Question

In Django, there’s the existence of a message framework which notifies the user after an action is performed. For instance, from the views.py there might something like:

if success:
    messages.success(request, 'Update Successful')
else:
    messages.warning(request, 'Something is missing')

I believe Rails have something similar with:

flash[:notice] = 'Something is missing'

Should the messages above be hard-coded in the controller?

Answer 1

If I understand your question, you are asking whether or not you should hard-code a string value into your code. In compiled languages, you often use a reference to a string, instead of entering the actual string. ala:

message.success(request, message_resource.success )

This gives you the freedom to change the string value without re-compiling the code, and has a performance benefit in some instances.

Because Python is dynamic this really isn’t required, but depending on the size of the project, may be beneficial.

Imagine a situation where the software is used by people speaking different languages, you could detect the required language somewhere else in your code and initialize message_resource.success, as well as any other strings, to be in said language.

here is a simple example:

german.py

# german language messages
success = "Sie folgten!"
failure = "Sie fallen aus!"

english.py

#english language messages
success = "You succeeded!"
failure = "You fail!"

main.py

# main

# import english language
message_resource = __import__('english');

print message_resource.success
print message_resource.failure

# import german language
message_resource = __import__('german');

print message_resource.success
print message_resource.failure