Defining "global variable" in Django templates

Question

I'm doing something like:

{% extends 'base.html' %}
{% url myapp.views.dashboard object as object_url %}
{% block sidebar %}
... {{ object_url }} ...
{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
... {{ object_url }} ...
{% endblock %}

Django documentation says url templatetag can define a variable in context, but I don't get any value for object_url in the following blocks.

If I put the url templatetag at the beginning of each block, it works, but I don't want to "repeat myself".

Anyone knows a better solution?

Answer 1

If the URL is view specific, you could pass the URL from your view. If the URL needs to be truly global in your templates, you could put it in a context processor:

def object_url(request):
    return {'object_url': reverse('myapp.views.dashboard')}

Answer 2

You could write a custom template tag:

@register.simple_tag(takes_context=True)
def set_global_context(context, key, value):
    """
    Sets a value to the global template context, so it can
    be accessible across blocks.

    Note that the block where the global context variable is set must appear
    before the other blocks using the variable IN THE BASE TEMPLATE.  The order
    of the blocks in the extending template is not important. 

    Usage::
        {% extends 'base.html' %}

        {% block first %}
            {% set_global_context 'foo' 'bar' %}
        {% endblock %}

        {% block second %}
            {{ foo }}
        {% endblock %}
    """
    context.dicts[0][key] = value
    return ''

Answer 3

Looks like this was answered before, but there is an alternative. It's one thing to use a context processor to keep track of something defined from outside the template, but sometimes you want to count the number of times two loops go through, or something like that. There is another way:

class GlobalVariable(object):
    def __init__(self, varname, varval):
        self.varname = varname
        self.varval = varval

    def name(self):
        return self.varname

    def value(self):
        return self.varval

    def set(self, newval):
        self.varval = newval


class GlobalVariableSetNode(template.Node):
    def __init__(self, varname, varval):
        self.varname = varname
        self.varval = varval

    def render(self, context):
        gv = context.get(self.varname, None)
        if gv:
            gv.set(self.varval)
        else:
            gv = context[self.varname] = GlobalVariable(
                self.varname, self.varval)
        return ''


def setglobal(parser, token):
    try:
        tag_name, varname, varval = token.contents.split(None, 2)
    except ValueError:
        raise template.TemplateSyntaxError(
            "%r tag requires 2 arguments" % token.contents.split()[0])
    return GlobalVariableSetNode(varname, varval)


register.tag('setglobal', setglobal)


class GlobalVariableGetNode(template.Node):
    def __init__(self, varname):
        self.varname = varname

    def render(self, context):
        try:
            return context[self.varname].value()
        except AttributeError:
            return ''


def getglobal(parser, token):
    try:
        tag_name, varname = token.contents.split(None, 1)
    except ValueError:
        raise template.TemplateSyntaxError(
            "%r tag requires arguments" % token.contents.split()[0])
    return GlobalVariableGetNode(varname)


register.tag('getglobal', getglobal)


class GlobalVariableIncrementNode(template.Node):
    def __init__(self, varname):
        self.varname = varname

    def render(self, context):
        gv = context.get(self.varname, None)
        if gv is None:
            return ''
        gv.set(int(gv.value()) + 1)
        return ''


def incrementglobal(parser, token):
    try:
        tag_name, varname = token.contents.split(None, 1)
    except ValueError:
        raise template.TemplateSyntaxError(
            "%r tag requires arguments" % token.contents.split()[0])
    return GlobalVariableIncrementNode(varname)


register.tag('incrementglobal', incrementglobal)

This allows you to use it in a template like this:

{% setglobal ii 0 %}
...
{% for ... %}
  {% incrementglobal ii %}
  current={% getglobal ii %}
{% endfor %}
...
{% for ... %}
  {% incrementglobal ii %}
  current={% getglobal ii %}
{% endfor %}
...
total of 2 loops={% getglobal ii %}
...
{% setglobal ii 0 %}
...
do something else now that {% getglobal ii %} is back to 0

Answer 4

Well, this is kind of abusive of template inheritance, but you could use {{block.super}} to put object_url into your blocks.

In other words, in your mid-level template do:

{% block sidebar %}{{ object_url }}{% endblock %}
{% block content %}{{ object_url }}{% endblock %}

And then in your block templates use:

{% block sidebar %}
... {{ block.super }}...
{% endblock %}

It's not a great idea because it prevents you from putting anything besides {{ object_url }} into your block... but it works. Just don't tell anyone you got it from me!

Answer 5

In every inherited template any code outside blocks redefinitions is not executed. So in your example you have to call {% url %} tag inside each block or use context processor for setting "global" variable.