Django, global template variables

Question

I have a base template file (base.html) and every other template extends to it and generates content using its blocks. Certain variables, such as nav_obj, are used in the base template file.

View:

nav_obj = NavigationObject.objects.all()

Base template:

{% for object in nav_obj %}
<a href="{{ object.link }}">{{ object.title }}</a>
{% endfor %}

At the moment, I need to pass nav_obj in every view. Is there any way to have this sent automatically?

Answer 1

Write your own context processor.

Answer 2

Inclusion tags might be a good-looking alternative to a context processor.

Answer 3

As the accepted answers already says, use context processors. Here's how to make them work with the current Django version:

First, create a function which accepts a request and returns a dictionary with your global template variables:

def load_nav_obj(request):
    nav_obj = NavigationObject.objects.all()
    return {'nav_obj': nav_obj}

A good place for this function would be in a file context_processors.py in your main app.

Now, tell your app to use this context processor for all rendered templates. In your settings.py, add myapp.context_processors.load_nav_obj in the TEMPLATE settings:

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                # Insert your context processors here
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.i18n',
                'django.template.context_processors.media',
                'django.template.context_processors.static',
                'django.template.context_processors.tz',
                ...
                'myapp.context_processors.load_nav_obj',
            ],
        },
    },
]

That's it! You can now use the variable {{nav_obj}} in all templates!

Answer 4

There is an alternative, redirect here: Defining "global variable" in Django templates

Snippet example usage:

{% setglobal foo 0 %}
value={% getglobal foo %}
{% incrementglobal foo 0 %}
value={% setglobal foo %}

Answer 5

You can also look at Django-navbar for it's documentation and tests..