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Pass variable from jinja2 template to python

Sorry if this is a noob question I am still learning. I have passed a variable from python code to a jinja2 HTML template to set up a URL, like this:
Delete
When this link is pressed it should run a query that deletes the entity with that ID. But when the link is pressed it goes to /delete/1827424298 for example, which results in a 404 error as the request handler doesn't exist.
I need to pass that ID back into my python code so it can run a method to delete the entity with that same ID. How do I go about doing this? Using webapp2 if that is important.
class DeleteRequestHandler(webapp2.RequestHandler):
def get():
template = template_env.get_template('myrequests.html')
context = {
'results': results.key.id()
}
self.response.out.write(template.render(context))
EDIT: I've added my delete handler - it is incomplete as I have yet to add the query to delete the entity. My thinking behind it so far is I can grab the results.key.id() from the jinja2 template and put it into results but I am not sure if this would work.

So I think what you're confused about is how to set up a route handler with a dynamic part to the URL. It's a shame that this is completely skipped over in the webapp2 tutorial, as it's a fundamental part of writing any web application. However, it is covered well in the guide to routing, which you should read.
At its simplest, it's just a matter of putting a regex in the route:
app = webapp2.WSGIApplication([
...
(r'/delete/(\d+)', MyDeleteHandler),
])
which will now route any URL of the form /delete/<number>/ to your deletion handler.
The ID that you pass in the URL will be the first positional argument to the handler method:
class MyDeleteHandler:
def get(self, item_id):
key = ndb.Key(MyModel, item_id) # or whatever

Optional django-sekizai for an API

I'm writing a basic API, where it extends a DetailView to display the latest object for a given model.
As part of the site, django-sekizai is used for django-cms and as a result all used templates need to have the sekizai tags, however these aren't appropriate for an API as it doesn't need CSS/Javascript but rather outputs JSON/XML/Whatever.
Ideally I'd like for sekizai's context processor to not execute for this view, when writing tests such as
class LatestTest(TestCase):
def test_head_empty(self):
c = Client()
response = c.head(reverse(LatestView.plain_view))
I get the error
TemplateSyntaxError: You must enable the 'sekizai.context_processors.sekizai' template context processor or use 'sekizai.context.SekizaiContext' to render your templates.
During the execution of the client request.

Get template name in template tag ( Django )

is there a way to get the template name ( being parsed ) in a template tag ?
I have read searched and found nothing, only this previous post
Getting the template name in django template
which doesn't help me much, since the answer relies on settings.DEBUG being true, which in my case can't be.
I don't really know where to start on this one, so any suggestion is welcome :)
EDIT
So basically what i want is to create a plugable tag that when rendered it checks for a Tag object, this would be the source for the tag object
class Tag(models.Model):
template = models.CharFIeld(max_length=50)
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
plugins = models.ForeignKey(PluginBase)
if theres a tag object, then it displays all plugin objects, if not it creates a tag object unique to the name provided in the template tag and the template name, if getting the template name is not possible, then i guess i can just make it unique per name. The whole tag is kinda like a placeholder, for those familiar with django-cms

You could perhaps do this with a context processor, but I'm not sure if these have access to the name of the template.
What will work is to make a wrapper for the rendering calls you do. Say you currently do the following:
from django.shortcuts import render
def index(request):
return render(request, 'app/index.html', { 'foo': 'bar', })
If you create your own wrapper for this, you could add the template name to the dictionary before the actual render takes place:
from django.shortcuts import render
def myrender(request, template, dictionary):
dictionary.update({'template_name': template})
return render(request, template, dictionary)
Then in your views, change it as follows (assuming you saved the above function in myutils.py, and it is available on your path):
#from django.shortcuts import render <- delete this line
from myutils import myrender as render
def index(request):
return render(request, 'app/index.html', { 'foo': 'bar', })
Now all your render calls will update the dictionary with the template name. In any template, then just use {{ template_name }} to get the name. You can of course also update other rendering function like render_to_response and such in a similar fashion.
Also, the import myrender as render might or might not confuse you later on because it is named like the Django function... if so, just import it without the "as render", and replace all render calls with myrender. Personally I'd prefer this since this makes it a drop-in replacement for the existing rendering functions.

