path: root/docs/ref/template-response.txt

===========================================
TemplateResponse and SimpleTemplateResponse
===========================================

.. module:: django.template.response
   :synopsis: Classes dealing with lazy-rendered HTTP responses.

Standard :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` objects are static structures.
They are provided with a block of pre-rendered content at time of
construction, and while that content can be modified, it isn't in a form that
makes it easy to perform modifications.

However, it can sometimes be beneficial to allow decorators or
middleware to modify a response *after* it has been constructed by the
view. For example, you may want to change the template that is used,
or put additional data into the context.

TemplateResponse provides a way to do just that. Unlike basic
:class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` objects, TemplateResponse objects retain
the details of the template and context that was provided by the view to
compute the response. The final output of the response is not computed until
it is needed, later in the response process.

SimpleTemplateResponse objects
==============================

.. class:: SimpleTemplateResponse()

Attributes
----------

.. attribute:: SimpleTemplateResponse.template_name

    The name of the template to be rendered. Accepts a backend-dependent
    template object (such as those returned by
    :func:`~django.template.loader.get_template()`), the name of a template,
    or a list of template names.

    Example: ``['foo.html', 'path/to/bar.html']``

.. attribute:: SimpleTemplateResponse.context_data

    The context data to be used when rendering the template. It must be a
    :class:`dict`.

    Example: ``{'foo': 123}``

.. attribute:: SimpleTemplateResponse.rendered_content

    The current rendered value of the response content, using the current
    template and context data.

.. attribute:: SimpleTemplateResponse.is_rendered

    A boolean indicating whether the response content has been rendered.

Methods
-------

.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.__init__(template, context=None, content_type=None, status=None, charset=None, using=None)

    Instantiates a :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse`
    object with the given template, context, content type, HTTP status, and
    charset.

    ``template``
        A backend-dependent template object (such as those returned by
        :func:`~django.template.loader.get_template()`), the name of a template,
        or a list of template names.

    ``context``
        A :class:`dict` of values to add to the template context. By default,
        this is an empty dictionary.

    ``content_type``
        The value included in the HTTP ``Content-Type`` header, including the
        MIME type specification and the character set encoding. If
        ``content_type`` is specified, then its value is used. Otherwise,
        :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` is used.

    ``status``
        The HTTP status code for the response.

    ``charset``
        The charset in which the response will be encoded. If not given it will
        be extracted from ``content_type``, and if that is unsuccessful, the
        :setting:`DEFAULT_CHARSET` setting will be used.

    ``using``
        The :setting:`NAME <TEMPLATES-NAME>` of a template engine to use for
        loading the template.

.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.resolve_context(context)

    Preprocesses context data that will be used for rendering a template.
    Accepts a :class:`dict` of context data. By default, returns the same
    :class:`dict`.

    Override this method in order to customize the context.

.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.resolve_template(template)

    Resolves the template instance to use for rendering. Accepts a
    backend-dependent template object (such as those returned by
    :func:`~django.template.loader.get_template()`), the name of a template,
    or a list of template names.

    Returns the backend-dependent template object instance to be rendered.

    Override this method in order to customize template loading.

.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.add_post_render_callback()

    Add a callback that will be invoked after rendering has taken
    place. This hook can be used to defer certain processing
    operations (such as caching) until after rendering has occurred.

    If the :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse`
    has already been rendered, the callback will be invoked
    immediately.

    When called, callbacks will be passed a single argument -- the
    rendered :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse`
    instance.

    If the callback returns a value that is not ``None``, this will be
    used as the response instead of the original response object (and
    will be passed to the next post rendering callback etc.)

.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.render()

    Sets ``response.content`` to the result obtained by
    :attr:`SimpleTemplateResponse.rendered_content`, runs all post-rendering
    callbacks, and returns the resulting response object.

    ``render()`` will only have an effect the first time it is called. On
    subsequent calls, it will return the result obtained from the first call.


TemplateResponse objects
========================

.. class:: TemplateResponse()

    ``TemplateResponse`` is a subclass of
    :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse` that knows about
    the current :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest`.

Methods
-------

.. method:: TemplateResponse.__init__(request, template, context=None, content_type=None, status=None, charset=None, using=None)

    Instantiates a :class:`~django.template.response.TemplateResponse` object
    with the given request, template, context, content type, HTTP status, and
    charset.

