Adding choice to a Django ModelForm

Question

I have a basic Django ModelForm working. I am trying to add a Django choice (select/drop-down) to that ModelForm. The code I have has been cobbled together from various example on the web (see below) – as I try to learn Django. So far I cannot find the correct code to add the Django choice. What I have coded is below. I have tried various combinations of keywords and parameters in forms.py for example:

from django.forms import ModelForm
#
from .models import P2Poll
#
categ_choice= [
    ('AB', 'AB'),
    ('CD', 'CD'),
    ('EF', 'EF'),
    ('GH', 'GH'),
    ]
#
class AnyForm(ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = P2Poll
        fields = ['q_text', 'Choice1_text', 'Choice2_text','C1_Type','C2_Type']
#
        category = forms.ChoiceField(max_length=2, choices=categ_choice)
#

The code has been taken from the following (among others)

django use model choices in modelform

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/topics/forms/modelforms/

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/meta-class-in-models-django/

http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/How-to-create-a-drop-down-list-in-a-Django-form.php

When trying the code variation above, I get the following error message:

.. \forms.py", line 28, in Meta category = forms.ChoiceField(max_length=2, choices=categ_choice) NameError: name 'forms' is not defined

I have tried a variety of other code attempts to add the choice/select to my Django form, for example:

from django.forms import ModelForm, forms

and I can’t get any to work – there are different error messages, but they all relate to my attempt to add the Django choice to the (model?) form.

Now, as I understand, creating the (basic) form in Django one has to be fairly detailed about what goes in the form. (As I understand) using ModelForms, one just codes what data should appear on the form and Django makes intelligent/standard choice about the appearance of the form. Maybe I am trying to merge ModelForms with (standard?) Django forms – I don’t know. I am just trying to understand how to add a choice/select to a Django (model) form. I am learning.

Now maybe what I am trying to do is not possible with the “parts” I have assembled. I have read the Django documentation on forms, and I find it incomprehensible with my level of knowledge. I’m sure my understanding of the documentation will improve as I understand Django more.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 16 '22 at 09:19

0

Try is:

from django import forms  # <-- Updated

from .models import P2Poll

categ_choice = [
    ('AB', 'AB'),
    ('CD', 'CD'),
    ('EF', 'EF'),
    ('GH', 'GH'),
]


class AnyForm(forms.ModelForm):  # <-- Updated
    class Meta:
        model = P2Poll
        fields = ['q_text', 'Choice1_text', 'Choice2_text', 'C1_Type', 'C2_Type']
        category = forms.ChoiceField(max_length=2, choices=categ_choice)

The issue was with your approach to import forms.

answered Feb 16 '22 at 09:19

Sayed Al Mahdi

56
3

I tried your suggested changes and the error has disappeared- good. I think I need to add something to my template. Currently I have: {% render_field form.Choice1_text class="form-control" %} Type 1 {% render_field form.C1_Type class="form-control" %}. What do I code to to make the choice / select appear on the rendered page? – Clive Long Feb 16 '22 at 09:43
Are you using any 3rd party library to render form fields? – Sayed Al Mahdi Feb 16 '22 at 09:52
I may well be using third-party libraries as I have copied the code from a variety of sources. Where should I look to see what I may be using? – Clive Long Feb 16 '22 at 11:51
From this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40885866/how-to-use-forms-choicefield-inside-modelform, I added : widgets = { 'category': forms.Select(choices=categ_choice,attrs={'class': 'form-control'}), } , but this did not create any drop-down choice boxes on the displayed form. – Clive Long Feb 16 '22 at 15:37
Hello. Having looked over my code , the only library I can recall installing (there may be others) is widget-tweaks. Is that relevant? – Clive Long Feb 16 '22 at 16:04

Adding choice to a Django ModelForm

1 Answers1