.. image:: https://raw.github.com/5monkeys/django-viewlet/master/docs/django_viewlet.png
Render template parts with extended cache control.
.. image:: https://travis-ci.org/5monkeys/django-viewlet.png?branch=master
:target: http://travis-ci.org/5monkeys/django-viewlet
.. image:: https://coveralls.io/repos/5monkeys/django-viewlet/badge.png?branch=master
:target: https://coveralls.io/r/5monkeys/django-viewlet?branch=master
Installation
------------
Install django-viewlet in your python environment
.. code-block:: sh
$ pip install django-viewlet
Supports ``Django`` versions 1.3 - 2.0 and ``Python`` versions 2.6 - 3.6.
Configuration
-------------
Add ``viewlet`` to your ``INSTALLED_APPS`` setting so Django can find the template tag
.. code-block:: python
INSTALLED_APPS = (
...
'viewlet',
)
Jinja2
______
If you're using ``Jinja2`` as your template engine for Django versions < 1.8,
put this in your Django settings:
.. code-block:: python
VIEWLET_TEMPLATE_ENGINE = 'jinja2'
If you're using ``Coffin`` or ``Jingo``, add the ``ViewletExtension`` to their settings,
and optionally switch to their respective environment.
**Coffin:**
.. code-block:: python
JINJA2_EXTENSIONS = (
...
'viewlet.loaders.jinja2_loader.ViewletExtension',
)
VIEWLET_JINJA2_ENVIRONMENT = 'coffin.common.env'
**Jingo:**
.. code-block:: python
JINJA_CONFIG = {
'extensions': (
...
'viewlet.loaders.jinja2_loader.ViewletExtension',
),
}
VIEWLET_JINJA2_ENVIRONMENT = 'jingo.get_env'
**Django 1.8+:**
Add ``ViewletExtension`` to the list of extensions of Jinja2 template engine
.. code-block:: python
TEMPLATES = [
{
'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.jinja2.Jinja2',
# ...
'OPTIONS': {
# ...
'extensions': [
# ...
'viewlet.loaders.jinja2_loader.ViewletExtension',
],
}
}
],
Usage
-----
A viewlet is almost like a function based django view, taking a template context
as first argument instead of request.
Place your viewlets in ``viewlets.py`` or existing ``views.py`` in your django app directory.
.. code-block:: python
from django.template.loader import render_to_string
from viewlet import viewlet
@viewlet
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
You can then render the viewlet with the ``viewlet`` template tag:
.. code-block:: html
{% load viewlets %}
<p>{% viewlet hello_user request.user.username %}</p>
... and in your Jinja2 templates:
.. code-block:: html
<p>{% viewlet 'host_sponsors', host.id) %}</p>
Specifying cache backend
________________________
By default viewlet will try using ``viewlet`` cache alias, falling back to ``default``. You can specify
which alias should be used in settings:
.. code-block:: python
VIEWLET_DEFAULT_CACHE_ALIAS = 'template_cache'
CACHES = {
# ...
'template_cache': {
# ...
},
# ...
}
Additionally, you can override cache alias in viewlet decorator with ``using`` argument
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(using='super_cache')
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
Refreshing viewlets
___________________
A cached viewlet can be re-rendered and updated behind the scenes with ``viewlet.refresh``
.. code-block:: python
import viewlet
viewlet.refresh('hello_user', 'monkey')
# or
hello_user.refresh('monkey')
The decorator
_____________
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(name, template, key, timeout)
* name
Optional reference name for the viewlet, defaults to function name.
* template
Optional path to template. If specified the viewlet must return a context dict,
otherwise it is responsible to return the rendered output itself.
* key
Optional cache key, if not specified a dynamic key will be generated ``viewlet:name(args...)``
* timeout
Cache timeout. Defaults to configured cache backend default timeout, None = eternal, 0 = uncached.
Examples
________
The content returned by the viewlet will by default be cached. Use the ``timeout`` argument to change this.
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(timeout=30*60)
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
..
**Tip:** Set ``timeout`` to ``None`` to cache forever and use ``viewlet.refresh`` to update the cache.
Django viewlet will by default build a cache key ``viewlet:name(args...)``.
To customize this key pass a string to the viewlet decorator argument ``key`` that includes string mod operators for each
viewlet argument.
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(timeout=30*60, key='some_cache_key_%s')
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
Django viewlet will cache returned context instead of html by using the ``template`` decorator argument.
This is useful if cached html is too heavy, or your viewlet template needs to be rendered on every call.
The specified template will then be rendered with the viewlet context merged with the parent context, usually a ``RequestContext``.
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(template='hello_user.html', timeout=30*60)
def hello_user(context, name):
return {'name': name}
..
**Note:** Return context dict for the template, not rendered html/text
If there is no need for caching, set the viewlet decorator argument ``timeout`` to 0.
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(timeout=0)
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
By default your viewlets will be named as the function. To override this you can set the decorator argument ``name``
.. code-block:: python
@viewlet(name='greeting')
def hello_user(context, name):
return render_to_string('hello_user.html', {'name': name})
A powerful usage of ``viewlet.refresh`` is to use it together with Django signals:
.. code-block:: python
class Product(Model):
name = CharField(max_length=255)
@viewlet(timeout=None)
def product_teaser(context, id):
product = get_context_object(Product, id, context)
return render_to_string('product_teaser.html', locals())
def refresh_product_teaser(instance, **kwargs):
viewlet.refresh('product_teaser', instance.id)
post_save.connect(refresh_product_teaser, Product)
Viewlets can also be accesses with AJAX by adding ``viewlet.urls`` to your Django root urls:
.. code-block:: python
urlpatterns = patterns('',
(r'^viewlet/', include('viewlet.urls')),
)
The url ends with the viewlet name followed by a querystring used as ``kwargs`` to the viewlet:
..
http://localhost:8000/viewlet/[name]/?arg=1...