Setting yesterday as initial date in a Django Form

Question

I want to set the initial date as yesterday in a django form my code is here:

class Bilag(models.Model):
dato = models.DateField()
tekst = models.CharField(max_length=100)
konto = models.CharField(max_length=10)
avd = models.CharField(max_length=10, null=True,blank=True)
avdnavn = models.CharField(max_length=30, null=True,blank=True)
kasseid = models.CharField(max_length=10)
belop = models.FloatField()
def __unicode__(self):
    return self.tekst

class BilagForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
    model = Bilag
    widgets = {
        'dato': SelectDateWidget()
    }
    initial = {
        'dato': yesterday()
    }

and the yesterday function:

def yesterday():
    yesterday = (datetime.date.today() - datetime.timedelta(1))
    return yesterday

But it just displays todays date when i look at the form

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 30 '11 at 08:53

8

You could set the initial value in the ModelField, though it would then be called default. I assume you only want to do it on the form, in which case you'd need something like:

class BilagForm(forms.ModelForm):
    dato = forms.DateField(widget=SelectDateWidget(), initial=yesterday)
    class Meta:
        model = Bilag

Don't forget that you can't include the parentheses after yesterday -- just pass the callable, otherwise yesterday() will be evaluated immediately and not be dynamic (see the bottom of this section).

answered Mar 30 '11 at 08:53

DrMeers

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How would I do that for any day, say 23 days before where there is no convenience function like `yesterday()`? `datetime.date.today - datetime.timedelta(days=23)` throws an error. – stefanbschneider Oct 28 '20 at 19:44
Ah ok, found it: https://stackoverflow.com/a/36881345/2745116 – stefanbschneider Oct 28 '20 at 19:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

I think you define initial in the wrong place (class Meta).

From my understanding it should be set as an parameter of the field you're trying to set the initial value for.

Check the docs: http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/forms/fields/#django.forms.Field.initial

Another option would be to use the field's default parameter in your model definition. See this thread for some inspiration: Django datetime issues (default=datetime.now())

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 08 '22 at 10:06

I've tried all proposed solutions, none of them are working. The only thing that works for me is to set the date using JavaScript (J Query)

{% block js %}
    {{block.super}}
    <script>
        Date.prototype.addDays = function (days) {
            let date = new Date(this.valueOf());
            date.setDate(date.getDate() + days);
            return date;
        }
        function date_2_string(dt) {
            let day = ("0" + dt.getDate()).slice(-2);
            let month = ("0" + (dt.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2);
            let today = dt.getFullYear()+"-"+(month)+"-"+(day);
            return today
        }
        function get_date(dd=0) {
            let now = new Date();
            return date_2_string(now.addDays(dd))
        }
        $("#dato").val(get_date(-1));
    </script>
{% endblock js %}

Setting yesterday as initial date in a Django Form

3 Answers3