API Reference

Accessor (A)

class django_tables2.utils.Accessor[source]

A string describing a path from one object to another via attribute/index accesses. For convenience, the class has an alias A to allow for more concise code.

Relations are separated by a . character.

RequestConfig

class django_tables2.config.RequestConfig(request, paginate=True)[source]

A configurator that uses request data to setup a table.

A single RequestConfig can be used for multiple tables in one view. See [pagination]

Parameters:paginate (dict or bool) –

Indicates whether to paginate, and if so, what default values to use. If the value evaluates to False, pagination will be disabled. A dict can be used to specify default values for the call to paginate (e.g. to define a default per_page value).

A special silent item can be used to enable automatic handling of pagination exceptions using the following logic:

Table

class django_tables2.tables.Table(data, order_by=None, orderable=None, empty_text=None, exclude=None, attrs=None, row_attrs=None, sequence=None, prefix=None, order_by_field=None, page_field=None, per_page_field=None, template=None, default=None, request=None, show_header=None, show_footer=True)
as_html(request)

Render the table to an HTML table, adding request to the context.

paginate(klass=<class 'django.core.paginator.Paginator'>, per_page=None, page=1, *args, **kwargs)

Paginates the table using a paginator and creates a page property containing information for the current page.

Parameters:
  • klass (Paginator) – A paginator class to paginate the results.
  • per_page (int) – Number of records to display on each page.
  • page (int) – Page to display.

Extra arguments are passed to the paginator.

Pagination exceptions (EmptyPage and PageNotAnInteger) may be raised from this method and should be handled by the caller.

Table.Meta

class Table.Meta

Provides a way to define global settings for table, as opposed to defining them for each instance.

For example, if you want to create a table of users with their primary key added as a data-id attribute on each <tr>, You can use the following:

class UsersTable(tables.Table):
    class Meta:
        row_attrs = {'data-id': lambda record: record.pk}

Which adds the desired row_attrs to every instance of UsersTable, in contrast of defining it at construction time:

table = tables.Table(User.objects.all(),
                     row_attrs={'data-id': lambda record: record.pk})

Some settings are only available in Table.Meta and not as an argument to the Table constructor.

Note

If you define a class Meta on a child of a table already having a class Meta defined, you need to specify the parent’s Meta class as the parent for the class Meta in the child:

class PersonTable(table.Table):
    class Meta:
        model = Person
        exclude = ('email', )

class PersonWithEmailTable(PersonTable):
    class Meta(PersonTable.Meta):
        exclude = ()

All attributes are overwritten if defined in the child’s class Meta, no merging is attempted.

Arguments:
attrs (dict): Add custom HTML attributes to the table.

Allows custom HTML attributes to be specified which will be added to the <table> tag of any table rendered via Table.as_html() or the render_table template tag.

This is typically used to enable a theme for a table (which is done by adding a CSS class to the <table> element):

class SimpleTable(tables.Table):
    name = tables.Column()

    class Meta:
        attrs = {'class': 'paleblue'}

If you supply a a callable as a value in the dict, it will be called at table instatiation an de returned value will be used:

Consider this example where each table gets an unieque "id" attribute:

import itertools
counter = itertools.count()

class UniqueIdTable(tables.Table):
    name = tables.Column()

    class Meta:
        attrs = {'id': lambda: 'table_%d' % next(counter)}

Note

This functionality is also available via the attrs keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

row_attrs (dict): Add custom html attributes to the table rows.

Allows custom HTML attributes to be specified which will be added to the <tr> tag of the rendered table.

This can be used to add each record’s primary key to each row:

class PersonTable(tables.Table):
    class Meta:
        model = Person
        row_attrs = {'data-id': lambda record: record.pk}

# will result in
'<tr data-id="1">...</tr>'

New in version 1.2.0.

Note

This functionality is also available via the row_attrs keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

empty_text (str): Defines the text to display when the table has no rows.

If the table is empty and bool(empty_text) is True, a row is displayed containing empty_text. This is allows a message such as There are currently no FOO. to be displayed.

Note

This functionality is also available via the empty_text keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

show_header (bool): Wether or not to show the table header.

