[python] Change a Django form field to a hidden field

I have a Django form with a RegexField, which is very similar to a normal text input field.

In my view, under certain conditions I want to hide it from the user, and trying to keep the form as similar as possible. What's the best way to turn this field into a HiddenInput field?

I know I can set attributes on the field with:

form['fieldname'].field.widget.attr['readonly'] = 'readonly'

And I can set the desired initial value with:

form.initial['fieldname'] = 'mydesiredvalue'

However, that won't change the form of the widget.

What's the best / most "django-y" / least "hacky" way to make this field a <input type="hidden"> field?

For normal form you can do

class MyModelForm(forms.ModelForm):
    slug = forms.CharField(widget=forms.HiddenInput())

If you have model form you can do the following

class MyModelForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = TagStatus
        fields = ('slug', 'ext')
        widgets = {'slug': forms.HiddenInput()}

You can also override __init__ method

class Myform(forms.Form):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(Myform, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.fields['slug'].widget = forms.HiddenInput()

This may also be useful: {{ form.field.as_hidden }}

Firstly, if you don't want the user to modify the data, then it seems cleaner to simply exclude the field. Including it as a hidden field just adds more data to send over the wire and invites a malicious user to modify it when you don't want them to. If you do have a good reason to include the field but hide it, you can pass a keyword arg to the modelform's constructor. Something like this perhaps:

class MyModelForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = MyModel
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        from django.forms.widgets import HiddenInput
        hide_condition = kwargs.pop('hide_condition',None)
        super(MyModelForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        if hide_condition:
            self.fields['fieldname'].widget = HiddenInput()
            # or alternately:  del self.fields['fieldname']  to remove it from the form altogether.

Then in your view:

form = MyModelForm(hide_condition=True)

I prefer this approach to modifying the modelform's internals in the view, but it's a matter of taste.

If you want the field to always be hidden, use the following:

class MyForm(forms.Form):
    hidden_input = forms.CharField(widget=forms.HiddenInput(), initial="value")

If you want the field to be conditionally hidden, you can do the following:

form = MyForm()
if condition:
    form.fields["field_name"].widget = forms.HiddenInput()
    form.fields["field_name"].initial = "value"

an option that worked for me, define the field in the original form as:

forms.CharField(widget = forms.HiddenInput(), required = False)

then when you override it in the new Class it will keep it's place.

You can just use css :

#id_fieldname, label[for="id_fieldname"] {_x000D_
  position: absolute;_x000D_
  display: none_x000D_
}

This will make the field and its label invisible.