    ``request``
        An :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest` instance.

    ``template``
        A backend-dependent template object (such as those returned by
        :func:`~django.template.loader.get_template()`), the name of a template,
        or a list of template names.

    ``context``
        A :class:`dict` of values to add to the template context. By default,
        this is an empty dictionary.

    ``content_type``
        The value included in the HTTP ``Content-Type`` header, including the
        MIME type specification and the character set encoding. If
        ``content_type`` is specified, then its value is used. Otherwise,
        :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` is used.

    ``status``
        The HTTP status code for the response.

    ``charset``
        The charset in which the response will be encoded. If not given it will
        be extracted from ``content_type``, and if that is unsuccessful, the
        :setting:`DEFAULT_CHARSET` setting will be used.

    ``using``
        The :setting:`NAME <TEMPLATES-NAME>` of a template engine to use for
        loading the template.

The rendering process
=====================

Before a :class:`~django.template.response.TemplateResponse` instance can be
returned to the client, it must be rendered. The rendering process takes the
intermediate representation of template and context, and turns it into the
final byte stream that can be served to the client.

There are three circumstances under which a ``TemplateResponse`` will be
rendered:

* When the ``TemplateResponse`` instance is explicitly rendered, using
  the :meth:`SimpleTemplateResponse.render()` method.

* When the content of the response is explicitly set by assigning
  ``response.content``.

* After passing through template response middleware, but before
  passing through response middleware.

A ``TemplateResponse`` can only be rendered once. The first call to
:meth:`SimpleTemplateResponse.render` sets the content of the response;
subsequent rendering calls do not change the response content.

However, when ``response.content`` is explicitly assigned, the
change is always applied. If you want to force the content to be
re-rendered, you can re-evaluate the rendered content, and assign
the content of the response manually::

    # Set up a rendered TemplateResponse
    >>> from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
    >>> t = TemplateResponse(request, 'original.html', {})
    >>> t.render()
    >>> print(t.content)
    Original content

    # Re-rendering doesn't change content
    >>> t.template_name = 'new.html'
    >>> t.render()
    >>> print(t.content)
    Original content

    # Assigning content does change, no render() call required
    >>> t.content = t.rendered_content
    >>> print(t.content)
    New content

Post-render callbacks
---------------------

Some operations -- such as caching -- cannot be performed on an
unrendered template. They must be performed on a fully complete and
rendered response.

If you're using middleware, the solution is easy. Middleware provides
multiple opportunities to process a response on exit from a view. If
you put behavior in the Response middleware is guaranteed to execute
after template rendering has taken place.

However, if you're using a decorator, the same opportunities do not
exist. Any behavior defined in a decorator is handled immediately.

To compensate for this (and any other analogous use cases),
:class:`TemplateResponse` allows you to register callbacks that will
be invoked when rendering has completed. Using this callback, you can
defer critical processing until a point where you can guarantee that
rendered content will be available.

To define a post-render callback, just define a function that takes
a single argument -- response -- and register that function with
the template response::

    from django.template.response import TemplateResponse

    def my_render_callback(response):
        # Do content-sensitive processing
        do_post_processing()

    def my_view(request):
        # Create a response
        response = TemplateResponse(request, 'mytemplate.html', {})
        # Register the callback
        response.add_post_render_callback(my_render_callback)
        # Return the response
        return response

``my_render_callback()`` will be invoked after the ``mytemplate.html``
has been rendered, and will be provided the fully rendered
:class:`TemplateResponse` instance as an argument.

If the template has already been rendered, the callback will be
invoked immediately.

Using TemplateResponse and SimpleTemplateResponse
=================================================

A :class:`TemplateResponse` object can be used anywhere that a normal
:class:`django.http.HttpResponse` can be used. It can also be used as an
alternative to calling :func:`~django.shortcuts.render()` or
:func:`~django.shortcuts.render_to_response()`.

For example, the following simple view returns a :class:`TemplateResponse`
with a simple template and a context containing a queryset::

    from django.template.response import TemplateResponse

    def blog_index(request):
        return TemplateResponse(request, 'entry_list.html', {'entries': Entry.objects.all()})