Django - Ajax without JQuery lib - javascript

I am Learning and using Ajax without jQuery Lib. I created a simple view which renders a random number on to the template. I added a button and called the ajax function. However, clicking the button doesn't change the value on the screen. I checked in DOM (firebug) and it shows the someText.responseText is yielding the whole html rather than just the value, however it has the new value in that HTML. I am sharing this to provide more information on what I have found so far. I am new to this and experimented it with a lot for ex; I have checked "request.is_ajax():" but somehow the view does not find ajax in request. I have printed request on command line and the GET querydict is empty.
Obviously I am not doing something in the correct manner for Django. Please assist.
I have a view;
def home(request):
rand_num = random.randint(1,100)
return render(request, 'home.html', {'rand_num':rand_num})
and html and script;
<html>
<head>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var someText;
function helloWorld(){
someText = new XMLHttpRequest();
someText.onreadystatechange = callBack;
someText.open("GET", "{% url 'home' %}", true);
someText.send();
};
// When information comes back from the server.
function callBack(){
if(someText.readyState==4 && someText.status==200){
document.getElementById('result').innerHtml = someText.responseText;
}
};
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="result">{{rand_num}}</div>
<input type='button' value='Abraca dabra!' onclick="helloWorld()"/>
</body>
</html>
here is the url for this view;
url(r'^$', 'socialauth.views.home', name='home'),
I am learning this from an online tutorial.

That is because your AJAX endpoint is the whole view - I.e. your AJAX request asks for the whole rendered template.
What you want is just a number, so make a new view and URL to return just the number, and make the AJAX request to that.
AJAX isn't anything special, its just a way to make an asynchronous request to a URL and get the contents returned.
For reference, a view using something like JSONResponse:
from django.http import JsonResponse
def get_random_number_json(request):
random_no = random.randint(1,100)
return JsonResponse({'random_no': random_no})
Then in your frontend Javascript, fetch url for that view, which will give you only the JSON in your javascript variable via your AJAX call, and instead of all that document.getElementById('result') processing, you can just grab the variable from the json object.

Related

Flask returning a generator and handling it in JavaScript [duplicate]

