How to get 'switch-case' statement functionality in Django templates?

Question

I found a link to have a 'switch' tag in Django templates, but I was wondering if this can be somehow achieved without it. Using only the stuff which comes with Django? Basically is there other way then using multiple 'if' or 'ifequal' statements?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this is not possible with the default Django template engine. You'll have to write something ugly like this to emulate a switch.

{% if a %}
    {{ a }}
{% else %}
    {% if b %}
        {{ b }}
    {% else %}
        {% if c %}
            {{ c }}
        {% else %}
            {{ default }}
        {% endif %}
    {% endif %}
{% endif %}

or if only one if condition can be true and you don't need a default.

{% if a %}
{{ a }}
{% endif %}
{% if b %}
{{ b }}
{% endif %}
{% if c %}
{{ c }}
{% endif %}

Usually, when the template engine is not powerful enough to accomplish what you want this is a sign that the code should be moved into Django view instead of in the template. For example:

# Django view
if a:
  val = a
elif b:
  val = b
elif c:
  val = c
else:
  val = default

# Template
{{ val }}