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
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.

Dec 13, 2022Technology
How to create a timelapse video from frames

We’ll tell you how to create a video timelapse from a sequence of snapshots and provide customers with video playlists optimized for browser playback.

Nov 29, 2022Technology
React Performance Testing with Jest

One of the key requirements for modern UI is being performant. No matter how beautiful your app looks and what killer features it offers, it will frustrate your users if it clangs.

Jun 8, 2022Technology
How to Use MongoDB in Python: Gearheart`s Experience

In this article, we have prepared a quick tutorial on how to use MongoDB in Python and listed top ORM.

May 12, 2022Technology
Increasing performance by using proper query structure

Earlier in our previous article "Improve efficiency of your SELECT queries" we discussed ways to profile and optimize the performance of SELECT queries. However, to write complex yet efficient SQL queries, there is a thing to remember about.

Jul 27, 2017Technology
How to Deploy Django app with AWS Elastic Beanstalk?

In this article I'll show you how to deploy Django application to AWS Beanstalk.