Django Rest_Framework: call delete method in a template

Question

I'm trying to convert the example app from the Rest Framework tutorial to the an app with templates. The problem is that I cannot create a delete button in a detail view of a single record. My views.py are as follows:

class SnippetViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):

queryset = Snippet.objects.all()
serializer_class = SnippetSerializer
permission_classes = (permissions.IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly,
                      IsOwnerOrReadOnly,)
renderer_classes = [renderers.TemplateHTMLRenderer]
template_name = 'list.html'


def list(self, request, **kwargs):
    print(request.method, request.user)
    queryset = Snippet.objects.all()
    serializer = SnippetSerializer(context={'request': request})
    return Response({'queryset': queryset, 'serializer': serializer}, template_name='list.html')


def retrieve(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    print(request.method, 'retrieve')
    queryset = self.get_object()
    serializer_class = SnippetSerializer(queryset, context={'request': request})
    return Response({'queryset': queryset, 'serializer': serializer_class}, template_name='retrieve.html')


def create(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    print(request.method, 'create')
    serializer = SnippetSerializer(instance=None, context={'request': request}, data=request.data)
    if serializer.is_valid():
        serializer.save(owner=self.request.user)
        return redirect('snippet-list')


def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    print(request.method, 'post')
    queryset = self.get_object()
    serializer = SnippetSerializer(queryset, data=request.data, context={'request': request})
    if not serializer.is_valid():
        return Response({'serializer': serializer, 'queryset': queryset})
    serializer.save()
    return redirect('snippet-list')


def destroy(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
    instance = self.get_object()
    self.perform_destroy(instance)
    return Response(status=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT)

def perform_destroy(self, instance):
    instance.delete()

urls.py remained unchanged:

snippet_list = SnippetViewSet.as_view({
'get': 'list',
'post': 'create',
})

snippet_detail = SnippetViewSet.as_view({
    'get': 'retrieve',
    'put': 'update',
    'patch': 'partial_update',
    'delete': 'destroy',
})
user_list = UserViewSet.as_view({ 'get': 'list'})
user_detail = UserViewSet.as_view({
    'get': 'retrieve',
    'put': 'update',
    'patch': 'partial_update',
    'delete': 'destroy'
})
urlpatterns = format_suffix_patterns([
    url(r'^', snippet_list, name='snippet-list'),
    url(r'^snippets/$', snippet_list, name='snippet-list'),
    url(r'^snippets/(?P<pk>[0-9]+)$', snippet_detail, name='snippet-detail'),
    url(r'^users/$', user_list, name='user-list'),
    url(r'^users/(?P<pk>[0-9]+)/$', user_detail, name='user-detail'),
])

The form template:

<form action="{% url 'snippet-detail' pk=queryset.pk %}" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}
{% render_form serializer %}
<input type="submit" value="Save">
<a href="{% url 'snippet-detail' pk=queryset.pk %}" methods="delete">delete</a>

All I can get after clicking the delete button is reload of the retrieve view. Everything except the delete method works fine. I know that there's something petty that I miss, but if you could just point me in the right direction to look into I'd be grateful.

Answer 1

The problem is that your destroy view is accessed by using the delete method in a request to the snippet-detail url. But that method is not available to html forms

So you need to another way to access this view, something like:

snippet_destroy = SnippetViewSet.as_view({
    'post': 'destroy',
})

urlpatterns = format_suffix_patterns([
    url(r'^snippets/(?P<pk>[0-9]+)/delete$', snippet_destroy, name='snippet-delete'),
])

and use

<form action="{% url 'snippet-delete' pk=queryset.pk %}" method="post">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <input type="submit" value="Delete">
</form>

You maybe also want your destroy view to return a response with a redirection to another url.

---

Original answer:

You need to use a form for both actions, one for the update, and one for the delete. A form can make a request with the delete method, a a tag can not.

<form action="{% url 'snippet-detail' pk=queryset.pk %}" method="post">
    {% csrf_token %}
    {% render_form serializer %}
    <input type="submit" value="Save">
</form>

<form action="{% url 'snippet-detail' pk=queryset.pk %}" method="delete">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <input type="submit" value="Delete">
</form>