Django ModelForm to have a hidden input

So I have my TagStatus model. I'm trying to make a ModelForm for it. However, my form requires that the hidden input be populated with the {{ tag.name }}. I've been looking through the docs and I don't know how to make the tag field a hidden input. Perhaps a ModelForm isn't the way to go?

models.py:

class TagStatus(models.Model):
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, null=True, unique=True)
    status = models.CharField(max_length=2, choices=tag_statuses)
    tag = models.ForeignKey(Tag, null=True, blank=True)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.status

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(TagStatus, self).save(*args, **kwargs)

class TagStatusForm(modelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = TagStatus
        fields = ('status','tag') 
        widgets = {
             'select': Select,
             'tag': ???
        }

django views.py:

@login_required
def tags(request):
    all_tags = Tag.objects.all()
    context = base_context(request)
    if request.method == 'POST':
        if 'status_check' in request.POST:
            status_form = TagStatusForm(request.POST)
            #if request.is_ajax():
            if status_form.is_valid():
                status_form.save()
                response = simplejson.dumps({"status": "Successfully changed status"})
            else:
                response = simplejson.dumps({"status": "Error"})
                return HttpResponse (response, mimetype='application/json')
    status_form = TagStatusForm()
    context['status_form'] = status_form
    context['all_tags'] = all_tags
    return render_to_response('tags/tags.html', context, context_instance=RequestContext(request))

template:

{% for tag in all_tags %}
....
<form class="nice" id="status-form" method="POST" action="">
     {% csrf_token %}
      <input type="hidden" name="status_check" />
      <input type='hidden' name="tag" value="{{ tag.name }}" />
     {{ status_form.status }}
</form>
...
{% endfor %}

How would I go about making a hidden input through a django ModelForm and then populate it through the template?

Solution 1:

To make a field in a ModelField a hidden field, use a HiddenInput widget. The ModelForm uses a sensible default widget for all the fields, you just need to override it when the object is constructed.

class TagStatusForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = TagStatus
        widgets = {'tag': forms.HiddenInput()}

Solution 2:

There are 3 possible ways (AFAIK) to render hidden fields in Django -

1. You could declare a field normally in forms.py but in your templates html file use {{ form.field.as_hidden }}

2. in forms.py directly use hidden input widget.

class MyForm(forms.Form):
    hidden_field = forms.CharField(widget=forms.HiddenInput())

Once you make the field a hidden input, you could populate the value of the field in templates. Now your hidden field is ready for rendering.

3. Regular form equivalent (thanks to @Modelesq for sharing this nugget). Here no Django is involved. Changes are done at HTML template level. <input type="hidden" name="tag" value="{{ tag.name }}" />

Solution 3:

I was looking for a way to HIDE ALL INPUTS :

class TagStatusForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = TagStatus

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(TagStatusForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        for field in self.fields:
            self.fields[field].widget = forms.HiddenInput()