Question

How can I group checkboxes produced by CheckboxSelectMultiple by a related model?

This is best demonstrated by example.

models.py:

class FeatureCategory(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=30)

class Feature(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    category = models.ForeignKey(FeatureCategory)

class Widget(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    features = models.ManyToManyField(Feature, blank=True)

forms.py:

class WidgetForm(forms.ModelForm):
    features = forms.ModelMultipleChoiceField(
        queryset=Feature.objects.all(),
        widget=forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple,
        required=False
    )
    class Meta:
        model = Widget

views.py:

def edit_widget(request):
    form = WidgetForm()
    return render(request, 'template.html', {'form': form})

template.html:

{{ form.as_p }}

The above produces the following output:

[] Widget 1
[] Widget 2
[] Widget 3
[] Widget 1
[] Widget 2

What I would like is for the feature checkboxes to be grouped by feature category (based on the ForeignKey):

Category 1:
  [] Widget 1
  [] Widget 2
  [] Widget 3

Category 2:
  [] Widget 1
  [] Widget 2

How can I achieve this? I have tried using the {% regroup %} template tag to no avail.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You have to write the custom CheckboxSelectMultiple widget. Using the snippet I have tried make the CheckboxSelectMultiple field iterable by adding the category_name as an attribute in field attrs. So that I can use regroup tag in template later on.

The below code is modified from snippet according to your need, obviously this code can be made more cleaner and more generic, but at this moment its not generic.

forms.py

from django import forms
from django.forms import Widget
from django.forms.widgets import SubWidget
from django.forms.util import flatatt
from django.utils.html import conditional_escape
from django.utils.encoding import StrAndUnicode, force_unicode
from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe

from itertools import chain
import ast

from mysite.models import Widget as wid # your model name is conflicted with django.forms.Widget
from mysite.models import Feature

class CheckboxInput(SubWidget):
    """
    An object used by CheckboxRenderer that represents a single
    <input type='checkbox'>.
    """
    def __init__(self, name, value, attrs, choice, index):
        self.name, self.value = name, value
        self.attrs = attrs
        self.choice_value = force_unicode(choice[1])
        self.choice_label = force_unicode(choice[2])

        self.attrs.update({'cat_name': choice[0]})

        self.index = index

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.render()

    def render(self, name=None, value=None, attrs=None, choices=()):
        name = name or self.name
        value = value or self.value
        attrs = attrs or self.attrs

        if 'id' in self.attrs:
            label_for = ' for="%s_%s"' % (self.attrs['id'], self.index)
        else:
            label_for = ''
        choice_label = conditional_escape(force_unicode(self.choice_label))
        return mark_safe(u'<label%s>%s %s</label>' % (label_for, self.tag(), choice_label))

    def is_checked(self):
        return self.choice_value in self.value

    def tag(self):
        if 'id' in self.attrs:
            self.attrs['id'] = '%s_%s' % (self.attrs['id'], self.index)
        final_attrs = dict(self.attrs, type='checkbox', name=self.name, value=self.choice_value)
        if self.is_checked():
            final_attrs['checked'] = 'checked'
        return mark_safe(u'<input%s />' % flatatt(final_attrs))

class CheckboxRenderer(StrAndUnicode):
    def __init__(self, name, value, attrs, choices):
        self.name, self.value, self.attrs = name, value, attrs
        self.choices = choices

    def __iter__(self):
        for i, choice in enumerate(self.choices):
            yield CheckboxInput(self.name, self.value, self.attrs.copy(), choice, i)

    def __getitem__(self, idx):
        choice = self.choices[idx] # Let the IndexError propogate
        return CheckboxInput(self.name, self.value, self.attrs.copy(), choice, idx)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.render()

    def render(self):
        """Outputs a <ul> for this set of checkbox fields."""
        return mark_safe(u'<ul>\n%s\n</ul>' % u'\n'.join([u'<li>%s</li>'
                % force_unicode(w) for w in self]))

class CheckboxSelectMultipleIter(forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple):
    """
    Checkbox multi select field that enables iteration of each checkbox
    Similar to django.forms.widgets.RadioSelect
    """
    renderer = CheckboxRenderer

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        # Override the default renderer if we were passed one.
        renderer = kwargs.pop('renderer', None)
        if renderer:
            self.renderer = renderer
        super(CheckboxSelectMultipleIter, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def subwidgets(self, name, value, attrs=None, choices=()):
        for widget in self.get_renderer(name, value, attrs, choices):
            yield widget

    def get_renderer(self, name, value, attrs=None, choices=()):
        """Returns an instance of the renderer."""

        choices_ = [ast.literal_eval(i[1]).iteritems() for i in self.choices]
        choices_ = [(a[1], b[1], c[1]) for a, b, c in choices_]

        if value is None: value = ''
        str_values = set([force_unicode(v) for v in value]) # Normalize to string.
        if attrs is None:
            attrs = {}
        if 'id' not in attrs:
            attrs['id'] = name
        final_attrs = self.build_attrs(attrs)
        choices = list(chain(choices_, choices))
        return self.renderer(name, str_values, final_attrs, choices)

    def render(self, name, value, attrs=None, choices=()):
        return self.get_renderer(name, value, attrs, choices).render()

    def id_for_label(self, id_):
        if id_:
            id_ += '_0'
        return id_

class WidgetForm(forms.ModelForm):
    features = forms.ModelMultipleChoiceField(
        queryset=Feature.objects.all().values('id', 'name', 'category__name'),
        widget=CheckboxSelectMultipleIter,
        required=False
    )
    class Meta:
        model = wid

Then in template:

{% for field in form %}
{% if field.name == 'features' %} 
    {% regroup field by attrs.cat_name as list %}

    <ul>
    {% for el in list %}
        <li>{{el.grouper}}
        <ul>
            {% for e in el.list %}
                {{e}} <br />
            {% endfor %}
        </ul>
        </li>
    {% endfor %}
    </ul>
{% else %}
    {{field.label}}: {{field}}
{% endif %}

{% endfor %}

Results:
I added countries name in category table, and cities name in features table so in template I was able to regroup the cities (features) according to country (category)