Question

I have my models:

class Volume(models.Model):
    volnumber = models.IntegerField('Volume Number', primary_key=True) 
    year = models.TextField()
    #...#

class Article(models.Model):
    volnumber = models.ForeignKey(Volume)
    title = models.TextField(blank=True)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=100, db_index=True)
    #...#

my view:

# Article detail
def article_detail(request, slug):
return render_to_response('article_detail.html', {
    'article': get_object_or_404(Article, slug=slug),
})

my template:

{{ article.volume.year }}. <strong class="title">{{ article.title }}</strong>.Journal Vol.{{ article.volnumber }}

The problem is I am not getting any output for the year (title and volnumber are fine). The syntax seems correct..what am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Try:

{{ article.volnumber.year }}

Since you’re simply following the relationship forward, article.volnumber should give you a reference to the associated Volume object.

You’re not seeing anything in your template because article does not have a volume attribute. The templating engine fails silently and nothing is printed.

---

Better yet, to make the references more intuitive you might want to consider renaming the attribute in your Article model from volnumber to simply volume.

class Article(models.Model):
    volume = models.ForeignKey(Volume)
    # ...

Using article.volume.year and article.volume.volnumber is, in my opinion, a lot more readable than article.volnumber.volnumber.