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Last active March 20, 2019 06:13
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Comparison of three ways of assigning excluded fields to a model when creating via a form
# Question - how best to handle model fields that are excluded from a form's
# fields.
# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Option 1: assign fields to instance before passing into form
# ------------------------------------------------------------
# views.py
instance = Vote(review=review, user=request.user)
form = VoteForm(data=request.POST, instance=instance)
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Option 2: pass excluded field values to form constructor
# --------------------------------------------------------
# views.py
form = VoteForm(data=request.POST, review=review, user=request.user,
instance=instance)
# forms.py
class VoteForm(forms.ModelForm):
def __init__(self, review, user, *args, **kwargs):
super(VoteForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.instance.review = review
self.instance.user = user
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Option 3: pass excluded field values to form constructor but defer assignment
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# views.py
form = VoteForm(data=request.POST, review=review, user=request.user,
instance=instance)
# forms.py
class VoteForm(forms.ModelForm):
def __init__(self, review, user, *args, **kwargs):
self.review = review
self.user = user
super(VoteForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def save(self, commit=True):
vote = super(VoteForm, self).save(commit=False)
vote.review = self.review
vote.user = self.user
if commit:
vote.save()
return vote
# (This method is bad as the model's clean method doesn't have access to the
# review and user instances).
# Option 1 is best right? (Confession - I've been using option 2 for ages)
@AndrewIngram
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Alternatively, just pass in None if your test doesn't hit the part of the code where review and user are actually required to be anything in particular. And if it does hit those parts, you're gonna need to construct proper instances anyway.

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