Custom context processors in Django
In order to get the content out of database in the template the best way is usually a template tag (you can write your own template tags). However, when you want a particular variable to be available in the context of every template, creating a custom context processor could be a convenient way to achieve this.
If you have ever used {% request %} or {% debug %} you can easily wrap your head around this concept.
First, we write simple context processors.
# my_app/my_context_processor.py
from datetime import datetime
def custom_context(request):
return {"hello": "Hello World!"}
def another_custom_context(request):
right_now = datetime.now().strftime("%b %d %Y %H:%M:%S")
return {
"bye": "Bye Bye!",
"bye_user": f"Bye Bye {request.user}!",
"right_now": right_now,
}
Next, go to settings.py and append the context processors to the context_processors list in the templates options.
# mysite/settings.py
TEMPLATES = [
{
"BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
"DIRS": [],
"APP_DIRS": True,
"OPTIONS": {
"context_processors": [
"django.template.context_processors.debug",
"django.template.context_processors.request",
"django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
"django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
# add your custom context processors here
"my_app.my_context_processor.custom_context"
"my_app.my_context_processor.another_custom_context",
],
},
},
]
And there we are. We can enjoy our custom context processors!
{# myapp/templates/myapp/page.html #}
<p> {{ hello }} <p>
<p> {{ bye }} <p>
<p> {{ bye_user }} <p>
<p> Right now: {{ right_now }} <p>
They will be rendered as below.
<p> Hello World! <p>
<p> Bye Bye! <p>
<p> Bye Bye AnonymousUser! <p>
<p> Right now: Jan 05 2019 18:10:25 <p>