Noobie with no understanding of formsets

Question

I have an instance where I am creating an order form with multiple models. I want these models to be rendered in one form and was told that formsets are my answer. I have been doing research how this works and still spinning my wheels not knowing. Sorry if this is simple and I'm not seeing it.

Here are my models:

class Contact(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    email_address = models.EmailField(max_length=275)
    address = models.CharField(max_length=10, choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return "%s %s" % (self.first_name, self.last_name)


class BaseStationary(models.Model):
    contact = models.ForeignKey(Contact, related_name='%(class)s_related')
    address = models.CharField(max_length=10, choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    quantity = models.CharField(max_length=3, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES)

    class Meta:
        abstract = True


class LetterHead(BaseStationary):
    pass


class WindowEnv(BaseStationary):
    pass


class NumberTenEnv(BaseStationary):
    pass


class NineByTwelveEnv(BaseStationary):
    pass


class TenByThirteenEnv(BaseStationary):
    pass


class BusinessCard(models.Model):
    contact = models.ForeignKey(Contact, related_name='businesscards')
    card_first_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    card_last_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    title = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    print_choices = models.CharField(max_length=19, choices=PRINT_CHOICES)
    card_styles = models.CharField(max_length=12, choices=CARD_CHOICES)
    card_email_address = models.EmailField(max_length=275)
    office_phone_number = PhoneNumberField(_('main office phone number'),
        blank=True, null=True)
    toll_free_number = PhoneNumberField(_('toll free number'),
        blank=True, null=True)
    mobile_number = PhoneNumberField(_('mobile phone number'),
        blank=True, null=True)
    fax_number = PhoneNumberField(_('main office fax'),
        blank=True, null=True)
    card_mailing_address = models.CharField(max_length=10,
        choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    card_quantity = models.CharField(max_length=3,
        choices=CARD_QUANTITY_CHOICES)


class RushOrder(models.Model):
    contact = models.ForeignKey(Contact, related_name='rushorders')
    rush_order = models.BooleanField()
    in_hand_date = models.DateField(blank=True, null=True)


class OrderNote(models.Model):
    contact = models.ForeignKey(Contact, related_name='ordernotes')
    add_note = models.BooleanField()
    notes = models.TextField()

Here are my forms:

class ContactForm(forms.ModelForm):
    address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = Contact


class LetterHeadForm(forms.ModelForm):
    address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(attrs={'id': 'letterhead_address', 'required': 'True'}), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = LetterHead
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'quantity': forms.Select(attrs={'id': 'letterhead_quantity'}, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES),
        }


class WindowEnvForm(forms.ModelForm):
    address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(attrs={'id': 'windowenv_address', 'required': 'True'}), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = WindowEnv
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'quantity': forms.Select(attrs={'id': 'windowenv_quantity'}, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES),
        }


class NumberTenEnvForm(forms.ModelForm):
    address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(attrs={'id': 'numbertenenv_address', 'required': 'True'}), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = NumberTenEnv
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'quantity': forms.Select(attrs={'id': 'numbertenenv_quantity'}, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES),
        }


class NineByTwelveEnvForm(forms.ModelForm):
    address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(attrs={'id': 'ninebytwelveenv_address', 'required': 'True'}), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = NineByTwelveEnv
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'quantity': forms.Select(attrs={'id': 'ninebytwelveenv_quantity'}, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES),
        }


class TenByThirteenEnvForm(forms.ModelForm):
     address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(attrs={'id': 'tenbythirteenenv_address', 'required': 'True'}), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = TenByThirteenEnv
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'quantity': forms.Select(attrs={'id': 'tenbythirteenenv_quantity'}, choices=QUANTITY_CHOICES),
        }


class BusinessCardForm(forms.ModelForm):
    print_choices = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(), choices=PRINT_CHOICES)
    card_styles = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(), choices=CARD_CHOICES)
    card_mailing_address = forms.ChoiceField(required = True, widget=RadioSelect(), choices=ADDRESS_CHOICES)
    class Meta:
        model = BusinessCard
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
        }


class RushOrderForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = RushOrder
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'rush_order': forms.CheckboxInput,
            'in_hand_date': forms.extras.SelectDateWidget
        }


class OrderNoteForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = OrderNote
        widgets = {
            'contact': forms.HiddenInput,
            'add_note': forms.CheckboxInput,
            'notes': forms.Textarea
        }

And here is my view:

class OrderFormView(CreateView):
    model = Contact
    form_class = ContactForm
    template_name = 'orderform.html'
    success_url = 'success'

def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
    context = super(OrderFormView, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
    context.update({
        'letterhead_form': LetterHeadForm,
        'windowenv_form': WindowEnvForm,
        'numbertenenv_form': NumberTenEnvForm,
        'ninebytwelveenv_form': NineByTwelveEnvForm,
        'tenbythirteenenv_form': TenByThirteenEnvForm,
        'businesscard_form': BusinessCardForm,
        'rushorder_form': RushOrderForm,
        'ordernote_form': OrderNoteForm,
        })
    return context

def form_valid(self, form):
    if form.is_valid():
        data = form.cleaned_data
        email = OrderFormNotification(to=[settings.ORDERFORM_EMAIL_ADDRESS, ],
                extra_context=data)
        email.send()

Thanks in advance for any insight. Even if it's to point me in the direction to better understand formsets for this.

Answer 1

If you need 9 forms for 9 different models then I don't believe formsets will help you. Formsets are for constructing multiple forms of the same type. Likewise the CreateView is intended to be used only in the simple case of creating a single model. If you are creating multiple models/validating multiple forms you will find yourself fighting with CreateView to make this work. You would be better off writing your own view class built from ProcessFormView perhaps even View.