How does one alter a FileField of an object in Django?

Question

I have a model called ClassFile that takes a FileField (document):

class ClassFile(models.Model):

    timestamp = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, editable=False)
    document = models.FileField(upload_to="classFiles/%Y/%m/%d/")
    description = models.TextField('File description', max_length=500)
    shown = models.BooleanField('Allow Students to view this', default=True)
    course = models.ForeignKey(Course, related_name='files', editable=False)
    uploader = models.ForeignKey(User, related_name='class_files_uploaded')

Trying to save the below ClassFile instance after a file upload form was submitted fails because request.FILES['file'] does not exist apparently:

f = ClassFile(
                    document = request.FILES['file'],
                    description = form.cleaned_data['description'],
                    shown = form.cleaned_data['shown'],
                    course = course,
                    uploader = request.user,
                )
f.save()

I was wondering if I was saving this object the proper way. Does request.FILES['file'] have the right type? Thank you.

Answer 1

The key for your file is the field name document (not file), and it's better to use cleaned_data:

document = form.cleaned_data['document']

form.cleaned_data['document'] (or request.FILES['document']) return a UploadedFile object.