Django - CreateView not saving form with nested formset

Question

I am trying to adapt an approach for saving nested formsets with main form using Django-Crispy-Forms layout feature but I can't save it. I am following this code example project but couldn't get formset validated to save data. I will be really thankful if someone can point out my mistake. I also need to add three inlines in same view for EmployeeForm. I tried Django-Extra-Views but couldn't make that work. Would appreciate if you advise for adding more than one inlines for same view like around 5. All I want to achieve that a single page for creating Employee and its inlines like Education, Experience, Others. Below is the code:

models:

class Employee(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='employees',
                                null=True, blank=True)
    about = models.TextField()
    street = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    city = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    country = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    cell_phone = models.PositiveIntegerField()
    landline = models.PositiveIntegerField()

    def __str__(self):
        return '{} {}'.format(self.id, self.user)

    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('bars:create', kwargs={'pk':self.pk})

class Education(models.Model):
    employee = models.ForeignKey('Employee', on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='education')
    course_title = models.CharField(max_length=100, null=True, blank=True)
    institute_name = models.CharField(max_length=200, null=True, blank=True)
    start_year = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)
    end_year = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return '{} {}'.format(self.employee, self.course_title)

View:

class EmployeeCreateView(CreateView):
    model = Employee
    template_name = 'bars/crt.html'
    form_class = EmployeeForm
    success_url = None

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        data = super(EmployeeCreateView, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
        if self.request.POST:
            data['education'] = EducationFormset(self.request.POST)
        else:
            data['education'] = EducationFormset()
        print('This is context data {}'.format(data))
        return data


    def form_valid(self, form):
        context = self.get_context_data()
        education = context['education']
        print('This is Education {}'.format(education))
        with transaction.atomic():
            form.instance.employee.user = self.request.user
            self.object = form.save()
            if education.is_valid():
                education.save(commit=False)
                education.instance = self.object
                education.save()

        return super(EmployeeCreateView, self).form_valid(form)

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

Forms:

class EducationForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Education
        exclude = ()
EducationFormset =inlineformset_factory(
    Employee, Education, form=EducationForm,
    fields=['course_title', 'institute_name'], extra=1,can_delete=True
    )

class EmployeeForm(forms.ModelForm):

    class Meta:
        model = Employee
        exclude = ('user', 'role')

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(EmployeeForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.helper = FormHelper()
        self.helper.form_tag = True
        self.helper.form_class = 'form-horizontal'
        self.helper.label_class = 'col-md-3 create-label'
        self.helper.field_class = 'col-md-9'
        self.helper.layout = Layout(
            Div(
                Field('about'),
                Field('street'),
                Field('city'),
                Field('cell_phone'),
                Field('landline'),
                Fieldset('Add Education',
                    Formset('education')),
                HTML("<br>"),
                ButtonHolder(Submit('submit', 'save')),
                )
            )

Custom Layout Object as per example:

from crispy_forms.layout import LayoutObject, TEMPLATE_PACK
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.template.loader import render_to_string

class Formset(LayoutObject):
    template = "bars/formset.html"

    def __init__(self, formset_name_in_context, template=None):
        self.formset_name_in_context = formset_name_in_context
        self.fields = []
        if template:
            self.template = template

    def render(self, form, form_style, context, template_pack=TEMPLATE_PACK):
        formset = context[self.formset_name_in_context]
        return render_to_string(self.template, {'formset': formset})

Formset.html:

{% load static %}
{% load crispy_forms_tags %}
{% load staticfiles %}

<table>
{{ formset.management_form|crispy }}

    {% for form in formset.forms %}
            <tr class="{% cycle 'row1' 'row2' %} formset_row-{{ formset.prefix }}">
                {% for field in form.visible_fields %}
                <td>
                    {# Include the hidden fields in the form #}
                    {% if forloop.first %}
                        {% for hidden in form.hidden_fields %}
                            {{ hidden }}
                        {% endfor %}
                    {% endif %}
                    {{ field.errors.as_ul }}
                    {{ field|as_crispy_field }}
                </td>
                {% endfor %}
            </tr>
    {% endfor %}

</table>
<br>
<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.3/jquery.min.js">
</script>
<script src="{% static 'js/jquery.formset.js' %}">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $('.formset_row-{{ formset.prefix }}').formset({
        addText: 'add another',
        deleteText: 'remove',
        prefix: '{{ formset.prefix }}',
    });
</script>

There are no errors in terminal and or otherwise. Help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Maybe you would like to see the package django-extra-views, the provides the view CreateWithInlinesView, witch allows you to create form with nested inlines like Django-admin inlines.

In your case, it would be something like that:

views.py

class EducationInline(InlineFormSetFactory):
    model = Education
    fields = ['course_title', 'institute_name']


class EmployeeCreateView(CreateWithInlinesView):
    model = Employee
    inlines = [EducationInline,]
    fields = ['about', 'street', 'city', 'cell_phone', 'landline']
    template_name = 'bars/crt.html'

crt.html

<form method="post">
  ...
  {{ form }}
  <table>
  {% for formset in inlines %}
    {{ formset.management_form }}
      {% for inline_form in formset %}
        <tr class="{% cycle 'row1' 'row2' %} formset_row-{{ formset.prefix }}">
          {{ inline_form }}
        </tr>
      {% endfor %}
  {% endfor %}
  </table>
  ...
  <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.3/jquery.min.js">
</script>
<script src="{% static 'js/jquery.formset.js' %}">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    {% for formset in inlines %}
      $('.formset_row-{{ formset.prefix }}').formset({
          addText: 'add another',
          deleteText: 'remove',
          prefix: '{{ formset.prefix }}',
      });
    {% endfor %}
</script>

The view EmployeeCreateView will processing the forms for you as in Django-admin. From this point you can apply the style you want to the forms.

I recommend you visit the documentation for more information

EDITED: I added management_form and the js buttons to add/remove.