Provide Custom Select on ModelForm - django-forms

Question

I am trying to create a custom drop down select for a modelForm. Right now the model form just shows all the Units with no hierarchy. I would like the form to have a select box like parent / child ordered by college then by their departments under them:
<select>
<option value="10000">COLLEGE A</option>
<option value="10001"> DEPT A</option>
<option value="10002"> DEPT B</option>
<option value="20000">COLLEGE B</option>
<option value="20001"> DEPT C</option>
.....
</select>
I have a model of all "units" on our campus. If the parent is None then it is a college. Each department points to a college.
class Units(models.Model):
unit_name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
enabled = models.BooleanField(default=True)
parent = models.ForeignKey("self", null=True)
def __str__(self):
if self.parent:
return self.parent.unit_name + ': ' + self.unit_name
else:
return self.unit_name
I abstracted my User class as follows so all my users can have an associated unit
class Profile(AbstractUser):
associated_unit = models.ForeignKey(Units)
...........
On the screen that edits the user I want the drop down associated_unit box to list it hierarchy as above and not so linear. This is what I got to date for the form to list only "enabled" units.
forms.py
class UserForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Profile
fields = ('id', 'first_name', 'last_name', 'username', 'is_active', 'associated_unit')
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
super(UserForm, self).__init__(**kwargs)
self.fields['associated_unit'].queryset = Units.objects.filter(enabled=True).order_by('parent__unit_name', 'unit_name')
How do I go about creating a custom select drop down as detailed above? Any help is appreciated. Tired of experimenting and researching :D

Answer 1

I found this to work. Might not be the best solution but it does work. Can not get white spaces to show in select box however for college / department name.
Used a > instead.
from users.models import Profile
from units.models import Units
from django.forms import ModelForm, ChoiceField
class UserForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Profile
fields = ('id', 'first_name', 'last_name', 'username', 'is_active', 'associated_unit')
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
super(UserForm, self).__init__(**kwargs)
my_list = []
colleges = Units.objects.filter(parent=None, enabled=True).order_by('unit_name')
for college in colleges:
my_list.append((college.id, college.unit_name))
departments = Units.objects.filter(parent=college.id, enabled=True).order_by('unit_name')
for department in departments:
my_list.append((department.id, " => " + department.unit_name))
self.fields['associated_unit'] = ChoiceField(choices=my_list)

Answer 2

I changed the last line to: self.fields['associated_unit'].choices = my_list. Seems to save now :D
class UserForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Profile
fields = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'username', 'is_active', 'associated_unit')
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(UserForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
my_list = []
colleges = Units.objects.filter(parent=None, enabled=True).order_by('unit_name')
for college in colleges:
my_list.append((college.id, college.unit_name))
departments = Units.objects.filter(parent=college.id, enabled=True).order_by('unit_name')
for department in departments:
my_list.append((department.id, " => " + department.unit_name))
self.fields['associated_unit'].choices = my_list