views.txt 8.0 KB

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  1. =============
  2. Writing views
  3. =============
  4. A view function, or *view* for short, is simply a Python function that takes a
  5. Web request and returns a Web response. This response can be the HTML contents
  6. of a Web page, or a redirect, or a 404 error, or an XML document, or an image .
  7. . . or anything, really. The view itself contains whatever arbitrary logic is
  8. necessary to return that response. This code can live anywhere you want, as long
  9. as it's on your Python path. There's no other requirement--no "magic," so to
  10. speak. For the sake of putting the code *somewhere*, the convention is to
  11. put views in a file called ``views.py``, placed in your project or
  12. application directory.
  13. A simple view
  14. =============
  15. Here's a view that returns the current date and time, as an HTML document:
  16. .. code-block:: python
  17. from django.http import HttpResponse
  18. import datetime
  19. def current_datetime(request):
  20. now = datetime.datetime.now()
  21. html = "<html><body>It is now %s.</body></html>" % now
  22. return HttpResponse(html)
  23. Let's step through this code one line at a time:
  24. * First, we import the class :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` from the
  25. :mod:`django.http` module, along with Python's ``datetime`` library.
  26. * Next, we define a function called ``current_datetime``. This is the view
  27. function. Each view function takes an :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest`
  28. object as its first parameter, which is typically named ``request``.
  29. Note that the name of the view function doesn't matter; it doesn't have to
  30. be named in a certain way in order for Django to recognize it. We're
  31. calling it ``current_datetime`` here, because that name clearly indicates
  32. what it does.
  33. * The view returns an :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object that
  34. contains the generated response. Each view function is responsible for
  35. returning an :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object. (There are
  36. exceptions, but we'll get to those later.)
  37. .. admonition:: Django's Time Zone
  38. Django includes a :setting:`TIME_ZONE` setting that defaults to
  39. ``America/Chicago``. This probably isn't where you live, so you might want
  40. to change it in your settings file.
  41. Mapping URLs to views
  42. =====================
  43. So, to recap, this view function returns an HTML page that includes the current
  44. date and time. To display this view at a particular URL, you'll need to create a
  45. *URLconf*; see :doc:`/topics/http/urls` for instructions.
  46. Returning errors
  47. ================
  48. Returning HTTP error codes in Django is easy. There are subclasses of
  49. :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` for a number of common HTTP status codes
  50. other than 200 (which means *"OK"*). You can find the full list of available
  51. subclasses in the :ref:`request/response <ref-httpresponse-subclasses>`
  52. documentation. Just return an instance of one of those subclasses instead of
  53. a normal :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` in order to signify an error. For
  54. example::
  55. def my_view(request):
  56. # ...
  57. if foo:
  58. return HttpResponseNotFound('<h1>Page not found</h1>')
  59. else:
  60. return HttpResponse('<h1>Page was found</h1>')
  61. There isn't a specialized subclass for every possible HTTP response code,
  62. since many of them aren't going to be that common. However, as documented in
  63. the :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` documentation, you can also pass the
  64. HTTP status code into the constructor for :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse`
  65. to create a return class for any status code you like. For example::
  66. def my_view(request):
  67. # ...
  68. # Return a "created" (201) response code.
  69. return HttpResponse(status=201)
  70. Because 404 errors are by far the most common HTTP error, there's an easier way
  71. to handle those errors.
  72. The Http404 exception
  73. ---------------------
  74. .. class:: django.http.Http404()
  75. When you return an error such as :class:`~django.http.HttpResponseNotFound`,
  76. you're responsible for defining the HTML of the resulting error page::
  77. return HttpResponseNotFound('<h1>Page not found</h1>')
  78. For convenience, and because it's a good idea to have a consistent 404 error page
  79. across your site, Django provides an ``Http404`` exception. If you raise
  80. ``Http404`` at any point in a view function, Django will catch it and return the
  81. standard error page for your application, along with an HTTP error code 404.
  82. Example usage::
  83. from django.http import Http404
  84. def detail(request, poll_id):
  85. try:
  86. p = Poll.objects.get(pk=poll_id)
  87. except Poll.DoesNotExist:
  88. raise Http404
  89. return render_to_response('polls/detail.html', {'poll': p})
  90. In order to use the ``Http404`` exception to its fullest, you should create a
  91. template that is displayed when a 404 error is raised. This template should be
  92. called ``404.html`` and located in the top level of your template tree.
  93. Customizing error views
  94. =======================
  95. The 404 (page not found) view
  96. -----------------------------
  97. When you raise an ``Http404`` exception, Django loads a special view devoted
  98. to handling 404 errors. By default, it's the view
  99. ``django.views.defaults.page_not_found``, which loads and renders the template
  100. ``404.html``.
  101. This means you need to define a ``404.html`` template in your root template
  102. directory. This template will be used for all 404 errors. The default 404 view
  103. will pass one variable to the template: ``request_path``, which is the URL
  104. that resulted in the error.
  105. The ``page_not_found`` view should suffice for 99% of Web applications, but if
  106. you want to override it, you can specify ``handler404`` in your URLconf, like
  107. so::
  108. handler404 = 'mysite.views.my_custom_404_view'
  109. Behind the scenes, Django determines the 404 view by looking for
  110. ``handler404`` in your root URLconf, and falling back to
  111. ``django.views.defaults.page_not_found`` if you did not define one.
  112. Four things to note about 404 views:
  113. * The 404 view is also called if Django doesn't find a match after
  114. checking every regular expression in the URLconf.
  115. * If you don't define your own 404 view — and simply use the default,
  116. which is recommended — you still have one obligation: you must create a
  117. ``404.html`` template in the root of your template directory.
  118. * The 404 view is passed a :class:`~django.template.RequestContext` and
  119. will have access to variables supplied by your
  120. :setting:`TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS` setting (e.g., ``MEDIA_URL``).
  121. * If :setting:`DEBUG` is set to ``True`` (in your settings module), then
  122. your 404 view will never be used, and your URLconf will be displayed
  123. instead, with some debug information.
  124. The 500 (server error) view
  125. ----------------------------
  126. Similarly, Django executes special-case behavior in the case of runtime errors
  127. in view code. If a view results in an exception, Django will, by default, call
  128. the view ``django.views.defaults.server_error``, which loads and renders the
  129. template ``500.html``.
  130. This means you need to define a ``500.html`` template in your root template
  131. directory. This template will be used for all server errors. The default 500
  132. view passes no variables to this template and is rendered with an empty
  133. ``Context`` to lessen the chance of additional errors.
  134. This ``server_error`` view should suffice for 99% of Web applications, but if
  135. you want to override the view, you can specify ``handler500`` in your URLconf,
  136. like so::
  137. handler500 = 'mysite.views.my_custom_error_view'
  138. Behind the scenes, Django determines the 500 view by looking for
  139. ``handler500`` in your root URLconf, and falling back to
  140. ``django.views.defaults.server_error`` if you did not define one.
  141. Two things to note about 500 views:
  142. * If you don't define your own 500 view — and simply use the default,
  143. which is recommended — you still have one obligation: you must create a
  144. ``500.html`` template in the root of your template directory.
  145. * If :setting:`DEBUG` is set to ``True`` (in your settings module), then
  146. your 500 view will never be used, and the traceback will be displayed
  147. instead, with some debug information.