Question

In my base template, I want to include a search form.

I already created it, but I’m wondering if there is a better option than passing the form to all my templates that extend the base?

Answer 1

Yea, this is what template context processors are useful for. They allow you to pass a variable to all your templates without having to specify.

settings.py

TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
    'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
    'django.core.context_processors.debug',

    ...

    'some_app.context_processors.search_form',
)

context_processors.py (you place this in one of your apps, or in the main directory if you prefer)

from my_forms import MySearchForm

def search_form(request):
return {
     'search_form' : MySearchForm()
}

Now you can use the {{ search_form }} in all of you templates