# POST data yielding hidden form missing error

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720>\
**Category:** Mystery Errors\
**Created:** [October 16, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720 "2024-10-16T20:15:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/1 "2024-10-16T20:15:38Z")

</div>

I am using a Formset to generate a set of text entries based on user input and then POST the data when the use selects submit. However, the data does not appear to POST, instead I get an error:

```auto
<ul class="errorlist nonfield"><li>(Hidden field TOTAL_FORMS) This field is required.</li><li>(Hidden field INITIAL_FORMS) This field is required.</li></ul>

  <div><input type="hidden" name="form-TOTAL_FORMS" id="id_form-TOTAL_FORMS"><input type="hidden" name="form-INITIAL_FORMS" id="id_form-INITIAL_FORMS"><input type="hidden" name="form-MIN_NUM_FORMS" id="id_form-MIN_NUM_FORMS"><input type="hidden" name="form-MAX_NUM_FORMS" id="id_form-MAX_NUM_FORMS"></div>

```

As far as I can tell I have no hidden fields defined in my models:

Models

```auto
class Dashboard(models.Model):
    dashboard = models.CharField(max_length=50)
    company = models.CharField(max_length=150, default="None")
   

    def __str__ (self):
        return f"Company: {self.company} Dashboard: {self.dashboard}"

class Objectives(models.Model):
    dashboard=models.ForeignKey(Dashboard, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    objective_row = models.IntegerField()
    objective_num = models.IntegerField()

class Objective_Colors(models.Model):
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    objective = models.ForeignKey(Objectives, on_delete=models.CASCADE) 
    color=models.CharField(max_length=10)
    value=models.IntegerField()
    timestamp= models.TimeField(auto_now = True)

    def __str__ (self):
        return f"{self.color} at {self.timestamp}"

class ObjectiveText(models.Model):
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    objective = models.ForeignKey(Objectives, on_delete=models.CASCADE) 
    objective_text = models.CharField(max_length=1000, blank = True)
    timestamp= models.TimeField(auto_now = True)

```

Forms

```auto
ObjectiveTextFormSet = modelformset_factory(ObjectiveText, fields = ["objective_text", "objective"], 
                                            extra = 10, widgets={'objective_text': Textarea(attrs={'cols': 15, 'rows': 5})} )

class LoginForm(forms.Form):
    username = forms.CharField()
    password = forms.CharField(widget=forms.PasswordInput)

class LogoutForm(forms.Form):
    username = forms.CharField()

```

views

```auto
def home(request):
    
    # Create unique prefixes for each element
                
    formset_list = [ 
        ObjectiveTextFormSet
        (prefix=f'row-{i}') 
            for i in range(6)
            
    ]

    # Add the formset to context dictionary
    context = {
        'objectives': [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8],
        'formset_list': formset_list,
    }

    if request.method == "POST":
        form = ObjectiveTextFormSet(request.POST)
        print(form)
        if form.is_valid():
            print("Valid")
            objectives = form.save()
           # objectivetext = objectives_form.cleaned_data['objective_text']
           # objectivenum = objectives_form.cleaned_data['objective_num']
        return render(request, 'ISO22301/home.html', context)
    else:
        return render(request, "ISO22301/home.html", context)

```

template

```auto
{% load static %}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/styles.css' %}">

  <title>Project Management</title>

  <h1>Strategy Map</h1>
    <form method="POST" action="{% url "home" %}" enctype="multipart/form-data">
      {% csrf_token %}
      <table>
<head>
          <th>Project</th>
          {% for n in objectives %}
          <th>Objective</th>
          {% endfor %}
          <th>Outcome</th>
</head>
 <body>
            {{ formset.management_form }}
              {% for formset in formset_list %}
                      <tr>
                                {% for form in formset %}
                                <td> {{ form.objective_text }} </td>
                                {% endfor %}
                      </tr>                        

              {% endfor %}
      
      </table> 
        <div>
          <input type="submit" value="Update Objectives">
        </div>
  </form>
  </body>
  </html>

```

DB (SQLLite)

 ![Strategy Map SQL Schema](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/djangoproject/original/3X/f/2/f2913a46d5b785ad6cc2763312fc3f9dc88aad5b.jpeg)

---

<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:** [October 16, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/2 "2024-10-16T20:45:24Z")

</div>

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> As far as I can tell I have no hidden fields defined in my models:

That is true.

