List View - Function based Views Django
A List View is used to show multiple records from a database, such as posts, products, or users.
- Retrieves all required records from the database.
- Passes the data to a template for rendering.
- Displays the records in a clear format like a list or table.
- Provides an easy way to show collections of items on a page.
Example: Consider a project named 'geeksforgeeks' having an app named 'geeks'. After creating the project and app, the next step is to create a model, whose records will be displayed using the List View.
Step 1: Define a Model
In geeks/models.py:
from django.db import models
class GeeksModel(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
description = models.TextField()
def __str__(self):
return self.title
Step 2: Apply Migrations
Run the following commands to create the corresponding database table
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
Step 3: Create Sample Data
Use Django's shell to create model instances:
python manage.py shell
Enter following commands in shell:
from geeks.models import GeeksModel
GeeksModel.objects.create(title="title1", description="description1")
GeeksModel.objects.create(title="title2", description="description2")
GeeksModel.objects.create(title="title3", description="description3")
Now we have everything ready for back end. To verify that instances have been created, exit the shell using exit() command and run the development server using this command:
python manage.py runserver
After running the command, visit the development url: http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Step 4: Create the List View
In geeks/views.py, define a function-based view to fetch and render the model instances:
from django.shortcuts import render
from .models import GeeksModel
def list_view(request):
context = {
"dataset": GeeksModel.objects.all()
}
return render(request, "list_view.html", context)
Step 5: Create the Template
In templates/list_view.html, add the following HTML to display the data:
<div class="main">
{% for data in dataset %}
<h3>{{ data.title }}</h3>
<p>{{ data.description }}</p>
<hr/>
{% endfor %}
</div>
Run the development server and visit the URL http://127.0.0.1:8000/ to see the list view in action.
Output:
Sorting the List (Descending Order)
You can order the results in reverse (newest first) by modifying the view:
def list_view(request):
context = {
"dataset": GeeksModel.objects.all().order_by("-id")
}
return render(request, "list_view.html", context)
order_by("-id"): sorts the items in descending order of their ID.
Output:
Filtering the List
You can also filter the data shown in the list view. For example, let’s add a new entry:
Launch the shell using the below command:
python manage.py shell
Enter the following commands in shell:
from geeks.models import GeeksModel
GeeksModel.objects.create(title = "Naveen", description = "GFG is Best").save()
To display only items with the word “title” in their title, update the view:
def list_view(request):
context = {
"dataset": GeeksModel.objects.filter(title__icontains="title")
}
return render(request, "list_view.html", context)
title__icontains="title" filters entries whose title contains the word "title", case-insensitively.
Run the development server and visit the URL http://127.0.0.1:8000/ again to see the filtered output.
What does a function-based List View in Django typically do?
-
A
Shows a form to create a new record
-
B
Deletes all records of a model
-
C
Displays multiple records from a model in a list or table
-
D
Redirects to another URL
A List View fetches all (or filtered) objects from the database and renders them in a template for display.
In a function-based List View, which code snippet correctly obtains all objects from a model named MyModel?
-
A
dataset = MyModel.objects.all()
-
B
dataset = MyModel.get_all()
-
C
dataset = MyModel.objects.filter()
-
D
dataset = MyModel.objects.list()
objects.all() returns a QuerySet of all instances of MyModel, which can then be passed to template context.
After fetching objects in a List View, how is the data typically sent to the template for rendering?
-
A
Using redirect()
-
B
Using render(request, template_name, context) with context containing the dataset
-
C
Printing dataset directly to console
-
D
Returning HttpResponse(dataset)
The view sends the data via context dict to the template so that template engine can display each item in list format.
