Django Lesson 6: Forms

Django forms handle validation, rendering, and CSRF protection. Model forms generate forms directly from models.

ModelForm

# posts/forms.py
from django import forms
from .models import Post

class PostForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Post
        fields = ["title", "content", "category", "status"]
        widgets = {
            "title": forms.TextInput(attrs={"class": "form-input", "placeholder": "Post title"}),
            "content": forms.Textarea(attrs={"rows": 8}),
        }

Using Forms in Views

# posts/views.py
def create_post(request):
    if request.method == "POST":
        form = PostForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            post = form.save(commit=False)
            post.author = request.user  # attach logged-in user
            post.save()
            return redirect("post-detail", slug=post.slug)
    else:
        form = PostForm()
    return render(request, "posts/create.html", {"form": form})

def edit_post(request, pk):
    post = get_object_or_404(Post, pk=pk)
    form = PostForm(request.POST or None, instance=post)  # pre-fill!
    if form.is_valid():
        form.save()
        return redirect("post-detail", slug=post.slug)
    return render(request, "posts/edit.html", {"form": form, "post": post})

In Template

<!-- posts/create.html -->
<form method="post">
  {% csrf_token %}  {# REQUIRED for POST forms #}
  {{ form.as_div }}
  <button type="submit">Publish</button>
</form>