CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondjangodjango-modelsdjango-formsdjango-views
Markus Kasten
Markus Kasten

Reputation: 1170

How to preprocess values passed to CreateView

I want to preprocess values submitted to a CreateView in order to get them validated. For example, a custom int-parser for a string entered in the form.

In my case I want to convert a string entered in a CreateView form like "1:54.363" to an integer (with an existing function parse_laptime), which is then saved in my model:

class Lap(models.Model):
    laptime = models.IntegerField(default=0)

How can this be accomplished best? I'm new to Django and tried using a custom Form with overwritten clean method, but the field fails validation beforehand and is not passed to clean().

Upvotes: 1

Views: 174

Answers (2)

e4c5
e4c5

Reputation: 53774

Laptime is a time and if you expect the user to enter it in the format "1:54.363" the right field to use is TimeField

Validates that the given value is either a datetime.time or string formatted in a particular time format

It seems that you are storing them in the database as microseconds. You would then need to check the form.is_valid() method and do the convertion either using the date time function or split and arithmatic. .

Upvotes: 1

Dashdrum
Dashdrum

Reputation: 667

I think you are on the right track in using the form to validate your data. However, your input is failing the validation test simply because the input data, formatted as a time value, is not the integer that your model requires.

You should use an unbound field in the form (or an unbound form) that accepts the data as entered - maybe as a character field. Then, use the clean method for this unbound field to confirm that the data can be converted (based on format and/or value). The actual conversion should happen in the view logic, perhaps in the form_valid() method.

Upvotes: 1

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