Looking at the source, while the Template object would have access to the template name (via .name) this value is never passed on to the Parser object and therefore not available to template tags.
There are various ways of making the template name available to the template itself (by adding it to the context) but not within the template tags.
As Daniel Roseman mentioned in the comments, if you can elaborate on what you're actually trying to achieve, there may be a better way to achieve what you want. No offence, but this sounds like it may be an XY problem.
Out of academic interest, I had a quick fiddle to see if it was possible. As far as I can see, it is possible but not without changing or monkey patching the django source.
Note: the following is not a recommended solution and merely hints at what may be required to actually make this work. Not to be used for production code.
By modifying django.template.base.py with the following changes, we add the .template_name attribute to the parser object making it available to template tags.
Added optional arg to compile_string
Added template name as extra attribute to parser
Passed in the template name when calling compile_string()
To test this out, I defined the following tag which simply returns the template name in caps:
from django.template.base import Node, Library
register = Library()
class TemplateNameNode(Node):
def __init__(self, template_name):
self.name = template_name
def render(self, context):
return self.name.upper()
#register.tag
def caps_template_name(parser, token):
return TemplateNameNode(parser.template_name)
and the following template:
{% load mytags %}
Template name in caps: {% caps_template_name %}
This seems to work when tested in ./manage.py shell:
>>> from django.template import loader, Context
>>> t = loader.get_template("test.html")
>>> t.render(Context({}))
u'\nTemplate name in caps: TEST.HTML\n'
While this seems to work, I should reiterate that manually patching the django source never a good solution and is subject to all sorts of misery when migrating to different versions.

Defining Constants in Django

I want to have some constants in a Django Projects. For example, let's say a constant called MIN_TIME_TEST.
I would like to be able to access this constant in two places: from within my Python code, and from within any Templates.
What's the best way to go about doing this?
EDIT:
To clarify, I know about Template Context Processors and about just putting things in settings.py or some other file and just importing.
My question is, how do I combine the two approaches without violating the "Don't Repeat Yourself" rule? Based on the answers so far, here's my approach:
I'd like to create a file called global_constants.py, which will have a list of constants (things like MIN_TIME_TEST = 5). I can import this file into any module to get the constants.
But now, I want to create the context processor which returns all of these constants. How can I go about doing this automatically, without having to list them again in a dictionary, like in John Mee's answer?

Both Luper and Vladimir are correct imho but you'll need both in order to complete your requirements.
Although, the constants don't need to be in the settings.py, you could put them anywhere and import them from that place into your view/model/module code. I sometimes put them into the __init__.py if I don't care to have them to be considered globally relevant.
a context processor like this will ensure that selected variables are globally in the template scope
def settings(request):
"""
Put selected settings variables into the default template context
"""
from django.conf import settings
return {
'DOMAIN': settings.DOMAIN,
'GOOGLEMAPS_API_KEY': settings.GOOGLEMAPS_API_KEY,
}
But this might be overkill if you're new to django; perhaps you're just asking how to put variables into the template scope...?
from django.conf import settings
...
# do stuff with settings.MIN_TIME_TEST as you wish
render_to_response("the_template.html", {
"MIN_TIME_TEST": settings.MIN_TIME_TEST
}, context_instance=RequestContext(request)

To build on other people's answers, here's a simple way you'd implement this:
In your settings file:
GLOBAL_SETTINGS = {
'MIN_TIME_TEST': 'blah',
'RANDOM_GLOBAL_VAR': 'blah',
}
Then, building off of John Mee's context processor:
def settings(request):
"""
Put selected settings variables into the default template context
"""
from django.conf import settings
return settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS
This will resolve the DRY issue.
Or, if you only plan to use the global settings occasionally and want to call them from within the view:
def view_func(request):
from django.conf import settings
# function code here
ctx = {} #context variables here
ctx.update(settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS)
# whatever output you want here

Consider putting it into settings.py of your application. Of course, in order to use it in template you will need to make it available to template as any other usual variable.

