# Django - form valid method

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-form-valid-method/2663>\
**Category:** Using Django\
**Created:** [May 27, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-form-valid-method/2663 "2020-05-27T21:36:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![eqmunir](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/eqmunir/32/1073_2.png) [@eqmunir](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/eqmunir)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-form-valid-method/2663/1 "2020-05-27T21:36:12Z")

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Hello here is a create view from the Django documentation.

```
class ContactView(FormView):
    template_name = 'contact.html'
    form_class = ContactForm
    success_url = '/thanks/'

    def form_valid(self, form):
        # This method is called when valid form data has been POSTed.
        # It should return an HttpResponse.
        form.send_email()
        return super().form_valid(form)

```

I am confused on what the last line in this function actually does. The docs state that it returns a HTTP response, however many other sources state it validates the data or something similar to this. What actually are the purposes of this last line in `form_valid`? Thanks.

---

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**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:** [May 27, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/django-form-valid-method/2663/2 "2020-05-27T23:36:39Z")

</div>

[Note: I’ve seen where you’ve asked a couple similar questions here about different aspects of the CBVs. This reply really applies to all.]

The best way to understand the generic CBVs is to read through the source code, while looking at the [Classy Class Based Views documentation site](https://ccbv.co.uk/) and follow through the logic of the view.

Remember that a CBV is referenced from your urls using the “[as\_view](https://ccbv.co.uk/projects/Django/3.0/django.views.generic.edit/CreateView/#as_view)” method. That’s where the flow starts that you’re interested in.

Just take your time and realize going in that there’s a lot going on. There are a lot of methods that get called along the way, each one (generally) providing a hook that you can use to override the pre-defined functionality. (These hooks work because methods you define in your subclass would be called before the same-named methods in the parent classes.)

So looking at the “[form\_valid](https://ccbv.co.uk/projects/Django/3.0/django.views.generic.edit/CreateView/#form_valid)” method of the CreateView, you can see that the default method ends up calling the form\_valid method in ModelFormMixin which then ends up calling form\_valid in FormMixin, which returns an [HttpResponseRedirect](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/request-response/#django.http.HttpResponseRedirect) object. In your case above, you’re sending an email, and then “going up the chain” to invoke the same method above you in the inheritance hierarchy.

Ken