I have a view that generates data and streams it in real time. I can't figure out how to send this data to a variable that I can use in my HTML template. My current solution just outputs the data to a blank page as it arrives, which works, but I want to include it in a larger page with formatting. How do I update, format, and display the data as it is streamed to the page?
import flask
import time, math
app = flask.Flask(__name__)
#app.route('/')
def index():
def inner():
# simulate a long process to watch
for i in range(500):
j = math.sqrt(i)
time.sleep(1)
# this value should be inserted into an HTML template
yield str(i) + '<br/>\n'
return flask.Response(inner(), mimetype='text/html')
app.run(debug=True)
You can stream data in a response, but you can't dynamically update a template the way you describe. The template is rendered once on the server side, then sent to the client.
One solution is to use JavaScript to read the streamed response and output the data on the client side. Use XMLHttpRequest to make a request to the endpoint that will stream the data. Then periodically read from the stream until it's done.
This introduces complexity, but allows updating the page directly and gives complete control over what the output looks like. The following example demonstrates that by displaying both the current value and the log of all values.
This example assumes a very simple message format: a single line of data, followed by a newline. This can be as complex as needed, as long as there's a way to identify each message. For example, each loop could return a JSON object which the client decodes.
from math import sqrt
from time import sleep
from flask import Flask, render_template
app = Flask(__name__)
#app.route("/")
def index():
return render_template("index.html")
#app.route("/stream")
def stream():
def generate():
for i in range(500):
yield "{}\n".format(sqrt(i))
sleep(1)
return app.response_class(generate(), mimetype="text/plain")
<p>This is the latest output: <span id="latest"></span></p>
<p>This is all the output:</p>
<ul id="output"></ul>
<script>
var latest = document.getElementById('latest');
var output = document.getElementById('output');
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('GET', '{{ url_for('stream') }}');
xhr.send();
var position = 0;
function handleNewData() {
// the response text include the entire response so far
// split the messages, then take the messages that haven't been handled yet
// position tracks how many messages have been handled
// messages end with a newline, so split will always show one extra empty message at the end
var messages = xhr.responseText.split('\n');
messages.slice(position, -1).forEach(function(value) {
latest.textContent = value; // update the latest value in place
// build and append a new item to a list to log all output
var item = document.createElement('li');
item.textContent = value;
output.appendChild(item);
});
position = messages.length - 1;
}
var timer;
timer = setInterval(function() {
// check the response for new data
handleNewData();
// stop checking once the response has ended
if (xhr.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
clearInterval(timer);
latest.textContent = 'Done';
}
}, 1000);
</script>
An <iframe> can be used to display streamed HTML output, but it has some downsides. The frame is a separate document, which increases resource usage. Since it's only displaying the streamed data, it might not be easy to style it like the rest of the page. It can only append data, so long output will render below the visible scroll area. It can't modify other parts of the page in response to each event.
index.html renders the page with a frame pointed at the stream endpoint. The frame has fairly small default dimensions, so you may want to to style it further. Use render_template_string, which knows to escape variables, to render the HTML for each item (or use render_template with a more complex template file). An initial line can be yielded to load CSS in the frame first.
from flask import render_template_string, stream_with_context
#app.route("/stream")
def stream():
#stream_with_context
def generate():
yield render_template_string('<link rel=stylesheet href="{{ url_for("static", filename="stream.css") }}">')
for i in range(500):
yield render_template_string("<p>{{ i }}: {{ s }}</p>\n", i=i, s=sqrt(i))
sleep(1)
return app.response_class(generate())
<p>This is all the output:</p>
<iframe src="{{ url_for("stream") }}"></iframe>
5 years late, but this actually can be done the way you were initially trying to do it, javascript is totally unnecessary (Edit: the author of the accepted answer added the iframe section after I wrote this). You just have to include embed the output as an <iframe>:
from flask import Flask, render_template, Response
import time, math
app = Flask(__name__)
#app.route('/content')
def content():
"""
Render the content a url different from index
"""
def inner():
# simulate a long process to watch
for i in range(500):
j = math.sqrt(i)
time.sleep(1)
# this value should be inserted into an HTML template
yield str(i) + '<br/>\n'
return Response(inner(), mimetype='text/html')
#app.route('/')
def index():
"""
Render a template at the index. The content will be embedded in this template
"""
return render_template('index.html.jinja')
app.run(debug=True)
Then the 'index.html.jinja' file will include an <iframe> with the content url as the src, which would something like:
<!doctype html>
<head>
<title>Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<iframe frameborder="0"
onresize="noresize"
style='background: transparent; width: 100%; height:100%;'
src="{{ url_for('content')}}">
</iframe>
</div>
</body>
When rendering user-provided data render_template_string() should be used to render the content to avoid injection attacks. However, I left this out of the example because it adds additional complexity, is outside the scope of the question, isn't relevant to the OP since he isn't streaming user-provided data, and won't be relevant for the vast majority of people seeing this post since streaming user-provided data is a far edge case that few if any people will ever have to do.
Originally I had a similar problem to the one posted here where a model is being trained and the update should be stationary and formatted in Html. The following answer is for future reference or people trying to solve the same problem and need inspiration.
A good solution to achieve this is to use an EventSource in Javascript, as described here. This listener can be started using a context variable, such as from a form or other source. The listener is stopped by sending a stop command. A sleep command is used for visualization without doing any real work in this example. Lastly, Html formatting can be achieved using Javascript DOM-Manipulation.
Flask Application
import flask
import time
app = flask.Flask(__name__)
#app.route('/learn')
def learn():
def update():
yield 'data: Prepare for learning\n\n'
# Preapre model
time.sleep(1.0)
for i in range(1, 101):
# Perform update
time.sleep(0.1)
yield f'data: {i}%\n\n'
yield 'data: close\n\n'
return flask.Response(update(), mimetype='text/event-stream')
#app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
train_model = False
if flask.request.method == 'POST':
if 'train_model' in list(flask.request.form):
train_model = True
return flask.render_template('index.html', train_model=train_model)
app.run(threaded=True)
HTML Template
<form action="/" method="post">
<input name="train_model" type="submit" value="Train Model" />
</form>
<p id="learn_output"></p>
{% if train_model %}
<script>
var target_output = document.getElementById("learn_output");
var learn_update = new EventSource("/learn");
learn_update.onmessage = function (e) {
if (e.data == "close") {
learn_update.close();
} else {
target_output.innerHTML = "Status: " + e.data;
}
};
</script>
{% endif %}

