Back
Jun 25, 2011

Ajax blocks in Django

Quite often we have to write paginated or filtered blocks of information on page. For example, list of similar houses. It's rendered on server first, and later pagination is done with ajax.

In order to make, I used following setup:

  • inclusion tag, that generates context for tag
  • view, that parses request params and them launches the same tag to create context

So in order to edit one such block, we have to edit three files (apart from template) - tag, view, url.

I got annoyed by this and decided to create a decorator that would automate this process.

With this decorator, you just have to write one function that creates context. Tag and view are generated and registered automatically. Url params like ?obj_id=1 are declared in decorator and are processed automatically.

'''
This module introduces viewtag concept:
funcions that act both as template tags and as views.
Example usage:
First in urls (once):
    url(r'^viewtag/([-\w]+)/$', 'viewtags.view', name='viewtag'),
and
   viewtags.autodiscover()
Then in app/viewtags.py:
    from placeforpeople.viewtags import viewtag, model_arg
    @viewtag('viewtag_test.html', [model_arg('obj', Object)]) # you can use querysets too
    def test_viewtag(request, obj, page=0):
        return {
            'obj': obj,
            'page': page,
        }
Later in templates:
    {% vt:test_viewtag campaign %}
or
    $.get('{% url viewtag "test_viewtag" %}', {page: 2, object: 5}, function(data) {
        $('body').append(data);
    });
'''
import inspect
from django import template
from django.template.loader import get_template
from django.http import Http404
from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
from django.utils.importlib import import_module
from django.conf import settings


register = template.Library()
template.builtins.append(register)

_viewtags_registry = {}


def viewtag(template, args=[]):
    def decorator(func):
        _register_tag(func, template)
        _viewtags_registry[func.__name__] = (func, template, args)

        return func
    return decorator


def view(request, viewtag_name):
    try:
        func, template_, arg_processors = _viewtags_registry[viewtag_name]
    except KeyError:
        raise Http404()

    argnames = inspect.getargspec(func).args
    kwargs = {}
    for argname in argnames:
        if argname in request.REQUEST and argname != 'request':
            kwargs[argname] = request.REQUEST[argname]
    for proc in arg_processors:
        kwargs = proc(request, kwargs)

    return render_to_response(template_, func(request, **kwargs), template.RequestContext(request))


def model_arg(key, qs_or_model):
    from django.db import models

    if isinstance(qs_or_model, models.base.ModelBase):
        qs = qs_or_model._default_manager.all()
    else:
        qs = qs_or_model

    def processor(request, kwargs):
        id = request.REQUEST.get(key) or request.REQUEST.get(key + '_id')
        if not id is None:
            kwargs[key] = qs.get(id=id)
        return kwargs
    return processor


def autodiscover():
    for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
        try:
            import_module('%s.viewtags' % app)
        except ImportError:
            pass


def _register_tag(func, template):
    def tag(parser, token):
        parts = token.split_contents()
        args, kwargs = [], []
        for part in parts[1:]:
            if '=' in part:
                kwargs.append(part.split('=', 1))
            else:
                args.append(part)

        return TempNode(func, template, args, dict(kwargs))
    register.tag('vt:' + func.__name__, tag)


class TempNode(template.Node):
    def __init__(self, func, template_, args, kwargs):
        self.func = func
        self.template = get_template(template_)
        self.args = [template.Variable(arg) for arg in args]
        self.kwargs = dict([(k, template.Variable(v)) for (k,v) in kwargs.items()])

    def render(self, context):
        args = [context['request']] + [arg.resolve(context) for arg in self.args]
        kwargs = dict([
            (key, val.resolve(context)) for (key, val) in self.kwargs.items()
        ])
        context.update(self.func(*args, **kwargs))
        res = self.template.render(context)
        context.pop()
        return res

Subscribe for the news and updates

More thoughts
Nov 27, 2024Technology
Stoicism At Work

This article explores how Stoic principles can be applied in the workplace to navigate stress, improve self-control, and focus on what truly matters, with practical examples from the author’s experience in software development.

Sep 8, 2023Technology
Smooth React virtual scroll with fixed rows/columns

One of our ongoing projects, Neptyne, introduces an Excel-like grid written in React. We used a library to apply virtual scroll to it, but we stumbled upon a problem with fixed rows and columns inside the grid. Here I would like to describe this problem, how it occurs, and how we handled it.

Sep 1, 2021TechnologyBusiness
Top 10 Web Development Frameworks in 2021 - 2022

We have reviewed the top web frameworks for server and client-side development and compared their pros and cons. Find out which one can be a great fit for your next project.

May 22, 2017Technology
Web Application Security: 10 Best Practices

Protection of WEB App is of paramount importance and it should be afforded the same level of security as the intellectual rights or private property. I'm going to cover how to protect your web app.

Mar 6, 2010TechnologyManagement
Supplementing settings in settings_local

For local project settings, I use old trick with settings_local file:try:from settings_local import \*except ImportError:passSo in settings_local.py we can override variables from settings.py. I didn't know how to supplement them. For example how to add line to INSTALLED_APPS without copying whole list.Yesterday I finally understood that I can import settings from settings_local:# settings_local.pyfrom settings import \*INSTALLED_APPS += (# ...)

Feb 28, 2010Technology
Composing multiple views in Django

In UNIX way, each view should solve single task. This is good idea, but sometimes we need to mix logic of different views on same page. Filter, sort, paginate, or, for example, add comment on product page. In this article I'll show how we can mix such multiple views.