Django: Display Choice Value

python

django-templates

best-practices

model-choices

byAnton Shumikhin·Feb 5, 2025

To retrieve Django's field display value, use get_FOO_display(). Let's assume you have a gender field in Person model. Here's how you'd get it:

display_value = Person.objects.get(id=1).get_gender_display()
print(display_value)  # "<insert gender here>"

Leveraging `get_FOO_display()` in templates

When using Django templates, don't forget to leave out the parentheses when calling the method:

{{ person.get_gender_display }}

If the expected value isn't popping up, ensure your to_be_listed filter is correctly applied in your view:

persons = Person.objects.filter(to_be_listed=True)

And Voilà! persons now holds the filtered object list.

Defining and using choices

Define your choices as tuples within your model. Here's how you'd define gender choices for a Person:

class Person(models.Model):
    GENDER_CHOICES = (
        ('M', 'Male'),
        ('F', 'Female'),
        ('O', 'Other'),
    )
    gender = models.CharField(max_length=1, choices=GENDER_CHOICES)
    to_be_listed = models.BooleanField(default=False)

     # With Django’s `get_FOO_display()`, no need for custom methods
     # They said it couldn't be done...
     # They said it was impossible...
     # But Django did it! 🎉

In your templates, simply call get_gender_display() without parentheses to get the human-readable value. If needed elsewhere, convert your choices into a dictionary using dict(YOUR_CHOICES).

Wisdom for the ages (Best Practices)

Keeping your code DRY

A rule of the thumb: Define choices once, use everywhere. Prevents inconsistencies and promotes clean code.

No need to reinvent the wheel

Use Django's built-in get_FOO_display() to get human-readable names. Avoid creating custom methods for existing features. It's like building a ladder to reach the cookies on the top shelf when there's a perfectly good cookie jar on the counter.

Filtering and Displaying

It's always prudent to filter your objects with to_be_listed=True before invoking get_FOO_display(). This way, unwanted objects never see the light of day.

Handling tricky scenarios

When choices are dynamic

In some cases, choices could be populated dynamically or altered post-migration. Override the save method or use signals to make sure Django plays nice.

Multilingual dilemma

For multilingual support, use functions such as ugettext_lazy or gettext_lazy. These translate display values based on the user's language preference.