Question

I have a few complex GUI elements (like a custom calendar with many days that can be highlighted) that appear along with standard django form input fields. I want to process the data I/O from these complex forms along with the Django forms.

Previously I would use AJAX requests to process these custom GUI elements on my HTML form after the Django form was saved or rendered, but this leads to a host of problem and customized AJAX coding. What is a good way to handle complex interactions widgets in a Django form?

Answer 1

Not sure if I understand completely, but you could have the value of your UI saved into a hidden element on the form via javascript. This can either be done as they select the values in the UI or when they submit the form. Pseudo-code assuming JQuery using submit() to save before the submit data is sent:

$('#myForm').submit(function(){   // get the value of your UI   var calendarValue = calendarWidget.getValue()    // #calendarData is the hidden field   $('#calendarData').val(calendarValue) }) 

This obviously requires JS, but so does using your UI element.