Defines whether the table header should be displayed or not, by default, the header shows the column names.

Note

This functionality is also available via the show_header keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

exclude (typle or str): Exclude columns from the table.

This is useful in subclasses to exclude columns in a parent:

>>> class Person(tables.Table):
...     first_name = tables.Column()
...     last_name = tables.Column()
...
>>> Person.base_columns
{'first_name': <django_tables2.columns.Column object at 0x10046df10>,
'last_name': <django_tables2.columns.Column object at 0x10046d8d0>}
>>> class ForgetfulPerson(Person):
...     class Meta:
...         exclude = ('last_name', )
...
>>> ForgetfulPerson.base_columns
{'first_name': <django_tables2.columns.Column object at 0x10046df10>}

Note

This functionality is also available via the exclude keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

However, unlike some of the other Table.Meta options, providing the exclude keyword to a table’s constructor won’t override the Meta.exclude. Instead, it will be effectively be added to it. i.e. you can’t use the constructor’s exclude argument to undo an exclusion.

fields (tuple or str): Fields to show in the table.

Used in conjunction with model, specifies which fields should have columns in the table. If None, all fields are used, otherwise only those named:

# models.py
class Person(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=200)

# tables.py
class PersonTable(tables.Table):
    class Meta:
        model = Person
        fields = ('first_name', )
model (django.core.db.models.Model): Create columns from model.

A model to inspect and automatically create corresponding columns.

This option allows a Django model to be specified to cause the table to automatically generate columns that correspond to the fields in a model.

order_by (tuple): The default ordering.

A hyphen - can be used to prefix a column name to indicate descending order, for example: ('name', '-age').

Note

This functionality is also available via the order_by keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

sequence (iteralbe): The sequence of the table columns.

This allows the default order of columns (the order they were defined in the Table) to be overridden.

The special item '...' can be used as a placeholder that will be replaced with all the columns that weren’t explicitly listed. This allows you to add columns to the front or back when using inheritance.

Example:

>>> class Person(tables.Table):
...     first_name = tables.Column()
...     last_name = tables.Column()
...
...     class Meta:
...         sequence = ('last_name', '...')
...
>>> Person.base_columns.keys()
['last_name', 'first_name']

The '...' item can be used at most once in the sequence value. If it’s not used, every column must be explicitly included. e.g. in the above example, sequence = ('last_name', ) would be invalid because neither '...' or 'first_name' were included.

Note

This functionality is also available via the sequence keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

orderable (bool): Default value for column’s orderable attribute.

If the table and column don’t specify a value, a column’s orderable value will fallback to this. This provides an easy mechanism to disable ordering on an entire table, without adding orderable=False to each column in a table.

Note

This functionality is also available via the orderable keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

template (str): The default template to use when rendering the table.

Note

This functionality is also available via the template keyword argument to a table’s constructor.

localize (str or tuple): Specifies which fields should be localized in the
table. Read Controlling localization for more information.
unlocalize (str or tuple): Specifies which fields should be unlocalized in
the table. Read Controlling localization for more information.

Column

class django_tables2.columns.Column(verbose_name=None, accessor=None, default=None, visible=True, orderable=None, attrs=None, order_by=None, empty_values=None, localize=None, footer=None)[source]

Represents a single column of a table.

Column objects control the way a column (including the cells that fall within it) are rendered.

Parameters:
  • attrs (dict) –

    HTML attributes for elements that make up the column. This API is extended by subclasses to allow arbitrary HTML attributes to be added to the output.

    By default Column supports:

    • thtable/thead/tr/th elements
    • tdtable/tbody/tr/td elements
    • cell – fallback if th or td isn’t defined
  • accessor (str or Accessor) – An accessor that describes how to extract values for this column from the table data.
  • default (str or callable) –

    The default value for the column. This can be a value or a callable object [1]. If an object in the data provides None for a column, the default will be used instead.

    The default value may affect ordering, depending on the type of data the table is using. The only case where ordering is not affected is when a QuerySet is used as the table data (since sorting is performed by the database).

