# add value to users manytomany field from form results

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869>\
**Category:** Using the ORM\
**Created:** [March 8, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869 "2024-03-08T16:16:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nmilner1234](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nmilner1234/32/19690_2.png) [@nmilner1234](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/nmilner1234)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869/1 "2024-03-08T16:16:03Z")

</div>

I’ve made good progress today with forms but I’ve become stuck with how to update a users manytomany field. I am using the get\_success\_url method to try and write the created object id to the user model manytomany field event\_access but I’m baffled how to do this. A pointer in the right direction would be appreciated.

```auto
class EventCreate(CreateView):

    def get_form(self, form_class=None):
        form = super(EventCreate, self).get_form(form_class)
        form.fields['association'].queryset = self.request.user.asc_access
        form.fields['association'].initial = self.kwargs["association_id"]
        form.fields['when'].widget = AdminDateWidget(attrs={'type': 'date'})
        form.fields['time'].widget = AdminDateWidget(attrs={'type': 'time'})
        return form

    def form_invalid(self, form):
        return self.render_to_response(self.get_context_data(form=form))

    def form_valid(self, form):

        self.request.user
        if form.cleaned_data['when'] < timezone.localdate():
            form.add_error('when', 'Date is in the past')
            return self.form_invalid(form)

        return super().form_valid(form)

    def get_success_url(self):
        # Update user's list of allowed events to edit        
        self.request.user.event_access.value = self.object.id
        print(self.object.id)
        breakpoint()
        return reverse("showorderofplay:events", args=[self.kwargs["association_id"]])

    model = Event
    fields = ['name', 'when', 'time', 'description',
              'active', 'cancelled', 'association']
    initial = {}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869/2 "2024-03-08T17:09:07Z")

</div>

First, you’d be better off doing this work in `form_valid` rather than `get_success_url`.

You should also have your clean function for “when” in the form and not perform any additional validation in the view. The `form_valid` method should only be called once the entire form has been verified correct.

You can call `super` in your `form_valid` method and save the return value in a variable, update the objects, then return that saved value from your `form_valid` method.

See the docs and examples at [Many-to-many relationships | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.0/topics/db/examples/many_to_many/) for working with ManyToManyFields.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nmilner1234](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nmilner1234/32/19690_2.png) [@nmilner1234](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/nmilner1234)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869/3 "2024-03-09T09:28:21Z")

</div>

Thank you, I’ve tidied up the form validation but I’m really sorry but I do not understand the part about

> you can call `super` in your `form_valid` method and save the return value in a variable, update the objects, then return that saved value from your `form_valid` method.

I have called the parent form\_valid but I’m not sure how to access the objects and where do I return the value to from my form\_valid?

```auto
class EventCreate(CreateView):
    model = Event
    initial = {}
    form_class = EventCreateForm

    def get_form(self, form_class=None):
        form = super(EventCreate, self).get_form(form_class)
        form.fields['association'].queryset = self.request.user.asc_access
        form.fields['association'].initial = self.kwargs["association_id"]
        form.fields['when'].widget = AdminDateWidget(attrs={'type': 'date'})
        form.fields['time'].widget = AdminDateWidget(attrs={'type': 'time'})
        return form

    def form_invalid(self, form):
        return self.render_to_response(self.get_context_data(form=form))

    def form_valid(self, form):
        super_resp = super().form_valid(form)
        print(super_resp)
        return super_resp

    def get_success_url(self):
        return reverse("showorderofplay:events", args=[self.kwargs["association_id"]])

```

```auto
class EventCreateForm(ModelForm):

    class Meta:
        model = Event
        fields = ['name', 'when', 'time', 'description',
                  'active', 'cancelled', 'association']
        labels = {'active': 'Published'}

    def clean_when(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['when']
        if data < timezone.localdate():
            raise ValidationError(_('Date is in the past'))
        return data

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 11:09am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869/4 "2024-03-09T11:09:42Z")

</div>

What you’ve got here is 100% the right idea. (Including the `return super_resp` your `form_valid`)

If you dig through the code for a CreateView (and the [Classy Class-Based Views](https://ccbv.co.uk/) is a great tool for doing that), you’ll see that `ModelFormMixin` has the line:  
`self.object = form.save()`  
This means that after super has been called, you can access the newly-created Event as `self.object`.

(I also recommend getting familiar with the [CBV diagrams](https://www.brennantymrak.com/articles/django-class-based-views-diagrams.html) page as well.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nmilner1234](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/nmilner1234/32/19690_2.png) [@nmilner1234](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/nmilner1234)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/add-value-to-users-manytomany-field-from-form-results/28869/5 "2024-03-09T20:36:42Z")

</div>

So this is all I needed to do 🙂 🎉

```auto
 def form_valid(self, form):
        super_resp = super().form_valid(form)
        self.request.user.event_access.add(self.object.id)
        return super_resp

```

Thank you for your patience Ken, it must be frustrating at times having these sort of questions from inexpericienced programmers but your help is very gratefully received.