Render template in Django view after AJAX post request

I have managed to send & receive my JSON object in my views.py with a POST request (AJAX), but am unable to return render(request, "pizza/confirmation.html"). I don't want to stay on the same page but rather have my server, do some backend logic on the database and then render a different template confirming that, but I don't see any other way other than AJAX to send across a (large) JSON object. Here is my view:
#login_required
def basket(request):
if request.method == "POST":
selection = json.dumps(request.POST)
print(f"Selection is", selection) # selection comes out OK
context = {"test": "TO DO"}
return render(request, "pizza/confirmation.html", context) # not working
I have tried checking for request.is_ajax() and also tried render_to_string of my html page, but it all looks like my mistake is elsewhere. Also I see in my terminal, that after my POST request, a GET request to my /basket url is called - don't understand why.
Here is my JavaScript snippet:
var jsonStr = JSON.stringify(obj); //obj contains my data
const r = new XMLHttpRequest();
r.open('POST', '/basket');
const data = new FormData();
data.append('selection', jsonStr);
r.onload = () => {
// don't really want any callback and it seems I can only use GET here anyway
};
r.setRequestHeader("X-CSRFToken", getCookie('csrftoken'));
r.send(data);
return false;
In your basket view function, you always render the template as response. You can pass the parameters to your js snippet via HttpResponse. After request completed and you have response in your js function, you can use window.location.href to redirect the page you want. You can also look this answer to get more information.

Failing to pass data from client (JS) to server (Flask) with Ajax

First time ever using jQuery to pass a dictionary filled through a JS script to my server written in Python (Flask) when the user hits a submit button (I read somewhere that AJAX was the way to go).
Something must be broken since in the server function described below, request.get_data() or request.form are None. If any seasoned programmer could give recommendation on how to set up a jQuery request, it would be much appreciated.
In Python, I have the following:
#app.route('/submit',methods=['POST'])
def submit():
info = request.form['info']
action = request.form['action']
...
To handle the dictionary info. On my html file, I load AJAX through:
<head>
<script
src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js">
</script>
</head>
Define my "submit" button as followed:
<button class="btn" onclick="send(event,'s')" id="SUBMIT">Submit</button>
And handle the action through the script:
<script>
var dict = [];
function send(event,action) {
$.post('/submit', {
info: dict,
action: action
}).done(function() {
}).fail(function() {
});
}
...
</script>
Convert request.form to dictionary and print it you can able get the values
print(request.form.to_dict())

Refresh Part of Page (div)

