Automatically set logged-in user as the author in django using createview and modelform

Question

I am building a frontend form that allows someone to post an article without accessing the admin.

When the user is logged in, I would like for him/her to be able to write an article. Upon saving, I would like that user to automatically be set as the author of the article.

I am at an impasse. Any help would be much appreciated.

models.py

from django.db import models

from django.urls import reverse
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.utils import timezone



class Article(models.Model):
    author = models.ForeignKey(User)
    title = models.CharField(max_length=65)
    text = HTMLField()
    created_date = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now)
    published_date = models.DateTimeField(blank=True, null=True)

    def publish(self):
        self.published_date = timezone.now()
        self.save()

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title


class ArticleImage(models.Model):
    image = CloudinaryField('image')
    image_name = models.CharField(max_length=55,
                                    default='')
    article = models.ForeignKey(Article)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.image_name


class ArticleTag(models.Model):
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=50,
                            unique=True)
    article = models.ForeignKey(Article)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.slug


class ArticleCategory(models.Model):
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=20,
                            unique=True)
    article = models.ForeignKey(Article)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.slug

forms.py

class ArticleCreationForm(ModelForm):

    class Meta:
        model = Article
        fields = ['title', 'text']
        widgets = {
            'title': forms.TextInput(attrs={'placeholder': 'Please add a title. Max: 65 characters'}),
            'text': forms.Textarea(attrs={'cols': 80, 'rows': 40, 'placeholder': 'Starting typing your article...'})
        }

ArticleImageFormSet = inlineformset_factory(Article, ArticleImage,
                                            fields=('image', 'image_name',),
                                            extra=1,
                                            max_num=1,
                                            widgets={'image_name':
                    forms.TextInput(attrs={'placeholder': 'Image name'})})
ArticleTagFormSet = inlineformset_factory(Article, ArticleTag,
                                            fields=('slug',),
                                            extra=1,
                                            max_num=1)
ArticleCategoryFormSet = inlineformset_factory(Article, ArticleCategory,
                                            fields=('slug',),
                                            extra=1,
                                            max_num=1)

views.py

class CreateArticle(CreateView):
    model = Article
    form_class = ArticleCreationForm
    template_name_suffix = '_add_form'

    def get_success_url(self):
        return reverse('accounts:detail', kwargs={'pk': self.object.pk})

    def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Handles GET requests and instantiates blank versions of the form
        and its inline formsets.
        """
        self.object = None
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        articleimage_form = ArticleImageFormSet()
        articletag_form = ArticleTagFormSet()
        articlecategory_form = ArticleCategoryFormSet()
        return self.render_to_response(
            self.get_context_data(form=form,
                                  articleimage_form=articleimage_form,
                                  articletag_form=articletag_form,
                                  articlecategory_form=articlecategory_form))

    def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Handles POST requests, instantiating a form instance and its inline
        formsets with the passed POST variables and then checking them for
        validity.
        """
        self.object = None
        form_class = self.get_form_class()
        form = self.get_form(form_class)
        articleimage_form = ArticleImageFormSet(self.request.POST)
        articletag_form = ArticleTagFormSet(self.request.POST)
        articlecategory_form = ArticleCategoryFormSet(self.request.POST)
        if (form.is_valid() and articleimage_form.is_valid() and
            articletag_form.is_valid() and articlecategory_form.is_valid()):
            return self.form_valid(form, articleimage_form, articletag_form,
                                    articlecategory_form)
        else:
            return self.form_invalid(form, articleimage_form, articletag_form,
                                        articlecategory_form)

    def form_valid(self, form, articleimage_form, articletag_form,
                    articlecategory_form):
        """
        Called if all forms are valid. Creates a Recipe instance along with
        associated Ingredients and Instructions and then redirects to a
        success page.
        """
        self.object = form.save()
        obj.author = request.user.username
        articleimage_form.instance = self.object
        articleimage_form.save()
        articletag_form.instance = self.object
        articletag_form.save()
        articlecategory_form.instance = self.object
        articlecategory_form.save()
        return HttpResponseRedirect(self.get_success_url())

    def form_invalid(self, form, articleimage_form, articletag_form,
                        articlecategory_form):
        """
        Called if a form is invalid. Re-renders the context data with the
        data-filled forms and errors.
        """
        return self.render_to_response(
            self.get_context_data(form=form,
                                  articleimage_form=articleimage_form,
                                  articletag_form=articletag_form,
                                  articlecategory_form=articlecategory_form))

template.html

<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="" method="post">
            {% csrf_token %}
            <div class="row">
              <div class="medium-9 columns">
                {{ form.non_field_errors }}
                <h2 class="article-identifier">Add a new article</h2>
                <div class="fieldWrapper">
                  {{ form.title.errors }}
                  {{ form.title }}
                  <div id="title_feedback" class="text-right"></div>
                </div>

                <div class="fieldWrapper">
                  {{ form.text.errors }}
                  {{ form.text }}
                </div>
              </div>
              <div class="medium-3 columns">
                <div class="button-wrapper">
                  <input class="button" type="submit" value="Publish">
                </div>

                <fieldset class="image_upload">
                  <h2>Add an Image</h2>
                    {{ articleimage_form.management_form }}
                    {{ articleimage_form.non_form_errors }}
                    {% for form in articleimage_form %}
                        {{ form.id }}
                          <div class="inline {{ articleimage_form.prefix }}">
                              {{ form.image.errors }}
                              {{ form.image.label_tag }}
                              {{ form.image }}
                              {{ form.image_name.errors }}
                              {{ form.image_name.label_tag }}
                              {{ form.image_name }}
                          </div>
                    {% endfor %}
                </fieldset>

                <fieldset>
                  <h2>Add a Category</h2>
                  {{ articlecategory_form.management_form }}
                  {{ articlecategory_form.non_form_errors }}
                  {% for form in articlecategory_form %}
                      {{ form.id }}
                      <div class="inline {{ articlecategory_form.prefix }}">
                          {{ form.slug.errors }}
                          {{ form.slug.label_tag }}
                          {{ form.slug }}
                      </div>
                  {% endfor %}
                </fieldset>

                <hr />

                <fieldset>
                  <h2>Add a Tag</h2>
                  {{ articletag_form.management_form }}
                  {{ articletag_form.non_form_errors }}
                  {% for form in articletag_form %}
                      {{ form.id }}
                      <div class="inline {{ articletag_form.prefix }}">
                          {{ form.slug.errors }}
                          {{ form.slug.label_tag }}
                          {{ form.slug }}
                      </div>
                  {% endfor %}
                </fieldset>

              </div>
            </div>
        </form>

Answer 1

Save the form with commit=False, set the user on the object, then save the object. Inside the form_valid method, you can access the user with self.request.user. You should assign the user instance, not the username as your code currently does.

obj = form.save(commit=False)
obj.author = self.request.user
...
obj.save

You should also restrict the view to logged in users. You can use the LoginRequiredMixin for this.

from django.contrib.auth.mixins import LoginRequiredMixin

class CreateArticle(LoginRequiredMixin, CreateView):

Answer 2

As per Django's documentation, you can just set form.instance.author to the current user (self.request.user), in the overriden form_valid method (you seem to have done something similar in your code already using other objects.). Then you can just return super().form_valid(form).

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/topics/class-based-views/generic-editing/#models-and-request-user

In your case you seem to have a need to do other things in your form_valid method, so it may not necessarily be correct for you to return super().form_valid(form).