render_to decorator for django views

render_to.py

import os

from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.utils.functional import wraps
from django.utils import simplejson


def render_to(view=None, template_name=None):
    """
    Decorator to reduce boilerplate of rendering view to template.
    Requires that the view returns a dictionary of context as opposed
    to the rendered template. Decorator can be called with or without
    keyword arguments. If called without arguments there is no need to
    add a method call using @render_to(), it will work as @render_to.
    Examples:
    @render_to(template_name='home.html')
    def home(request)
    ...
    @render_to
    def home(request)
    ...
    """
    def decorated(view):
        def wrapper(request, *args, **kwargs):
            template = template_name or '%s.html' % (os.path.join(view.__module__.split('.')[0], view.__name__))
            context = view(request, *args, **kwargs)
            if request.is_ajax():
                return HttpResponse(simplejson.dumps(context), mimetype='application/json')
            return render(request, template, context)
        return wraps(view)(wrapper)

    if view is None:
        def decorator(view):
            return decorated(view)
        return decorator
    return decorated(view)