Use context processors to have your constants available in all templates (settings.py is a nice place to define them as Vladimir said).

Context processors are better suited at handling more dynamic object data--they're defined as a mapping in the documentation and in many of the posts here they're being modified or passed around to views--it doesn't make sense that a template may lose access to global information because, for example, your forgot to use a specialized context processor in the view. The data is global by definition & that couples the view to the template.
A better way is to define a custom template tag. This way:
templates aren't relying on views to have global information passed into them
it's DRY-er: the app defining the global settings can be exported to many projects, eliminating common code across projects
templates decide whether they have access to the global information, not the view functions
In the example below I deal with your problem--loading in this MIN_TIME_TEST variable--and a problem I commonly face, loading in URLs that change when my environment changes.
I have 4 environments--2 dev and 2 production:
Dev: django-web server, url: localhost:8000
Dev: apache web server: url: sandbox.com -> resolves to 127.0.0.1
Prod sandbox server, url: sandbox.domain.com
Prod server: url: domain.com
I do this on all my projects & keep all the urls in a file, global_settings.py so it's accessible from code. I define a custom template tag {% site_url %} that can be (optionally) loaded into any template
I create an app called global_settings, and make sure it's included in my settings.INSTALLED_APPS tuple.
Django compiles templated text into nodes with a render() method that tells how the data should be displayed--I created an object that renders data by returnning values in my global_settings.py based on the name passed in.
It looks like this:
from django import template
import global_settings
class GlobalSettingNode(template.Node):
def __init__(self, settingname):
self.settingname = settingname;
def render(self, context):
if hasattr(global_settings, self.settingname):
return getattr(global_settings, self.settingname)
else:
raise template.TemplateSyntaxError('%s tag does not exist' % self.settingname)
Now, in global_settings.py I register a couple tags: site_url for my example and min_test_time for your example. This way, when {% min_time_test %} is invoked from a template, it'll call get_min_time_test which resolves to load in the value=5. In my example, {% site_url %} will do a name-based lookup so that I can keep all 4 URLs defined at once and choose which environment I'm using. This is more flexible for me than just using Django's built in settings.Debug=True/False flag.
from django import template
from templatenodes import GlobalSettingNode
register = template.Library()
MIN_TIME_TEST = 5
DEV_DJANGO_SITE_URL = 'http://localhost:8000/'
DEV_APACHE_SITE_URL = 'http://sandbox.com/'
PROD_SANDBOX_URL = 'http://sandbox.domain.com/'
PROD_URL = 'http://domain.com/'
CURRENT_ENVIRONMENT = 'DEV_DJANGO_SITE_URL'
def get_site_url(parser, token):
return GlobalSettingNode(CURRENT_ENVIRONMENT)
def get_min_time_test(parser, token):
return GlobalSettingNode('MIN_TIME_TEST')
register.tag('site_url', get_site_url)
register.tag('min_time_test', get_min_time_test)
Note that for this to work, django is expecting global_settings.py to be located in a python packaged called templatetags under your Django app. My Django app here is called global_settings, so my directory structure looks like:
/project-name/global_settings/templatetags/global_settings.py
etc.
Finally the template chooses whether to load in global settings or not, which is beneficial for performance. Add this line to your template to expose all the tags registered in global_settings.py:
{% load global_settings %}
Now, other projects that need MIN_TIME_TEST or these environments exposed can simply install this app =)

In the context processor you can use something like:
import settings
context = {}
for item in dir(settings):
#use some way to exclude __doc__, __name__, etc..
if item[0:2] != '__':
context[item] = getattr(settings, item)

