Question

I’m developing an app with django, and I have a view where I use 2 return render_to_response, with two different html files, depending on the status of the user.

I was wondering if it would be a better practice to split my view into two different views or if I should keep a bigger view.

What are the pros and the cons of doing so?

Sorry if my question is not clear. Thank you very much for your advices.

Answer 1

There’s no right or wrong answer to this question so your question may not be acceptable on stackoverflow, which usually is intended for questions/problems with specific technical solutions.

That said, here’s my view on this topic – I personally like to keep my view function small and if further processing is required, split them out into smaller functions.

For example:-

@permission_required('organizations.organization_add_user')
def organization_add_user(request, org_slug):
    org = get_object_or_404(Organization, slug=org_slug)
    form = OrganizationAddUserForm(org=org)

    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = OrganizationAddUserForm(request.POST or None, request.FILES or None, org=org)
        if form.is_valid():
            cd = form.cleaned_data

            # Create the user object & send out email for activation
            user = create_user_from_manual(request, data=cd)

            # Add user to OrganizationUser
            org_user, created = OrganizationUser.objects.get_or_create(user=user,\
                                                                    organization=org)
            dept = org.departments.get(name=cd['department'])
            org_user.departments.add(dept)

            # Add user to the appropriate roles (OrganizationGroup) and groups (django groups)
            org_groups = OrganizationGroup.objects.filter(group__name__in=cd['roles'], \
                organization=org)
            for g in org_groups:
                user.groups.add(g.group)

            return HttpResponse(reverse('add_user_success'))

    template = 'organizations/add_user.html'
    template_vars = {'form': form}
    # override request with dictionary template_vars
    template_vars = FormMediaRequestContext(request=request, dict=template_vars)
    return render(request, template, template_vars)

FormMediaEquestContext is a class I import from another file and has its own logic which helps me to handle javascript and css files associated with my form (OrganizationAddUserForm).

create_user_from_manual is yet another function which is encapsulated separately and deals with the reasonably convolutated logic relating to creating a new user in my system and sending an invitation email to that new user.

And of course, I serve up a different template if this is the first time a user arrives on this “add user” page as opposed to redirecting to a completely different url with its own view function and template when the add user form is successfully executed.

By keeping our view functions reasonably small, I have an easier time tracking down bugs relating to specific functionality.

In addition, it is also a good way to “reuse” my utility functions such as the create_user_from_manual method should I need this same utility function in another view function.

However, at the end of the day, organizing code and encapsulating code is a judgement call that you get to make as you progress as a developer.