Sharing variables between urlpatterns in Django

Question

Here is my urls.py

from django.conf.urls import patterns, url, include
from geartables import views
from geartables.views import DataTable


urlpatterns = patterns('',
                       url(r'^$', views.index, name='index'),
                       url(r'^data/$', DataTable.as_view(), name='DataTable'),
                       url(r'^(?P<product_type>[\w\-]+)/$', views.table, name='table'),
)

When the user goes to "localhost/table/", a page is generated from a template. Within that template is a {% url %} tag that calls the DataTable class (to create JSON data).

So my question is how can I get the DataTable class in views.py to call my variable?

Like so:

class DataTable(BaseDatatableView):
    model = <product_type>
    ...

edit:

views.py:

...
def table(request, product_type):
    ptype = ProductType.objects.get(url_name=product_type)
    datatable = 'DataTable'
    context = {'mselectmenus': ptype.mselects, 'columns': ptype.columnlist, 'datatable':'DataTable}
    return render(request, 'geartables/dtcode.html', context)

class DataTable(BaseDatatableView):

    p = ProductType.objects.get(name=<product_type>)
    model = p.modelname
    columnlist = p.columnlist  # ex: [["th_pic","Picture"],["brand_name", "Brand"]]
    mselects = p.mselects
    ranges = p.ranges
    max_display_length = 2000

    def __init__(self):
        self.columns = [item[0] for item in self.columnlist]
        self.order_columns = self.columns

    #multiple select filters

    def mselectmenus(p):
        mselectmenu = []
        for item in p.mselects:
            mselectmenu.append(
                [item[1], item[0], p.model.objects.values_list(item[0], flat=True).order_by(item[0]).distinct()])
        return mselectmenu


    #initial render
    def render_column(self, row, column):
        if column == 'th_pic':
            return '<a href=' + row.lg_pic + '><img src=' + row.th_pic + ' /></a>'
        elif column == 'description':
            return ''
        else:
            return super(DataTable, self).render_column(row, column)

    #filtering
    def filter_queryset(self, qs):
        #search bar
        ssearch = self.request.GET.get('sSearch', None)
        if ssearch:
            qs = qs.filter(Q(brand_name__icontains=ssearch) | Q(product_name__icontains=ssearch) | Q(
                rope_type__icontains=ssearch) | Q(length__icontains=ssearch) | Q(diameter__icontains=ssearch) | Q(
                weight__icontains=ssearch) | Q(falls__icontains=ssearch) | Q(color__icontains=ssearch))

        #mselect
        ssearch_1 = self.request.GET.get('sSearch_1', None)
        if ssearch_1:
            qs = qs.filter(Q(brand_name__regex=ssearch_1))

        return qs
...

template code:

...
$(document).ready(function() {
    var dtable = $('#{{ ptable }}').dataTable( {
        //"oLanguage": oLanguages,
        "sDom": 'C<"clear">lfrtip',
        "aoColumns": [
            { "bSortable": false, "bSearchable:": false, "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": false,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": true,  "sClass": "center" },
            { "bSortable": true, "bSearchable:": false,  "sClass": "center" },
        ],
        "bProcessing": true,
        "bServerSide": true,
        "sAjaxSource": "{% url datatable %}",
    });
...

Answer 1

Ok, so with {% url view_name param1 param2 ... %} you are passing arguments(param1, param2,...) to your view. view_name is the name you defined for your view in the url from urlpatterns.

Therefore, you have to use this url:

url(r'^data/<product_type>/$', DataTable.as_view(), name='DataTable'),

Then, to catch this product_type in your DataTable, you have to implement the dispatch method inside it:

def dispatch(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        self.product_type= kwargs.pop("product_type")
        return super(LanguageMixin, self).dispatch(request, *args, **kwargs)

EDIT: Another way is to let the url as you have and use GET If you want to pass it as a GET parameter, then the best place to catch it is inside the get_context_method:

def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        expand_text = self.request.GET.get('product_type')

In order to catch it as a GET parameter, you have to construct the URL properly, appending the GET parameters. Something like this:

<a href="{% url view_name %}?product_type={{ some_product_type }}">

Keep in mind that {% url view_name %} only constructs a string, does not make a redirect