Django Forms - How To Use Prefix Parameter

Say I have a form like: class GeneralForm(forms.Form): field1 = forms.IntegerField(required=False) field2 = forms. IntegerField(required=False) And I want to show it twice

Solution 1:

You process each form as you normally would, ensuring that you create instances which have the same prefixes as those used to generate the form initially.

Here's a slightly awkward example using the form you've given, as I don't know what the exact use case is:

defsome_view(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        form1 = GeneralForm(request.POST, prefix='form1')
        form2 = GeneralForm(request.POST, prefix='form2')
        ifall([form1.is_valid(), form2.is_valid()]):
            pass# Do stuff with the formselse:
        form1 = GeneralForm(prefix='form1')
        form2 = GeneralForm(prefix='form2')
    return render_to_response('some_template.html', {
        'form1': form1,
        'form2': form2,
    })

Here's some real-world sample code which demonstrates processing forms using the prefix:

http://collingrady.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/editing-multiple-objects-in-django-with-newforms/

Solution 2:

Even better, I think formsets is exactly what you're looking for.

classGeneralForm(forms.Form):
    field1 = forms.IntegerField(required=False)
    field2 = forms. IntegerField(required=False)

from django.forms.formsets import formset_factory

# GeneralSet is a formset with 2 occurrences of GeneralForm # ( as a formset allows the user to add new items, this enforces#   2 fixed items, no less, no more )
GeneralSet = formset_factory(GeneralForm, extra=2, max_num=2)

# example viewdefsomeview(request):
    general_set = GeneralSet(request.POST)
    if general_set.is_valid():
        for form in general_set.forms:
            # do something with datareturn render_to_response("template.html", {'form': general_set}, RequestContext(request))

You can even have a formset automatically generated from a model with modelformset_factory , which are used by the automated django admin. FormSet handle even more stuff than simple forms, like adding, removing and sorting items.