How do you dynamically hide form fields in Django?

Question

I am making a profile form in Django. There are a lot of optional extra profile fields but I would only like to show two at a time. How do I hide or remove the fields I do not want to show dynamically?

Here is what I have so far:

class UserProfileForm(forms.ModelForm):
    extra_fields = ('field1', 'field2', 'field3')
    extra_field_total = 2

    class Meta:
        model = UserProfile

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        extra_field_count = 0
        for key, field in self.base_fields.iteritems():
            if key in self.extra_fields:
                if extra_field_count < self.extra_field_total:
                    extra_field_count += 1
                else:
                    # do something here to hide or remove field
        super(UserProfileForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

Related answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/1914812/462865 – Amir Ali Akbari Sep 07 '16 at 10:09 — Amir Ali Akbari, Sep 07 '16 at 10:09

score 26 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '09 at 19:18

26

I think I found my answer.

First I tried:

field.widget = field.hidden_widget

which didn't work.

The correct way happens to be:

field.widget = field.hidden_widget()

answered Aug 10 '09 at 19:18

Jason Christa

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what if you have an invalid value in the hidden field? you users will go nuts... – benzkji Aug 28 '20 at 12:18

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 07 '12 at 20:21

4

Can also use

def __init__(self, instance, *args, **kwargs):    
    super(FormClass, self).__init__(instance=instance, *args, **kwargs)
    if instance and instance.item:
        del self.fields['field_for_item']

answered Feb 07 '12 at 20:21

oak

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8

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 14 '18 at 09:46

4

def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
    is_video = kwargs.pop('is_video')
    is_image = kwargs.pop('is_image')
    super(ContestForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
    if is_video:
        del self.fields['video_link']
        # self.exclude('video_link')
    if is_image:
        del self.fields['image']

use delete instead of self.exclude().

edited Aug 14 '18 at 09:46

fedorqui

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answered Mar 20 '12 at 17:42

Invincible

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1

Why `del` is better than `self.exclude()`? – Vitalii Dmitriev May 30 '19 at 12:34

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 10 '09 at 18:16

0

You are coding this in the Form. Wouldn't it make more sense to do this using CSS and JavaScript in the template code? Hiding a field is as easy as setting "display='none'" and toggling it back to 'block', say, if you need to display it.

Maybe some context on what the requirement is would clarify this.

answered Aug 10 '09 at 18:16

hughdbrown

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4

Firstly, just because I think form logic should stay in the form. Also, because I see what fields have already been filled out before and don't show those. – Jason Christa Aug 10 '09 at 18:57
1

This moves business logic into the presentation layer ("these objects don't have this field"). Especially bad if the web developer is NOT the backend developer. – Rob Osborne Aug 14 '12 at 15:04
what if a value in a hidden field is not valid (any more)? you'll get "please correct the errors below"...happy searching. – benzkji Aug 28 '20 at 12:17

How do you dynamically hide form fields in Django?

4 Answers4

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