How do I call a Django function on button click?

Question

I am trying to write a Django application and I am stuck at how I can call a view function when a button is clicked.

In my template, I have a link button as below, when clicked it takes you to a different webpage:

<a target="_blank" href="{{ column_3_item.link_for_item }}">Check It Out</a>

When the button is clicked, I also want to call a Django view function (along with re-direct to a target website). The view function increments the value in the database which stores the number of times the button is clicked.

The column_3_item.link_for_item is a link to an external website (e.g. www.google.com). Right now when that button is clicked, it opens a new window which takes you to the google website.

What I would like to do is to call a Django view function also when the button is clicked which updates the database without refreshing the page. How I can achieve this?

I don't understand your question. Your code calls the view function at whatever column_3_item.link_for_item is mapped to in your urlconf. — Daniel Roseman
– Daniel Roseman, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 14:40
adding to Daniel's comment: if you need to click -> "real time" update the couter, without refreshing the page, you may need to rewrite your question. If you have a view pointing to that link, you already have what you need — Samuele Mattiuzzo
– Samuele Mattiuzzo, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 14:48
sorry for the confusion. the column_3_item.link_for_item is a link to an external website (example:- www.google.com). Right now when that button is clicked, it opens a new window which takes to google website. what i would like to do is to call a django view function also when the button is clicked which updates the database without refreshing the page. — Dev
– Dev, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 14:49
have you looked at docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/class-based-views/mixins/… — dmg
– dmg, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 15:18
you can do it in many ways, but if you do not want to reload/change the page I think you have to rely on javascript (e.g. making an ajax call to the view that updates the counter from the same <a> tag you use for opening the new page). Is using javascript an issue? — furins
– furins, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 15:26

furins · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-22 21:12:37Z

60

here is a pure-javascript, minimalistic approach. I use JQuery but you can use any library (or even no libraries at all).

<html>
    <head>
        <title>An example</title>
        <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
        <script>
            function call_counter(url, pk) {
                window.open(url);
                $.get('YOUR_VIEW_HERE/'+pk+'/', function (data) {
                    alert("counter updated!");
                });
            }
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <button onclick="call_counter('http://www.google.com', 12345);">
            I update object 12345
        </button>
        <button onclick="call_counter('http://www.yahoo.com', 999);">
            I update object 999
        </button>
    </body>
</html>

Alternative approach

Instead of placing the JavaScript code, you can change your link in this way:

<a target="_blank" 
    class="btn btn-info pull-right" 
    href="{% url YOUR_VIEW column_3_item.pk %}/?next={{column_3_item.link_for_item|urlencode:''}}">
    Check It Out
</a>

and in your views.py:

def YOUR_VIEW_DEF(request, pk):
    YOUR_OBJECT.objects.filter(pk=pk).update(views=F('views')+1)
    return HttpResponseRedirect(request.GET.get('next'))

edited Dec 22, 2021 at 21:12

answered Mar 11, 2013 at 16:42

furins

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5 Comments

Dev Over a year ago

Thanks very much. I used the alternative approach and it worked perfectly as expected.

Mohith7548 Over a year ago

The point of using Django is to eliminate using other languages. I'm sorry for js but if you're using Django when a button is clicked we want to trigger using Django but not js. Please help me!

furins Over a year ago

@KuneMohith then please follow the alternative approach, it does not require javascript. Apart from that, I do not believe that the point of Django is to eliminate using other languages. You cannot run "django" (python) on client side.

The_spider Over a year ago

HttpResponseRedirect(request.GET.get('next'))) is containing one ')' to much at the end.

furins Over a year ago

@The_spider fixed, thank you!

nofoobar · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 18:01:28Z

29

There are 2 possible solutions that I personally use

1.without using form

 <button type="submit" value={{excel_path}} onclick="location.href='{% url 'downloadexcel' %}'" name='mybtn2'>Download Excel file</button>

2.Using Form

<form action="{% url 'downloadexcel' %}" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}


 <button type="submit" name='mybtn2' value={{excel_path}}>Download results in Excel</button>
 </form>

Where urls.py should have this

path('excel/',views1.downloadexcel,name="downloadexcel"),

answered Sep 26, 2019 at 18:01

nofoobar

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:25:52Z

5

The following answer could be helpful for the first part of your question:

Django: How can I call a view function from template?

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:25

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Nov 4, 2013 at 4:08

Mahshid Zeinaly

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