How to pass Django template language variables to JavaScript files

Question

The question is partially related to this one here. In addition it should be noted that the notation used below is no safe. For more details see this blog post.

I have a Django project that references multiple JS files. Initial the contents of those files were in the HTML but it slowly became too cluttered.

The problem is that inside these files I am referencing image files, which are used for creating button elements (in my case easyButton instances from Leaflet).

I am looking for a way to somehow fix these references. Note that I have called collectstatic and my HTML is using {% load static %} to load the static content. My JS files are also defined as Django template language variables themselves.

I am thinking of perhaps at least loading all the references to the static files inside the HTML and then using those inside my JS files.

Here is an example code:

{% load static %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/application/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

        <link rel="shortcut icon" href="#" />
        <title>Test</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        ...
    </body>
</html>
<script>
    const TEST = {{ test }}; // The 'test' variable unwraps as "/home/user/.../img_default.png"
</script>
<!-- Try to use TEST inside setup.js -->
<script src="{% static 'setup.js' %}></script>
<script src="{% static 'main.js' %}></script>

where setup.js consists of function declarations that are called inside main.js, e.g.:

function add_misc_buttons() {
    var btn_create_log = L.easyButton("<img src='" + TEST + "' style='width: 32px; height: 32px;'/>", function (btn, map) {
        console.log("TODO Send debug information to the developer");

        window.location.href = "mailto:[email protected]?body=THIS%20IS%20A%20TEST";
    });

    ...
}

with TEST being passed from the HTML file and populated by Django (a typical value would be something like images/some_image.png).

Needless to say this doesn't work. My main.js (where all the functions are called) doesn't really detect the existence of TEST. I even added a console log message to display the value but nothing shows. Is there some way to do this? I am no JS and Django expert by far. I know that variables in general are visible between tags (if declared in a correct order). But it appears this does not apply when using a mix.

JSRB · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-25 08:00:30Z

0

So not 100% sure if this will solve your issue -- but this is how I handle such setups:

# views.py

def render_post(request, id):

    # Get a qs and serialize
    qs_quotes_set = DailyQuotes.objects.all()
    qs_quotes = serializers.serialize("json", qs_quotes_set)

    # Create context
    ctx = {
        'qs_quotes': qs_quotes,
    }
    return render(request, 'board/post.html', ctx)

# post.html

...

<!-- Construct js object for daily quotes data -->

<script type="text/javascript">
 let daily_quotes = JSON.parse('{{ qs_quotes | safe }}')
</script>

...

# xy.js

for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(daily_quotes)) {

  console.log('I am an entry of your Django queryset processed in the javascript file')
}

Note that in your html file the js object constructor needs to be before the js file that should use it. Also If I recall correctly there is a small section about this topic somewhere in the Django docs but can't seem to find it right now.

edited Feb 25, 2023 at 8:00

answered Feb 25, 2023 at 7:55

JSRB

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1 Comment

rbaleksandar Over a year ago

Is there a solution where no queryset is used? The data (icons) is not and imho doesn't make sense to be stored as a database entries. Do you have an alternative solution? (this one can also be left here since it is helpful in some situations). Even if I replace your queryset with a normal JSON string (visible in the HTML), I still cannot get it passed onto the JS file. I even wrote a simple function that is called inside a <script/> tag, while being defined inside a preceding JS file. I am missing some general knowledge on how JS inside tag interacts with JS inside separate file

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