Python Flask-WTF - use same form template for add and edit operations

Question

I\'m just getting started with Flask / Flask-WTF / SQLAlchemy, and most example CRUD code I see shows separate templates for adding / editing. It seems repetitive to have two te

Answer 1

There is absolutely no reason to have separate templates for adding / editing different kinds of things even. Consider:

{# data.html #}

{% block form %}

{{ action }} {{ data_type }}

{% render_form(form) %}


{% endblock form %}

Ignore the macro render_form works (there's an example one in WTForms' documentation) - it just takes a WTForms-type object and renders the form in an unordered list. You can then do this:

@app.route("/books/")
def add_book():
    form = BookForm()
    # ... snip ...
    return render_template("data.html", action="Add", data_type="a book", form=form)

@app.route("/books/")
def edit_book(book_id):
    book = lookup_book_by_id(book_id)
    form = BookForm(obj=book)
    # ... snip ...
    return render_template("data.html", data_type=book.title, action="Edit", form=form)

But you don't need to limit yourself to just books:

@app.route("/a-resource/")
def add_resource():
    # ... snip ...
    return render_template("data.html", data_type="a resource" ...)

# ... etc. ...