Generic View Basic Attributes

Attributes in generic views are key design elements when you create a new view using generic views. For example, you can define which template file will be used for the view or which model will be used for the view. Required or optional attributes are different in each generic view.

Basic attributes frequently used in generic views

There are many attributes you can use when creating new views with generic views. The following are basic frequently used attributes:

model

The model attributes define the model for which the view will display data. The model attribute can be replaced by the queryset attribute. The model attribute is defined in SingleObjectMixin and MultipleObjectMixin.

queryset

The queryset attribute is also used to define the model used for the view; however, queryset gives you more functionalities using several methods.

• all(): retrieves all objects. 'queryset = ModelName.objects.all()' give the same result as 'model = ModelName'
• filter(): returns objects that match the given lookup parameters
• order_by(): returns objects in order. To reverse the order, you can use "-". For example, if you want to order based on the name field, use order_by('name'). If you want to reverse the order, you can use order_by('-name').

The queryset attribute is defined in SingleObjectMixin and MultipleObjectMixin.

template_name

The template_name attribute is used to define the path of an HTML template for the view. The path should be described as a relative path from the template directory set in the settings.py file.

For example, when you set the 'templates' directory in settings.py as the main directory for the templates and directly place the template file named template.html in the 'templates' directory, you can just set it like 'template_name = template.html'.

When you want to use a subdirectory, use the subdirectory name before the template file name, like 'template_name = subdir/template.html'.

If you don't specify this attribute, Django uses a predefined path for the template.
For example, if an app name is employee_learning, a model name is LearningCourse, and a generic view is ListView, the inferred HTML template will be employee_learning/learningcourse_list.html.

To organize template files better, specifying template_name is recommended.

The template_name attribute is defined in TemplateResponseMixin.

context_object_name

The context_object_name attribute is used to add a name to the object passed to template files.

For example, the default object name is object in DetailView. In DetailView, object_list contains the list of objects. You can call objects defined in related views using 'object' or 'object_list' in Django templates.

When you specify context_object_name in your view, you can call the objects using the name you defined.

Even after specifying context_object_name, you can still call the objects using 'object' or 'object_list'. The context_object_name attribute gives you an additional name that can be used in your template files.

The context_object_name attribute is defined in SingleObjectMixin and MultipleObjectMixin.

We'll explain about context_object_name in detail later in this chapter.

fields

The fields attribute is used to define model fields shown in the input form pages (create page and update page). This attribute is required if you are generating the form class automatically.

The fields attribute is defined in ModelFormMixin.

success_url

The success_url is used to define the URL to redirect to when the form is successfully processed. This attribute is usually required for generic editing views.

reverse_lazy() is often used for this argument to resolve Django URL names into URL paths. Django URL names are defined in urls.py, which will be explained later.

The fields attribute is defined in FormMixin.

Django documentation reference: ListView

Django documentation reference: MultipleObjectMixin

Django documentation reference: TemplateResponseMixin

from django.shortcuts import render
from django.views.generic import ListView, DetailView, CreateView, UpdateView, DeleteView
from .models import LearningCourse

from django.shortcuts import render
from django.views.generic import ListView, DetailView, CreateView, UpdateView, DeleteView
from .models import LearningCourse

class CourseList(ListView):
    model = LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_list.html'
    context_object_name = 'course_object_list'

class CourseDetail(DetailView):
    model=LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_detail.html'
    context_object_name = 'course_object'

  :
from .models import LearningCourse
from django.urls import reverse_lazy
  :
class CourseDetail(DetailView):
    model=LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_detail.html'
    context_object_name = 'course_object'

class CourseCreate(CreateView):
    model=LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_create.html'
    fields=('title', 'level', 'employee')
    success_url=reverse_lazy ('course_list')

class CourseUpdate(UpdateView):
    model=LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_update.html'
    fields=('title', 'level','employee')
    success_url=reverse_lazy ('course_list')

class CourseDelete(DeleteView):
    model=LearningCourse
    template_name = 'employee_learning/course_delete.html'
    success_url=reverse_lazy ('course_list')