Question

I am trying to do a basic search feature but I am having a small issue. When I go to the template that has the search form, it is displaying all the items before I even try to search. Is there a way to show a blank template until the user has put in a search term and hit the search button?

Example:

[Search field][Button]

1
2
3
etc

views.py

def view_player_home(request):
    if request.method == 'GET':
        form = searchPlayerForm(request.GET)
        if form.is_valid():
            string = form.cleaned_data.get('text')
            players = Player.objects.filter(Q(first_name__icontains = string)|Q(last_name__icontains = string))
            return render_to_response('player/player.html', {'form': form, 'players':players}, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
else:
    form = searchPlayerForm()
return render_to_response('player/player.html', {'form': form}, context_instance=RequestContext(request))

forms.py

class searchPlayerForm(forms.Form):
    text = forms.CharField(label = "Search")

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(searchPlayerForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.fields['text'].required = False

template

{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block content %}

<h5>Find Player</h5>
<form method="GET" action="">
    {% csrf_token %}
    {{ form.as_table }}
    <input type="submit" value="Submit"/>
</form>

{% if players %}
   {% for p in players %}
       {{ p.first_name }} {{ p.last_name }}
   {% endfor %}
{% else %}
   No Players
{% endif %}

{% endblock %}

Answer 1

One change should do it:

if request.method == 'GET':

should be

if request.GET:

The underlying issue is that your request method is always GET, so you never go into the else block or to the bottom of the function.