# Loading view depending on a condition

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053>\
**Category:** Getting Started\
**Created:** [May 31, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053 "2022-05-31T17:32:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TechnoDiver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/technodiver/32/7937_2.png) [@TechnoDiver](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/TechnoDiver)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/1 "2022-05-31T17:32:37Z")

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Hi, folks, happy new week to everyone.  
I have some functionality I would like to implement and have been going over in me head how I will do it.  
The plan is to, when enter is pressed on a form search element, it checks the contents of the string and either returns _page\_a.html_ if criteria _a_ is met or _page\_b.html_ if criteria _b_ is met.

what I’ve been trying to work out the consequences of in my head is where I should put the logic for this?  
1- in **views.py** which would mean sending to a specific view, doing the logic, sending to a different view.

2- in the template that has the search element. Do the logic, and send to a specific url depending on the logic. I’m not sure yet if django template language even allows this logic.

3- do it all in javascript

What would be the industry standard method to do this?

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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 31, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/2 "2022-05-31T17:47:07Z")

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> [@TechnoDiver](#):
>
> What would be the industry standard method to do this?

There isn’t _one_. There’s no “best practice” here either. Take your pick.

For clarity, you wrote:

> [@TechnoDiver](#):
>
> either returns _page\_a.html_ if criteria _a_ is met or _page\_b.html_ if criteria _b_ is met.

Are you actually talking about returning one of two static pages, or are you talking about returning the output of one of two views, or are you talking about one view that may render one of two templates for the same data?

I generally wouldn’t recommend #2. As far as I’m concerned, the template is _never_ the right place for any decisional logic.

Beyond that, either 1 or 3 is going to be fine. I’m not sure what you’re thinking of when you say “sending to a different view”, but a view is just a function that accepts a request and returns a response. You can always call a function from a different function.

e.g.

```auto
def decision_view(request):
    view_selector = request.GET.get('q')

    if view_selector == 'option-1':
        return view_one(request)
    elif view_selector == 'option-2':
        return view_two(request)
    else:
        return default_view(request)

```

Obviously, the conditionals need to be more intricate if the search element isn’t a simple “a” or “b” type test.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TechnoDiver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/technodiver/32/7937_2.png) [@TechnoDiver](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/TechnoDiver)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/3 "2022-05-31T21:21:36Z")

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Yea, I was pretty sure that #2 wasn’t the way but put it in there to make clear that I knew it existed as an option. I understand functions can call other functions, it’s Django I have questions about not python lol and pretty much exactly how you’ve shown in your **decision\_view()** is how I see doing it.  
How I really should have asked this was I was wondering about **urls.py**. How I understand django is that we access views through url patterns and I was thinking about the redirects (from the url that points to **decision\_view()** to the url that **decision\_view()** decides to send us to.  
Which is why I was considering JS to pull the string, make the decision and choose which view (function) to use to render the appropriate template.  
This way would skip the redirect (I feel redirects should be avoided if possible, even though I have no solid reason for feeling that way) unless there’s also a way that I’m overlooking to keep it purely python and not use the redirect.

I should have been clearer in my OP, apologies

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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 31, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/4 "2022-05-31T23:03:13Z")

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> [@TechnoDiver](#):
>
> This way would skip the redirect (I feel redirects should be avoided if possible, even though I have no solid reason for feeling that way) unless there’s also a way that I’m overlooking to keep it purely python and not use the redirect.

What makes you think that the sample I provided creates a redirect?

Django _is_ Python code. There’s nothing magic about it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TechnoDiver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/technodiver/32/7937_2.png) [@TechnoDiver](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/TechnoDiver)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/5 "2022-06-01T00:03:07Z")

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> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> Django _is_ Python code. There’s nothing magic about it.

I find it hilarious you edited your OP to add this line, you even italicized ‘is’, even though it’s the one thing we can be absolutely sure everyone here knows.

Back to the story:  
If I use the following inside **views.py**

```auto
def search(request):
    # here is where to start thinking about the conditional on whether to archive or search
    search_string = request.GET.get('search-for')
    
    if search_string == "archive":
        return archive(request)
        # return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse('searchnet:archive', args=(search_string,)))
    
    engine = SearchEngine()
    search_results = engine.google(search_string)
    template = 'searchnet/results.html'
    context = {
        "menu": CATEGORIES,  
        "search_results": search_results[:10],
        "side_results": search_string[::-1],
    }

    return render(request, template, context)

def archive(request):
    template = 'searchnet/archive.html'
    context = {}

    return render(request, template, context)

```

It works but the url isn’t _localhost:8000/archive_ like I expected it to be. It’s _localhost:8000/search/?search-for=archive_ as it would be if the search was done even though it’s definitely rendering **archive.html**. I figure this is because **archive.html** is being loaded only through the function and not **urls.py**. Which I’m not really content with. I figure the solution is a reverse redirect, which I haven’t managed to get working yet.

What would be your solution?

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<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:** [June 1, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/6 "2022-06-01T00:08:24Z")

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> [@TechnoDiver](#):
>
> I find it hilarious you edited your OP to add this line, you even italicized ‘is’, even though it’s the one thing we can be absolutely sure everyone here knows.

Actually it’s not. There are many people here starting with Django and no Python experience.

Nor did I edit my original post, I’m not sure what gives you that idea.

> [@TechnoDiver](#):
>
> What would be your solution?

To not worry about things that don’t matter.

If you don’t do a redirect, then your URL is as it’s submitted.

So make your choice - you can either do a redirect, which yields a new URL, or return the response from the view, which is the url at which the request was submitted.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TechnoDiver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/technodiver/32/7937_2.png) [@TechnoDiver](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/TechnoDiver)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/loading-view-depending-on-a-condition/14053/7 "2022-06-01T00:15:33Z")

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> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> To not worry about things that don’t matter.

Unfortunately, this is something that matters. It makes the impressive someone did a half ass job and was too lazy to do it right.

Anyways, now you’ve got your answer to this question

> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> What makes you think that the sample I provided creates a redirect?

> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> Actually it’s not. There are many people here starting with Django and no Python experience.

I never said anything about everyone having python experience, what I said was that everyone here knows that django _is_ python. Which they do, and I stand by. Have a good night