=form, book_form=book_form)
        )

    def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        self.object = None
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        book_form = BookFormset(self.request.POST)

        if (form.is_valid() and book_form.is_valid()):
            return self.form_valid(form, book_form)

        return self.form_invalid(form, book_form)

    def form_valid(self, form, book_form):
        """
        Called if all forms are valid. Creates a Author instance along
        with associated books and then redirects to a success page.
        """
        self.object = form.save()
        book_form.instance = self.object
        book_form.save()

        return HttpResponseRedirect(self.get_success_url())

    def form_invalid(self, form, book_form):
        """
        Called if whether a form is invalid. Re-renders the context
        data with the data-filled forms and errors.
        """
        return self.render_to_response(
            self.get_context_data(form=form, book_form=book_form)
        )

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        """ Add formset and formhelper to the context_data. """
        ctx = super(AuthorCreateView, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
        book_formhelper = BookFormHelper()

        if self.request.POST:
            ctx['form'] = AuthorForm(self.request.POST)
            ctx['book_form'] = BookFormset(self.request.POST)
            ctx['book_formhelper'] = book_formhelper
        else:
            ctx['form'] = AuthorForm()
            ctx['book_form'] = BookFormset()
            ctx['book_formhelper'] = book_formhelper

        return ctx

urls.py

from django.conf.urls import patterns, url
from django.views.generic import TemplateView

from library.views import AuthorCreateView

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'^author/manage$', AuthorCreateView.as_view(), name='handle-books'),
    url(r'^$', TemplateView.as_view(template_name='home.html'), name='home'),
)

manage_books.html

{% load crispy_forms_tags %}


  
  



  

    {% crispy form %}
    {{ book_form.management_form }}
    {{ book_form.non_form_errors }}

    {% crispy book_form book_formhelper %}
    
  

Notice:

• This is a simple runable example that use the inlineformset_factory feature and Django generic Class-Based Views
• I'm assumming django-crispy-forms is installed, and it's properly configured.
• Code repository is hosted at: https://bitbucket.org/slackmart/library_example

I know it's more code that the showed solutions, but start to using Django Class-Based Views is great.