4 ms·

I don't like Forms/ModelForms. It doesn't seem to be a common complaint, but I always end up fighting with Forms when I try to use them. Too complicated, too c

I don't like Forms/ModelForms. It doesn't seem to be a common complaint, but I always end up fighting with Forms when I try to use them. Too complicated, too confining, and too unique-to-Django. I wish Django had gone with field helpers instead.

eli 13y ago
If it makes you feel better, you're not the only one.
sashahart 13y ago
I'm curious about 'field helpers,' can you point to a page or briefly describe the difference?
- lojack 13y ago
  Not 100% sure this is what mattchew was talking about, but instead of defining the form and then rendering the form field by doing something like this: > {{ form.thefield }} You would instead simply define the model and render the form field with something like this: > {{ model.thefield | render_input }} Or, if you had a regular Form (i.e. not a ModelForm) you would do something like this: > {{ render_input:name="field_name" }} And if you wanted validation or something, you'd need to create your own render_* methods to perform that validation.
- mattchew 13y ago
  Sure, I mean helpers for the template/view that make it easier (syntax, data binding, validations) to render a HTML form widget. Instead of defining your form as a unit in app code, you manage the form fields in the view/template. For my money, this is much more intuitive and flexible. It's common in other web frameworks. At least Codeigniter, Ruby on Rails, and ASP.NET MVC use this approach: http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/helpers/form_helper.html http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/helpers/form_help... http://guides.rubyonrails.org/form_helpers.html http://guides.rubyonrails.org/form_helpers.html http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd410596(v=vs.100).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd410596(v=vs.100).a...
RussianCow 13y ago
Really? I find that to be one of Django's biggest wins for me. The only thing I dislike about it is that you need to use multiple forms if you need to wrap multiple models. But having forms that aren't tied to a model is so easy in Django.
huxley 13y ago
For a big subset of stuff, the Django forms are perfectly fine once you grok what they do, but in recent years, I've usually supplemented them with CrispyForms [1] (used to django-uni-form) and FloppyForms [2] --either individually or in combo-- for extra form flexibility. [1] https://github.com/maraujop/django-crispy-forms https://github.com/maraujop/django-crispy-forms [2] https://github.com/brutasse/django-floppyforms https://github.com/brutasse/django-floppyforms

eli 13y ago

If it makes you feel better, you're not the only one.

sashahart 13y ago

I'm curious about 'field helpers,' can you point to a page or briefly describe the difference?

lojack 13y ago
Not 100% sure this is what mattchew was talking about, but instead of defining the form and then rendering the form field by doing something like this: > {{ form.thefield }} You would instead simply define the model and render the form field with something like this: > {{ model.thefield | render_input }} Or, if you had a regular Form (i.e. not a ModelForm) you would do something like this: > {{ render_input:name="field_name" }} And if you wanted validation or something, you'd need to create your own render_* methods to perform that validation.
mattchew 13y ago
Sure, I mean helpers for the template/view that make it easier (syntax, data binding, validations) to render a HTML form widget. Instead of defining your form as a unit in app code, you manage the form fields in the view/template. For my money, this is much more intuitive and flexible. It's common in other web frameworks. At least Codeigniter, Ruby on Rails, and ASP.NET MVC use this approach: http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/helpers/form_helper.html http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/helpers/form_help... http://guides.rubyonrails.org/form_helpers.html http://guides.rubyonrails.org/form_helpers.html http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd410596(v=vs.100).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd410596(v=vs.100).a...

RussianCow 13y ago

Really? I find that to be one of Django's biggest wins for me. The only thing I dislike about it is that you need to use multiple forms if you need to wrap multiple models. But having forms that aren't tied to a model is so easy in Django.

huxley 13y ago

For a big subset of stuff, the Django forms are perfectly fine once you grok what they do, but in recent years, I've usually supplemented them with CrispyForms [1] (used to django-uni-form) and FloppyForms [2] --either individually or in combo-- for extra form flexibility. [1] https://github.com/maraujop/django-crispy-forms https://github.com/maraujop/django-crispy-forms [2] https://github.com/brutasse/django-floppyforms https://github.com/brutasse/django-floppyforms