  • order_by (str, tuple or Accessor) – Allows one or more accessors to be used for ordering rather than accessor.
  • orderable (bool) – If False, this column will not be allowed to influence row ordering/sorting.
  • verbose_name (str) – A human readable version of the column name.
  • visible (bool) – If True, this column will be rendered.
  • localize

    If the cells in this column will be localized by the localize filter:

    • If True, force localization
    • If False, values are not localized
    • If None (default), localization depends on the USE_L10N setting.
[1]The provided callable object must not expect to receive any arguments.

BooleanColumn

class django_tables2.columns.BooleanColumn(null=False, yesno=u'u2714, u2718', **kwargs)[source]

A column suitable for rendering boolean data.

Parameters:
  • null (bool) – is None different from False?
  • yesno (str) – text to display for True/False values, comma separated

Rendered values are wrapped in a <span> to allow customisation by themes. By default the span is given the class true, false.

In addition to attrs keys supported by Column, the following are available:

  • span – adds attributes to the <span> tag

CheckBoxColumn

class django_tables2.columns.CheckBoxColumn(attrs=None, checked=None, **extra)[source]

A subclass of Column that renders as a checkbox form input.

This column allows a user to select a set of rows. The selection information can then be used to apply some operation (e.g. “delete”) onto the set of objects that correspond to the selected rows.

The value that is extracted from the table data for this column is used as the value for the checkbox, i.e. <input type="checkbox" value="..." />

This class implements some sensible defaults:

  • HTML input’s name attribute is the column name (can override via attrs argument).
  • orderable defaults to False.
Parameters:
  • attrs (dict) –

    In addition to attrs keys supported by Column, the following are available:

    • input<input> elements in both <td> and <th>.
    • th__input – Replaces input attrs in header cells.
    • td__input – Replaces input attrs in body cells.
  • checked (Accessor, bool, callable) – Allow rendering the checkbox as checked. If it resolves to a truthy value, the checkbox will be rendered as checked.

Note

You’d expect that you could select multiple checkboxes in the rendered table and then do something with that. This functionality isn’t implemented. If you want something to actually happen, you’ll need to implement that yourself.

is_checked(value, record)[source]

Determine if the checkbox should be checked

DateColumn

class django_tables2.columns.DateColumn(format=None, short=True, *args, **kwargs)[source]

A column that renders dates in the local timezone.

Parameters:
  • format (str) – format string in same format as Django’s date template filter (optional)
  • short (bool) – if format is not specified, use Django’s SHORT_DATE_FORMAT setting, otherwise use DATE_FORMAT

DateTimeColumn

class django_tables2.columns.DateTimeColumn(format=None, short=True, *args, **kwargs)[source]

A column that renders datetimes in the local timezone.

Parameters:
  • format (str) – format string for datetime (optional). Note that format uses Django’s date template tag syntax.
  • short (bool) – if format is not specified, use Django’s SHORT_DATETIME_FORMAT, else DATETIME_FORMAT

EmailColumn

class django_tables2.columns.EmailColumn(attrs=None, text=None, *args, **kwargs)[source]

Render email addresses to mailto-links.

Parameters:
  • attrs (dict) – HTML attributes that are added to the rendered <a href="...">...</a> tag
  • text – Either static text, or a callable. If set, this will be used to render the text inside link instead of the value

Example:

# models.py
class Person(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    email =  models.EmailField()

# tables.py
class PeopleTable(tables.Table):
    name = tables.Column()
    email = tables.EmailColumn()

# result
# [...]<a href="mailto:email@example.com">email@example.com</a>

FileColumn

class django_tables2.columns.FileColumn(verify_exists=True, **kwargs)[source]

Attempts to render FieldFile (or other storage backend File) as a hyperlink.

When the file is accessible via a URL, the file is rendered as a hyperlink. The basename is used as the text:

<a href="/media/path/to/receipt.pdf" title="path/to/receipt.pdf">receipt.pdf</a>

When unable to determine the URL, a span is used instead:

<span title="path/to/receipt.pdf">receipt.pdf</span>

Column.attrs keys a and span can be used to add additional attributes.

