How to access instances of models in view in order to save both forms at once

Question

I am trying to combine Two models into one form. However I cannot save the form as it is not an instance of the models. What I'm after is a way to access the models as instances and then save. I am using crispy forms, I have described what I have tried at the bottom of the post, I have no idea why this is not working so as always any help is appreciated.

This is my model.py file:

from django.db import models

# Create your models here.

BOOKING_STATUS = ((0, 'To be confirmed'), (1, 'Confirmed'), (2, 'Declined'))


class Customer(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=80)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=80)
    email = models.EmailField()
    phone_number = models.CharField(max_length=20)

    def __str__(self):
        return f"Customer {self.first_name + ' ' + self.last_name}"


class Booking(models.Model):
    booking_date = models.DateField()
    booking_time = models.TimeField()
    number_attending = models.IntegerField(default=2)
    booking_status = models.IntegerField(choices=BOOKING_STATUS, default=0)
    customer = models.ForeignKey('Customer', on_delete=models.CASCADE)

    def __str__(self):
        return f"Booking by {self.customer}"

forms.py:

from .models import Customer, Booking
from django import forms


class CustomerForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Customer
        fields = '__all__'


class BookingForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Booking
        fields = ('booking_date', 'booking_time', 'number_attending')


class CustomerBookingForm(forms.Form):
    customer_form = CustomerForm()
    booking_form = BookingForm()

and my view.py

from django.shortcuts import render
from .forms import CustomerBookingForm


# Create your views here.

# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51459435/django-create-multiple-instance-of-model-with-one-form
def customer_booking(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        customer_booking_form = CustomerBookingForm(request.POST)
        # if customer_booking_form.is_valid():

    else:
        customer_booking_form = CustomerBookingForm()

    context = {
        'form': customer_booking_form,
    }

    return render(request, 'booking.html', context)

I have tried:

   booking_instance = customer_booking_form.cleaned_data['booking_form'].save()

However this is not recognising the fields 'customer_form' or 'booking_form'

Answer 1

Instantiate both forms in your view, just add a prefix argument to at least one of them.

def customer_booking(request):
    if request.method == "POST":
        customer_form = CustomerForm(request.POST, prefix="customer")
        booking_form = BookingForm(request.POST, prefix="booking") 
        # if customer_form.is_valid()
        # if booking_form.is_valid()
        ..... 
    else:
        customer_form = CustomerForm(prefix="customer")
        booking_form = BookingForm(prefix="booking") 

The prefix will let Django give each form a unique namespace. So, the field name values will have the specified prefix for that ModelForm, i.e., customer-first_name, booking-booking_time, etc.