How to Use get_absolute_url() with a foreign key object in Django template

Question

Am relatively new to django and I have searched for this problem but couldn't find a solution. Forgive me if the solution is obvious but I just can't seem to get it right.

So, this is the issue. I have two models Parishioner and Community. Parishioner has a many-to-one relationship with Community. On the parishioner_detail page, I am trying to display the community name as a link to the community_detail page. I feel I am not using the get_absolute_url() method correctly. Any help would be appreciated.

Models:

from django.db import models
from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse

class Community(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=41)
    description = models.TextField()
    leader = models.CharField(max_length=41)
    email = models.EmailField()
    phone_number = models.CharField(max_length=20)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=31, unique=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.name

    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('people_community_detail', kwargs={'slug': self.slug})

class Parishioner(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=41)
    date_of_birth = models.DateField('date of birth', blank=True)
    email = models.EmailField()
    phone_number = models.CharField(max_length=20)
    start_date = models.DateField('date posted')
    societies = models.ManyToManyField(Society, blank=True, related_name='parishoners')
    communities = models.ForeignKey(Community, blank=True, related_name='parishoners')
    sacraments = models.ManyToManyField(Sacrament, blank=True, related_name='parishoners')
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=31, unique=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.name

    def get_absolute_url(self):
        return reverse('people_parishioner_detail', kwargs={'slug': self.slug})

    class meta:
        ordering = ['name']
        verbose_name_plural = "parishioners"

Views:

from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404, render, redirect
from .models import Society, Community, Sacrament, Festival, Parishioner

def community_list(request):
    return render(request, 'people/community_list.html', {'community_list': Community.objects.all()})

def community_detail(request, slug):
    community = get_object_or_404(Community, slug__iexact=slug)
    return render(request, 'people/community_detail.html', {'community': community})

def parishioner_list(request):
    return render(request, 'people/parishioner_list.html', {'parishioner_list': Parishioner.objects.all()})

def parishioner_detail(request, slug):
    parishioner = get_object_or_404(Parishioner, slug__iexact=slug)
    return render(request, 'people/parishioner_detail.html', {'parishioner': parishioner})

parishioner_detail.html:

<dt>Community</dt>
  <dd><a href="{{ community.get_absolute_url }}">{{ parishioner.communities|title }}</a></dd>
<dt>Societies</dt>
  {% for society in parishioner.societies.all %}
    <dd><a href="{{ society.get_absolute_url }}">{{ society.name|title }}</a></dd>
  {% endfor %}

The society name links correctly to the society_detail page but the community name links to the parishioner_detail page instead of the community_detail page. It basically reloads the page.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

The community name does not exist in your context, the href link is therefore empty and you get redirects to the same page.

You should probably be doing:

 <dt>Community</dt>
 <dd><a href="{{ parishioner.communities.get_absolute_url }}">{{ parishioner.communities|title }}</a></dd>

Better to change the communities field to singular (i.e. community) since it's a foreign key field, so it's less confusing; one parishioner to one community (not multiple communities).