Parameters:verify_exists (bool) – attempt to determine if the file exists If verify_exists, the HTML class exists or missing is added to the element to indicate the integrity of the storage.

LinkColumn

class django_tables2.columns.LinkColumn(viewname=None, urlconf=None, args=None, kwargs=None, current_app=None, attrs=None, **extra)[source]

Renders a normal value as an internal hyperlink to another page.

It’s common to have the primary value in a row hyperlinked to the page dedicated to that record.

The first arguments are identical to that of reverse and allows an internal URL to be described. If this argument is None, then get_absolute_url. (see Django references) will be used. The last argument attrs allows custom HTML attributes to be added to the rendered <a href="..."> tag.

Parameters:
  • viewname (str) – See reverse, or use None to use the model’s get_absolute_url
  • urlconf (str) – See reverse.
  • args (list) – See reverse. [2]
  • kwargs (dict) – See reverse. [2]
  • current_app (str) – See reverse.
  • attrs (dict) – HTML attributes that are added to the rendered <a ...>...</a> tag.
  • text (str or callable) – Either static text, or a callable. If set, this will be used to render the text inside link instead of value (default). The calleble gets the record being rendered as argument.
[2](1, 2) In order to create a link to a URL that relies on information in the current row, Accessor objects can be used in the args or kwargs arguments. The accessor will be resolved using the row’s record before reverse is called.

Example:

# models.py
class Person(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)

# urls.py
urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url('people/(\d+)/', views.people_detail, name='people_detail')
)

# tables.py
from django_tables2.utils import A  # alias for Accessor

class PeopleTable(tables.Table):
    name = tables.LinkColumn('people_detail', args=[A('pk')])

In order to override the text value (i.e. <a ... >text</a>) consider the following example:

# tables.py
from django_tables2.utils import A  # alias for Accessor

class PeopleTable(tables.Table):
    name = tables.LinkColumn('people_detail', text='static text', args=[A('pk')])
    age  = tables.LinkColumn('people_detail', text=lambda record: record.name, args=[A('pk')])

In the first example, a static text would be rendered (‘static text’) In the second example, you can specify a callable which accepts a record object (and thus can return anything from it)

In addition to attrs keys supported by Column, the following are available:

  • a<a> elements in <td>.
compose_url(record, *args, **kwargs)[source]

Compose the url if the column is constructed with a viewname.

RelatedLinkColumn

class django_tables2.columns.RelatedLinkColumn(viewname=None, urlconf=None, args=None, kwargs=None, current_app=None, attrs=None, **extra)[source]

Render a link to a related object using related object’s get_absolute_url, same parameters as ~.LinkColumn

TemplateColumn

class django_tables2.columns.TemplateColumn(template_code=None, template_name=None, **extra)[source]

A subclass of Column that renders some template code to use as the cell value.

Parameters:
  • template_code (str) – template code to render
  • template_name (str) – name of the template to render

A Template object is created from the template_code or template_name and rendered with a context containing:

  • record – data record for the current row
  • value – value from record that corresponds to the current column
  • default – appropriate default value to use as fallback

Example:

class ExampleTable(tables.Table):
    foo = tables.TemplateColumn('{{ record.bar }}')
    # contents of `myapp/bar_column.html` is `{{ value }}`
    bar = tables.TemplateColumn(template_name='myapp/name2_column.html')

Both columns will have the same output.

Important

In order to use template tags or filters that require a RequestContext, the table must be rendered via {% render_table %}.

URLColumn

class django_tables2.columns.URLColumn(attrs=None, text=None, *args, **kwargs)[source]

Renders URL values as hyperlinks.

Parameters:
  • text (str or callable) – Either static text, or a callable. If set, this will be used to render the text inside link instead of value (default)
  • attrs (dict) – Additional attributes for the <a> tag

Example:

>>> class CompaniesTable(tables.Table):
...     www = tables.URLColumn()
...
>>> table = CompaniesTable([{'www': 'http://google.com'}])
>>> table.rows[0].get_cell('www')
'<a href="http://google.com">http://google.com</a>'

See Internal APIs for internal classes.