Opened 6 years ago

Closed 5 years ago

#29459 closed Cleanup/optimization (fixed)

Make Form data/files initialize with an empty MultiValueDict rather than dict

Reported by: Sven R. Kunze Owned by: Andra Denis Ionescu
Component: Forms Version: 2.0
Severity: Normal Keywords: Form QueryDict
Cc: Herbert Fortes Triage Stage: Ready for checkin
Has patch: yes Needs documentation: no
Needs tests: no Patch needs improvement: no
Easy pickings: no UI/UX: yes

Description

You might have a look here:

https://github.com/django/django/blob/362813d6287925b8f63f/django/forms/forms.py#L78

None is converted to a regular dict but not to a QueryDict.

Methods of the form might rely on the API of a QueryDict such as 'iterlists' or 'getlist' which a regular dict doesn't provide.

Change History (16)

comment:1 by Herbert Fortes, 6 years ago

Cc: Herbert Fortes added

Hi,

To be clear, QueryDict is a subclass of dict.

The idea is to add feature?

Regards,

Version 1, edited 6 years ago by Herbert Fortes (previous) (next) (diff)

in reply to:  1 comment:2 by Sven R. Kunze, 6 years ago

Replying to Herbert Fortes:

Is the idea to add a feature?

Sorry, if that wasn't clear from the issue itself. Instead of:

        self.data = {} if data is None else data

this would be 100% compatible with what views usually pass into forms:

        self.data = QueryDict() if data is None else data

At a first look, the dictionary is there to avoid that the code breaks.

I think so as well and it works in many places until people think they can rely on the QueryDict API such as 'iterlists' or 'getlist' which is not always true.

comment:3 by Tim Graham, 6 years ago

A similar issue was raised in #27989. The main concern I have is that this would couple django.forms to django.http.

comment:4 by Sven R. Kunze, 6 years ago

Yes, I thought that #27989 was the reason to change it from "data or {}" to ternary operator.

What do you think about:

1) either using MultiValueDict instead of QueryDict? That would couple django.forms to django.utils.datastructures

2) or moving QueryDict to django.utils.datastructures and then using it in the BaseForm constructor?

At least, MultiValueDict supports the getlist, setlist and lists APIs. So, those would behave the same because the dicts are empty anyway. Although, I would rather tend to option 2.

What do you think?

Last edited 6 years ago by Sven R. Kunze (previous) (diff)

comment:5 by Simon Charette, 6 years ago

I like the MultiValueDict approach, +1.

comment:6 by Herbert Fortes, 6 years ago

MultiValueDict +1

comment:7 by Sven R. Kunze, 6 years ago

Okay seems like we have winner. :D

Just exploring the other option a bit more: why is moving QueryDict to datastructures not a feasible option? It actually sounds like a more reasonable place for it.

comment:8 by Tim Graham, 6 years ago

Summary: data=None in Form results NOT in empty QueryDictMake Form data/files initialize with an empty MultiValueDict rather than dict
Triage Stage: UnreviewedAccepted
Type: BugCleanup/optimization

I agree that QueryDict should remain in django.http. I don't feel that it's something meant for use outside of the request/response cycle.

comment:9 by Sven R. Kunze, 6 years ago

I don't feel that it's something meant for use outside of the request/response cycle.

Sorry, for still nagging here, but I still don't understand why it cannot be moved to datastructures.

Its doc string: "A specialized MultiValueDict which represents a query string." <<< That sounds like a perfect valid datastructure handling encoding and query string syntax. Its source code has no reference to request/responses.


Also APIs MultiValueDict doesn't provide:

  • urlencode
  • encoding (getter and setter)
  • fromkeys
  • mutability
  • isinstance check


I just want to make sure we don't need to touch this part in 3 years AGAIN when somebody else needs the real thing.

Last edited 6 years ago by Sven R. Kunze (previous) (diff)

comment:10 by Jeff, 6 years ago

Do we want to move ahead with the MultiValueDict, or delay for more discussion concerning the QueryDict?

in reply to:  4 comment:11 by Herbert Fortes, 6 years ago

IMHO, an empty dict should not make too much noise on the code. For now at least.

comment:12 by Andra Denis Ionescu, 5 years ago

Owner: changed from nobody to Andra Denis Ionescu
Status: newassigned

comment:13 by Tim Graham, 5 years ago

Has patch: set
Needs tests: set

PR. Please uncheck "Needs tests" after updating.

comment:14 by Andra Denis Ionescu, 5 years ago

Needs tests: unset

comment:15 by Simon Charette, 5 years ago

Triage Stage: AcceptedReady for checkin

comment:16 by Tim Graham <timograham@…>, 5 years ago

Resolution: fixed
Status: assignedclosed

In 4c086d7d:

Fixed #29459 -- Initialized form data/files with empty MultiValueDicts.

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