Django Model Blocks

The model_blocks app provides you with automatically generated, stylable generic Django model template partials. It fills a gap left by admin and databrowse by providing filters and tags that allow your to painlessly create templates with the following properties:

• Automatically generated read-only views
• Can conform to whatever URL structure you want
• Can be placed as blocks on to your existing templates
• Integrate well with the rest of your project

Add this to the top of any template:

{% load model_blocks %}

And drop the filter anywhere you have a model instance (e.g., DetailViews):

{{ object|as_detail_block }}

Quick Reference

Installing

You can install the model_blocks app from PyPI:

$ pip install django-model-blocks

Settings

Modify your INSTALLED_APPS setting to include:

...
model_blocks,
...

Basic Usage

Near the top of any template you want to use model blocks, or in a base template, include the following line:

{% load model_blocks %}

Then, where you want to drop a generic model template, use:

{{ object|as_detail_block }}

Or:

{{ object_list|as_list_block }}

(NOTE: If your list has many objects, consider using pagination, as the list may require a long time to render.)

By default, the title on an object detail block will be the unicode representation of the object, and the title on a list will be the name of the model appended with ' List'. To change the title, pass in a parameter:

{{ object|as_detail_block:"My Special Object" }}

Advanced Usage

While using the filters remains the original and most simple way to render the blocks, if you want/need greater control over the specifics of how certain models render, you can use the tag notation:

{% detail_block object %}

{% list_block object_list %}

You can still override the title by using with:

{% with title="My Special Object" %}
    {% detail_block object %}
{% endwith %}

Yeah, if all you need to do is override the title, then stick with the filters. However, When you drop a detail block into your template, it will automatically render all of the referenced object's fields, including related model fields. This potentially results in a tree of objects in your page. The tag notation's strength is revealed when you need to use a custom template for any model in your tree.

The example_project in the source includes a demonstration of this feature. In that example, there are Pepulator objects, and each one may have several Knuckle objects and several Jamb objects. However, each Knuckle has a field referring to the URL of an image. On our Pepulator detail page, we want all of our Kuckle objects and Jamb objects shown. The default template is sufficient for Jamb objects, but we have to provide a custom template (based on the default) for each Knuckle. So, we render the Pepulator detail like so:

{% with pepulator_factory_knuckle_detail_template="pepulator_factory/knuckle_detail.html" %}
    {% detail_block pepulator %}
{% endwith %}

Voila! For more information, check out the pepulator_detail.html and knuckle_detail.html files.

Help Out

Found a bug? File an issue at Github. Have an improvement? Fork it and add it, or if you can’t code it, File an issue and we'll do it.

Are you using or thinking of using django-model-filters? Please drop a line and let us know what for. Knowing how people use it in the wild will help us make it better!

Development

Download the code and then:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Running Tests

Even simple packages need tests:

$ python tests.py --with-coverage --cover-package=model_block

Run it before and after you make any changes. Try to not let that number drop.