Django Forms, fields and models

Question

I have a problem and I haven't been capable for finding the solution. I've got the next class

#models.py
from django import models

class Suggest(models.Model):
    user    = models.ForeignKey(User, null= True, blank=True)
    article = models.ForeignKey(Article)
    name    = models.ChardField(max_length=100)
    types   = ( ('suggest','Sugest'),('note','Note'),('complain','Complain'))
    type    = models.CharField(max_length=80, choices = types, default='suggest')
    content = models.TextField()
    dataX   = models.CharField(max_length=200) #example

#forms.py
from django import form
from .models import Suggest

class SuggestForm(form.ModelForm): #File forms.py,
    class Meta:
       fields = ('name','type','content')

I've got some more complete but with this code is enough for explaining my doubts. I need create this form with two parameter (article, request.user), the article must keep associated through a hidden field. When the request user is logged in, in name must be equal to (request.user.first_name+" "+request.user.last_name) and save in user the id of the logged in user. When the user is logged in must show just content.

My second doubt is how I complete for instance dataX if this field isn't in the form

Answer 1

You can set user by creating an empty instance of the Suggest model:

def some_view(request, ...):
    suggest = Suggest()
    initial = {}
    if request.user.is_authenticated():
        suggest.user = request.user
        initial['name'] = request.user.get_full_name()

    form = SuggestForm(..., instance=suggest, initial=initial)

    if request.method == 'POST' and form.is_valid():
        form.save()
    ...

To display only part of the fields You can use two separate forms (with name and without) or add an {% if user.is_authenticated %} statement in your template to skip the name field when rendering HTML of the form.