Customize/remove Django select box blank option

Question

I\'m using Django 1.0.2. I\'ve written a ModelForm backed by a Model. This model has a ForeignKey where blank=False. When Django generates HTML for this form it creates a

Answer 1

As for the django 1.4 all you need is to set the "default" value and "blank=False" on the choices field

class MyModel(models.Model):
    CHOICES = (
        (0, 'A'), 
        (1, 'B'),
    )
    choice_field = models.IntegerField(choices=CHOICES, blank=False, default=0)

Answer 2

With Carl's answer as a guide and after rooting around the Django source for a couple hours I think this is the complete solution:

1. To remove the empty option (extending Carl's example):

   class ThingForm(models.ModelForm):
     class Meta:
       model = Thing
   
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
       super(ThingForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
       self.fields['verb'].empty_label = None
       # following line needed to refresh widget copy of choice list
       self.fields['verb'].widget.choices =
         self.fields['verb'].choices
   

2. To customize the empty option label is essentially the same:

   class ThingForm(models.ModelForm):
     class Meta:
       model = Thing
   
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
       super(ThingForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
       self.fields['verb'].empty_label = "Select a Verb"
       # following line needed to refresh widget copy of choice list
       self.fields['verb'].widget.choices =
         self.fields['verb'].choices
   

I think this approach applies to all scenarios where ModelChoiceFields are rendered as HTML but I'm not positive. I found that when these fields are initialized, their choices are passed to the Select widget (see django.forms.fields.ChoiceField._set_choices). Setting the empty_label after initialization does not refresh the Select widget's list of choices. I'm not familiar enough with Django to know if this should be considered a bug.

Answer 3

you can do this in admin:

formfield_overrides = {
    models.ForeignKey: {'empty_label': None},
}