Refs #7864 -- Updates to documentation for the oldforms/newforms switch.

formtools

=========

A set of high-level abstractions for Django forms (django.newforms).

A set of high-level abstractions for Django forms (django.forms).

django.contrib.formtools.preview

--------------------------------

.. _template language: ../templates/

.. _transactions: ../transactions/

.. _url dispatch: ../url_dispatch/

.. _forms and validation: ../forms/

.. _forms and validation: ../oldforms/

.. _serialization: ../serialization/

.. _authentication: ../authentication/

template context variables:

    * ``form``: A ``Form`` object representing the login form. See the

      `newforms documentation`_ for more on ``Form`` objects.

      `forms documentation`_ for more on ``FormWrapper`` objects.

    * ``next``: The URL to redirect to after successful login. This may contain

      a query string, too.

    * ``site_name``: The name of the current ``Site``, according to the

    {% endblock %}

.. _newforms documentation: ../newforms/

.. _forms documentation: ../forms/

.. _site framework docs: ../sites/

Other built-in views

to say that everything descends from ``Field`` and then customizes key pieces

of the class behavior.

.. _form fields: ../newforms/#fields

.. _form fields: ../forms/#fields

It's important to realize that a Django field class is not what is stored in

your model attributes. The model attributes contain normal Python objects. The

default widget). This document doesn't cover the details of writing custom form

fields.

.. _helper functions: ../newforms/#generating-forms-for-models

.. _forms documentation: ../newforms/

.. _helper functions: ../forms/#generating-forms-for-models

.. _forms documentation: ../forms/

``get_internal_type(self)``

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``form_for_model()``

--------------------

The method ``django.newforms.form_for_model()`` creates a form based on the

The method ``django.forms.form_for_model()`` creates a form based on the

definition of a specific model. Pass it the model class, and it will return a

``Form`` class that contains a form field for each model field.

For example::

    >>> from django.newforms import form_for_model

    >>> from django.forms import form_for_model

    # Create the form class.

    >>> ArticleForm = form_for_model(Article)

As you might expect, the ``ForeignKey`` and ``ManyToManyField`` model field

types are special cases:

    * ``ForeignKey`` is represented by ``django.newforms.ModelChoiceField``,

    * ``ForeignKey`` is represented by ``django.forms.ModelChoiceField``,

      which is a ``ChoiceField`` whose choices are a model ``QuerySet``.

    * ``ManyToManyField`` is represented by

      ``django.newforms.ModelMultipleChoiceField``, which is a

      ``django.forms.ModelMultipleChoiceField``, which is a

      ``MultipleChoiceField`` whose choices are a model ``QuerySet``.

In addition, each generated form field has attributes set as follows:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want to add custom methods to the form generated by

``form_for_model()``, write a class that extends ``django.newforms.BaseForm``

``form_for_model()``, write a class that extends ``django.forms.BaseForm``

and contains your custom methods. Then, use the ``form`` argument to

``form_for_model()`` to tell it to use your custom form as its base class.

For example::

will use the values from the ``message`` instance as initial values for the

form field.

.. _contact form: ../newforms/#simple-view-example

.. _`simple example view`: ../newforms/#simple-view-example

.. _contact form: ../forms/#simple-view-example

.. _`simple example view`: ../forms/#simple-view-example

When should you use ``form_for_model()`` and ``form_for_instance()``?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~