However, the formset defines a set of fields in the [Management Form](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/topics/forms/formsets/#understanding-the-managementform) that are hidden.

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> ```auto
> {{ formset.management_form }}
> {% for formset in formset_list %}
> 
> ```

You’re trying to render something named `formset` outside the loop in which it’s defined. (These two lines need to be reversed.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/3 "2024-10-16T21:13:21Z")

</div>

Did that. Same error.

---

<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:** [October 16, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/5 "2024-10-16T22:11:07Z")

</div>

For the `GET` portion of your view, you’re not creating one instance of `ObjectiveTextFormSet`, you’re creating a list of 6 of them, each with a different prefix.

Your post data doesn’t contain submissions for one form set - it contains the data for 6 formsets.

When you’re binding the `POST` data to those individual forms, you need to bind that `POST` data to each of the forms in the list, specifying the same prefixes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/6 "2024-10-16T22:31:18Z")

</div>

Ah. I thought it was one set of 60. I’ll dig into this and make changes. Thanks

---

<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:** [October 16, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/7 "2024-10-16T22:34:11Z")

</div>

When in doubt, check the rendered HTML and what is submitted in the post request.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![boxed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/boxed/32/11975_2.png) [@boxed](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/boxed)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 6:33am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/8 "2024-10-17T06:33:50Z")

</div>

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> As far as I can tell I have no hidden fields defined in my models:

Just to clarify, there are two unrelated things called “fields” here. There are “model fields” and “html form fields”. The error message is about the latter.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![boxed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/boxed/32/11975_2.png) [@boxed](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/boxed)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 6:34am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/9 "2024-10-17T06:34:51Z")

</div>

On an unrelated topic: why does the logout form have a username field? That seems wrong. The user is already known from `request.user`.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![boxed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/boxed/32/11975_2.png) [@boxed](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/boxed)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 6:42am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/10 "2024-10-17T06:42:05Z")

</div>

This is a common error with formsets: [Django form using model\_formset not submitting - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70072803/django-form-using-model-formset-not-submitting) has a good answer that seems like a hint.

The stackoverflow answer could be solved by installing django-fastdev so that they would get errors on incorrect usages of template variables. It sounds like at least part of your problem would be helped in the same way. (As a side note, iommi’s EditTable will do this all much better)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/11 "2024-10-17T13:39:33Z")

</div>

If I understand what is in Using more than one formset in the docs “using-more-than-one-formset-in-a-view”, my formsets are prefixed with row-0 through row-6.

Looking at the HTML that appears to be the case:

```auto
<td> <textarea name="row-0-0-objective_text" cols="15" rows="5" maxlength="1000" id="id_row-0-0-objective_text">

```

That appears to be the case when I look at the data variable returned:

```auto
row-0-0-objective_text

```

However, If I try to get the POST data I still do not get valid form data.

```auto
        formset = ObjectiveTextFormSet(request.POST, prefix='row-0')
        if formset.is_valid():

```

I tried just prefexing one row by getting rid of the for loop and using (prefix=‘row-0’) to ee if it was because I only got one row of data to check but that made no difference.

I’ve also tried ‘row-0-’ and ‘row-’

The POST data appears correct but I cannot seem to figure out how to get it from the POST request.

Could it be something to do with the name of the formset ObjectiveTextFormSet in the POST request as even when I remove the prefix and just render 1 row I get no valid data.

By no valid data I mean it doesn’t print “Valid” which is what I used to see if it is returning TRUE for .is\_valid():

Got rid of the error and the POST Request has the hidden fields in it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/12 "2024-10-17T13:57:54Z")

</div>

No particular reason; probably should just delete it

---

<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:** [October 17, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/13 "2024-10-17T15:11:17Z")

</div>

What are [the errors being returned](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/ref/forms/api/#django.forms.Form.errors) in the formset? (You might need to check all the individual forms to find all the errors.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/14 "2024-10-17T23:16:23Z")

</div>

I think I have found the problem.

In my models, objective is a FK for Objective Text. It is used to relate objective text to the objective, which is the location on the table and sequential, i.e. the input on row objective 1 is Objective 0, down to row 6 objective 10 is objective 60.

