Django Class Based Views (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 15 May, 2025

Class-Based Views (CBVs) allow developers to handle HTTP requests in a structured and reusable way. With CBVs, different HTTP methods (like GET, POST) are handled as separate methods in a class, which helps with code organization and reusability.

Advantages of CBVs

• **Separation of Logic: CBVs separate different behaviors (GET, POST) into separate methods.
• **Reusable Components: Common functionality can be factored out into reusable mixins or base classes.
• **Built-in Generic Views: Django provides several built-in CBVs like CreateView, ListView, DetailView, etc., for common tasks.

• **CreateView - create or add new entries in a table in the database.
• **Retrieve Views - read, retrieve, search, or view existing entries as a list(**ListView) or retrieve a particular entry in detail (**DetailView)
• **UpdateView - update or edit existing entries in a table in the database
• **DeleteView - delete, deactivate, or remove existing entries in a table in the database
• **FormView - render a form to template and handle data entered by user

Django Class Based Views CRUD Operations

Illustration of **How to create and use CRUD views using an example, consider a project named "geeksforgeeks" having an app named "geeks".

Refer to the following articles to check how to create a project and an app in Django.

• How to Create a Basic Project using MVT in Django?
• How to Create an App in Django ?

Let’s now see how to implement CRUD operations using CBVs in Django.

Step 1: Define the Model

The first step is to define the model in Django. For our example, let’s create a model named GeeksModel to store the title and description of a record.

In **geeks/models.py:

Python `

from django.db import models

class GeeksModel(models.Model):

title = models.CharField(max_length = 200)
description = models.TextField()

def __str__(self):
    return self.title

`

**Explanation:

• **title: A CharField for the title of the record.
• **description: A TextField for the description of the record.

Run the following commands to create and apply database migrations:

Python manage.py makemigrations
Python manage.py migrate

Step 2: Create a ModelForm

To make it easier to create and update GeeksModel instances, let’s create a ModelForm. This form automatically generates a form for the model’s fields.

In **geeks/forms.py:

Python `

from django import forms from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksForm(forms.ModelForm):

class Meta:
    model = GeeksModel
    fields = ["title", "description",]

`

**Explanation:

• **GeeksForm: A form class that generates a form for GeeksModel with fields title and description

Step 3: Create Class-Based Views

CreateView (For Creating Entries)

The CreateView class-based view provides the functionality to create new database records. We will use it to add new GeeksModel entries.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.edit import CreateView from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksCreate(CreateView): model = GeeksModel fields = ['title', 'description'] template_name = 'geeks/geeksmodel_form.html' success_url = '/'

`

**Explanation:

• **model: Specifies the model that the view will work with.
• **fields: Specifies the fields that will be displayed on the form.
• **template_name: Points to the HTML template where the form will be rendered.
• **success_url: Defines the URL to redirect to after successfully creating a new entry.

reate the corresponding template **geeks/geeksmodel_form.html:

HTML `

`

**URL Mapping: In geeks/urls.py, map the **GeeksCreate view:

Python `

from django.urls import path from .views import GeeksCreate

urlpatterns = [ path('create/', GeeksCreate.as_view(), name='geeks_create'), ]

`

Let's check what is there on "http://localhost:8000/"

To check complete implementation of Class based CreateView, visit Createview – Class Based Views Django.

ListView (For Retrieving Multiple Entries)

The ListView class-based view is used to retrieve and display a list of records.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.list import ListView from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksList(ListView): model = GeeksModel template_name = 'geeks/geeksmodel_list.html' context_object_name = 'geeks_list'

`

Create the corresponding template geeks/geeksmodel_list.html:

HTML `

{% for object in object_list %}
• {{ object.title }}
• {{ object.description }}

<hr/>
<!-- If object_list is empty  -->
{% empty %}
<li>No objects yet.</li>
{% endfor %}

`

**URL Mapping: In geeks/urls.py, map the **GeeksList view:

Python `

from django.urls import path from .views import GeeksList

urlpatterns = [ path('', GeeksList.as_view(), name='geeks_list'), ]

`

Let's check what is there on "http://localhost:8000/"

To check complete implementation of Class based ListView, visit ListView – Class Based Views Django

DetailView (For Retrieving a Single Entry)

The DetailView is used to display detailed information about a single record.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.detail import DetailView

from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksDetailView(DetailView): # specify the model to use model = GeeksModel

`

Now create a url path to map the view. In geeks/urls.py,

Python `

from django.urls import path

importing views from views..py

from .views import GeeksDetailView urlpatterns = [ # is identification for id field, # slug can also be used path('/', GeeksDetailView.as_view()), ]

`

Create a template in templates/geeks/geeksmodel_detail.html,

HTML `

{{ object.title }}

{{ object.description }}

`

Let's check what is there on "http://localhost:8000/1/"

To check complete implementation of Class based DetailView, visit DetailView – Class Based Views Django

UpdateView (For Updating Entries)

The UpdateView allows you to edit an existing record.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.edit import UpdateView

from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksUpdateView(UpdateView): model = GeeksModel

fields = [
    "title",
    "description"
]

success_url ="/"

`

Now create a url path to map the view. In geeks/urls.py,

Python `

from django.urls import path

from .views import GeeksUpdateView urlpatterns = [ path('/update', GeeksUpdateView.as_view()), ]

`

Create a template in templates/geeks/geeksmodel_form.html,

HTML `

`

Let's check what is there on "http://localhost:8000/1/update/"

To check complete implementation of Class based UpdateView, visit UpdateView – Class Based Views Django.

DeleteView (For Deleting Entries)

The DeleteView allows you to delete a record from the database.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.edit import DeleteView from .models import GeeksModel

class GeeksDeleteView(DeleteView): model = GeeksModel success_url ="/"

`

Now create a url path to map the view. In geeks/urls.py,

Python `

from django.urls import path from .views import GeeksDeleteView urlpatterns = [ path('/delete/', GeeksDeleteView.as_view()), ]

`

Create a template in templates/geeks/geeksmodel_confirm_delete.html,

HTML `

Are you sure you want to delete "{{ object }}"?

`

Let's check what is there on "http://localhost:8000/1/delete"

To check complete implementation of Class based DeleteView, visit DeleteView – Class Based Views Django

FormView (For Handling Forms)

The FormView is used to display and process forms. It provides a way to handle form submissions using CBVs.

In **geeks/views.py:

Python `

from django.views.generic.edit import FormView from .forms import GeeksForm

class GeeksFormView(FormView): form_class = GeeksForm template_name = "geeks / geeksmodel_form.html" success_url ="/thanks/"

`

Create a template for this view in geeks/geeksmodel_form.html,

HTML `

`

Map a url to this view in geeks/urls.py,

Python `

from django.urls import path from .views import GeeksFormView urlpatterns = [ path('', GeeksFormView.as_view()), ]

`

Now visit "http://127.0.0.1:8000/"

To check complete implementation of Class based FormView, visit FormView – Class Based Views Django