I have a basic html file which is attached to a java program. This java program updates the contents of part of the HTML file whenever the page is refreshed. I want to refresh only that part of the page after each interval of time. I can place the part I would like to refresh in a div, but I am not sure how to refresh only the contents of the div. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Use Ajax for this.
Build a function that will fetch the current page via ajax, but not the whole page, just the div in question from the server. The data will then (again via jQuery) be put inside the same div in question and replace old content with new one.
Relevant function:
http://api.jquery.com/load/
e.g.
$('#thisdiv').load(document.URL + ' #thisdiv');
Note, load automatically replaces content. Be sure to include a space before the id selector.
Let's assume that you have 2 divs inside of your html file.
<div id="div1">some text</div>
<div id="div2">some other text</div>
The java program itself can't update the content of the html file because the html is related to the client, meanwhile java is related to the back-end.
You can, however, communicate between the server (the back-end) and the client.
What we're talking about is AJAX, which you achieve using JavaScript, I recommend using jQuery which is a common JavaScript library.
Let's assume you want to refresh the page every constant interval, then you can use the interval function to repeat the same action every x time.
setInterval(function()
{
alert("hi");
}, 30000);
You could also do it like this:
setTimeout(foo, 30000);
Whereea foo is a function.
Instead of the alert("hi") you can perform the AJAX request, which sends a request to the server and receives some information (for example the new text) which you can use to load into the div.
A classic AJAX looks like this:
var fetch = true;
var url = 'someurl.java';
$.ajax(
{
// Post the variable fetch to url.
type : 'post',
url : url,
dataType : 'json', // expected returned data format.
data :
{
'fetch' : fetch // You might want to indicate what you're requesting.
},
success : function(data)
{
// This happens AFTER the backend has returned an JSON array (or other object type)
var res1, res2;
for(var i = 0; i < data.length; i++)
{
// Parse through the JSON array which was returned.
// A proper error handling should be added here (check if
// everything went successful or not)
res1 = data[i].res1;
res2 = data[i].res2;
// Do something with the returned data
$('#div1').html(res1);
}
},
complete : function(data)
{
// do something, not critical.
}
});
Wherea the backend is able to receive POST'ed data and is able to return a data object of information, for example (and very preferrable) JSON, there are many tutorials out there with how to do so, GSON from Google is something that I used a while back, you could take a look into it.
I'm not professional with Java POST receiving and JSON returning of that sort so I'm not going to give you an example with that but I hope this is a decent start.
You need to do that on the client side for instance with jQuery.
Let's say you want to retrieve HTML into div with ID mydiv:
<h1>My page</h1>
<div id="mydiv">
<h2>This div is updated</h2>
</div>
You can update this part of the page with jQuery as follows:
$.get('/api/mydiv', function(data) {
$('#mydiv').html(data);
});
In the server-side you need to implement handler for requests coming to /api/mydiv and return the fragment of HTML that goes inside mydiv.
See this Fiddle I made for you for a fun example using jQuery get with JSON response data: http://jsfiddle.net/t35F9/1/
Usefetch and innerHTML to load div content
let url="https://server.test-cors.org/server?id=2934825&enable=true&status=200&credentials=false&methods=GET"
async function refresh() {
btn.disabled = true;
dynamicPart.innerHTML = "Loading..."
dynamicPart.innerHTML = await(await fetch(url)).text();
setTimeout(refresh,2000);
}
<div id="staticPart">
Here is static part of page
<button id="btn" onclick="refresh()">
Click here to start refreshing every 2s
</button>
</div>
<div id="dynamicPart">Dynamic part</div>
$.ajax(), $.get(), $.post(), $.load() functions of jQuery internally send XML HTTP request.
among these the load() is only dedicated for a particular DOM Element. See jQuery Ajax Doc. A details Q.A. on these are Here .
I use the following to update data from include files in my divs, this requires jQuery, but is by far the best way I have seen and does not mess with focus. Full working code:
Include jQuery in your code:
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.6.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
Create the following function:
<script type="text/javascript">
function loadcontent() {
$("#test").load("test.html");
//add more lines / divs
}
</script>
Load the function after the page has loaded; and refresh:
<script type="text/javascript">
$( document ).ready(function() {
loadcontent();
});
setInterval("loadcontent();",120000);
</script>
The interval is in ms, 120000 = 2 minutes.
Use the ID you set in the function in your divs, these must be unique:
<div id="test"></div><br>

How can one incorporate JSON data with the returned HTML on the first request to the home page?

My scenario is this - the user asks for the home page and then the javascript code of the page executes an ajax GET request to the same server to get some object.
The server keeps the home page as a jade template.
So, right now it takes two roundtrips to load the home page:
GET the home page
GET the JSON object
I am OK with it, but just out of curiosity - what are my options to incorporate the object requested later into the initial GET request of the home page?
I see one way is to have a hidden html element, which inner HTML would be the string representation of the object. A bit awkward, but pretty simple on the server side, given that the home page jade template is preprocessed anyway.
What are my other options?
Please, note that I am perfectly aware that sparing this one roundtrip does not really matter. I am just curious about the techniques.
Another option is to always return a JSON object, then the HTML for your home page would be the value of some property on this object. This would probably require some changes on your client-side logic, though.
One more option: instead of a hidden HTML input/textarea containing a JSON string, the home page code could contain a script block where an object literal is declared as a variable. Something like this:
<script>
var myObj = ... // Your JSON string here.
// myObj will be an object literal, and you won't need
// to parse the JSON.
</script>
The initial GET request will retrieve just that document. You can have additional documents loaded defined as scripts at the bottom of your page, so you don't need to do a XHR, for the initial load.
For instance:
GET /index.html
//At the bottom you have a <script src="/somedata.js"></script>
GET /somedata.js
//here you define you var myObj = {}.... as suggested by bfavertto
Depending on which server side technology are you using, this could be for instance in MVC3
public partial class SomeDataController : BaseController
{
public virtual ContentResult SomeData()
{
var someObject = //GET the JSON
return Content("var myObj = " + someObject, "application/javascript");
}
}
You can embed the Json data inside a hidden tag in your HTML. At runtime, your javascript reads the data from this hidden tag instead of making a Json call (or make the call if this data is not available).
<!--the contents of this div will be filled at server side with a Json string-->
<div id="my-json-data" style="display:hidden">[...json data...]</div>
on document ready:
var jsonStr = document.getElementById( "my-json-data" ).innerHTML;

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