Variant on John Mee's last part, with a little elaboration on the same idea Jordan Reiter discusses.
Suppose you have something in your settings akin to what Jordan suggested -- in other words, something like:
GLOBAL_SETTINGS = {
'SOME_CONST': 'thingy',
'SOME_OTHER_CONST': 'other_thingy',
}
Suppose further you already have a dictionary with some of the variables you'd like to pass your template, perhaps passed as arguments to your view. Let's call it my_dict. Suppose you want the values in my_dict to override those in the settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS dictionary.
You might do something in your view like:
def my_view(request, *args, **kwargs)
from django.conf import settings
my_dict = some_kind_of_arg_parsing(*args,**kwargs)
tmp = settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS.copy()
tmp.update(my_dict)
my_dict = tmp
render_to_response('the_template.html', my_dict, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
This lets you have the settings determined globally, available to your templates, and doesn't require you to manually type out each of them.
If you don't have any additional variables to pass the template, nor any need to override, you can just do:
render_to_response('the_template.html', settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
The main difference between what I'm discussing here & what Jordan has, is that for his, settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS overrides anything it may have in common w/ your context dictionary, and with mine, my context dictionary overrides settings.GLOBAL_SETTINGS. YMMV.

Custom traversal and page templates

Using Marius Gedminas's excellent blog post, I have created a custom traverser for a folder in my site.
This allows me to show: http://foo.com/folder/random_id
Instead of: http://foo.com/folder/object.html?id=random_id
The configuration side works great, I can catch the random_ids and search through my messages for the correct one, ready to display.
My problem is that I'm unsure how to then display the data via my usual page templates - at the TODO point in his original code ;)
if name == 'mycalendar':
mycalendar = ... # TODO: do something to get the appropriate object
return mycalendar
Usually I'd use something similar to:
class Test(BrowserPage):
template = ViewPageTemplateFile('atest.pt')
def __call__(self):
return self.template()
But I can't work out how to do this correctly in the context of the custom traversal.
UPDATE: To be clear I want to avoid adding anything else to the url (No: http://foo.com/folder/random_id/read).
I don't need the view to be available via any other address (No: http://foo.com/folder/read)
The ZCML for the view I'd like to use is:
<browser:page
for="foo.interfaces.IFooFolderContainer"
name="read"
template="read.pt"
permission="zope.ManageContent"
/>
I'm guessing (on further advice), something along the lines of:
return getMultiAdapter((mycalendar, self.request), IPageTemplate, name=u'read')
Or even a default view for the object type (a dict in this case) that's being returned:
<browser:page
for="dict"
name="read"
template="read.pt"
permission="zope.ManageContent"
/>

It would be easier to answer your question if you showed what your custom traverser is doing.
Essentially, you want something like this:
def publishTraverse(self, request, name):
if name in self.context:
return MyMessageView(self.context[name], request)
# fall back to views such as index.html
view = queryMultiAdapter((self.context, request), name=name)
if view is not None:
return view
# give up and return a 404 Not Found error page
raise NotFound(self.context, name, request)
where MyMessageView can be something as simple as
class MyMessageView(BrowserPage):
__call__ = ViewPageTemplateFile('read.pt')
Disclaimer: I'm not sure if the view you instantiate directly will be protected by a security wrapper; make sure your functional tests ensure anonymous users can't view messages if that's what you want.

If you end up at a proper object with your custom traverser, you can just tack on the template name and user "context" in that template. So http://foo.com/folder/random_id/my_template and in the template do the normal <h1 tal:content="context/title" /> stuff.

IIUC, what you want is to render the 'read' view when somebody requests /folder/random_id. If that's the case, all you need to do is make your traversal return an object (IFolderContent, maybe) representing a random_id and specify the 'view' page as the defaultView for IFolderContent.
The defaultView is needed because there's no view specified for the random_id object in your URL.