Looking at the error message, the issue is POST is capturing the text input but has not included the related FK objective. I say that because I entered data in the first textarea,(row 0 Objective 1) and left the others blank; resulting in the ‘This field is required.’

The error is consistent across all 6 formsets, i.e. any textarea I enter txt generates an error.

I saw no other errors.

Error message:

```auto
[{'objective': ['This field is required.']}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}, {}]

```

The text I entered in the textarea appears in the POST area, based on the POST data shown when I cause an error such as a NameError by misspelling the formset name:

```auto
row-0-TOTAL_FORMS '10'
row-0-INITIAL_FORMS '0'
row-0-MIN_NUM_FORMS '0'
row-0-MAX_NUM_FORMS '1000'
row-0-0-objective_text 'rewrwr'

```

I suspect I must include the objective id as part of each form but not sure how to include properly so I get a sequential list of objective ids that identify each textarea uniquely.

Any suggestions?

---

<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:** [October 18, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/15 "2024-10-18T01:46:52Z")

</div>

Notice that the field it’s complaining about is the `objective` field, not `objective_text`.

There are (at least) two options, depending upon whether these objectives being referenced exist or not at the time the page is being rendered.

If the `Objectives` exist for the `ObjectiveText` instances being used for that formset, then you would want to initialize the ObjectiveTextFormSet with the instances for that row, and render the `objective` field as a hidden field.

If the `Objectives` instance doesn’t exist, then you don’t want to include the `objective` field in the form at all. You’ll need to create it when the form is posted, then assign that instance to the field for each instance of the form in that formset before saving it.

Side note: Do not try to “manage” the IDs of the `Objectives`. Your application shouldn’t care what the IDs are of any model. Create or match them based upon the `objective_row` and `objective_num` fields.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/16 "2024-10-18T10:29:15Z")

</div>

> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> Notice that the field it’s complaining about is the `objective` field, not `objective_text`.

Yea, as I looked at it I realized there was no way for the POST data to be tied to the objective.

> [@](#):
>
> There are (at least) two options, depending upon whether these objectives being referenced exist or not at the time the page is being rendered.
> 
> If the `Objectives` exist for the `ObjectiveText` instances being used for that formset, then you would want to initialize the ObjectiveTextFormSet with the instances for that row, and render the `objective` field as a hidden field.

How would I do that?

> [@](#):
>
> If the `Objectives` instance doesn’t exist, then you don’t want to include the `objective` field in the form at all. You’ll need to create it when the form is posted, then assign that instance to the field for each instance of the form in that formset before saving it.

I was thinking along the same lines.

Right now, I have a set of objective\_texts that are linked to the objectives, so I could use those instances to fix the problem; use the tag {{ form.field\_objective.as\_hidden }} before or after the field that is visible.

Then, when a new dashboard is created, create a set of objectives for that dashboard and a set of associated objective\_text instances. That would only be done for a new dashboard.

[quote]Side note: Do not try to “manage” the IDs of the `Objectives`. Your application shouldn’t care what the IDs are of any model. Create or match them based upon the `objective_row` and `objective_num` fields.  
[/quote]

That makes sense because there is no easy way to know what the id is, but joining dashboard - objective - objective\_text lets SQL do its thing behind the scene.

That way, to create a new dashboard the process would be:  
Create dashboard, then for each dashboard\_name, create a set of objectives with a row/ num value, then similarly for objective\_text create an entry for each objective using objective row/num to select which objective the text is for.

That would not require adding objective row / num to the objective\_text model, correct? Just using it to identify the objective when creating the instance.

Does that make sense?

As a side note, how do I include the objective text in each objective textarea when I create the formset? Can I use a variable? The initial set would be blank, and as it gets populated I’d show the latest entry.

---

<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:** [October 18, 2024, 10:56am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/17 "2024-10-18T10:56:28Z")

</div>

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> Does that make sense?

Yes, Absolutely.

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> how do I include the objective text in each objective textarea when I create the formset?

This is the purpose of using a ModelFormSet. When creating the instance of the formset, you can pass a `queryset` parameter. This parameter associates a set of instances with the individual forms in the formset.

So, where you currently might have something like:  
`ObjectiveTextFormSet = modelformset_factory (ObjectiveText, ..., extra=10, ...)`  
this becomes:  
`ObjectiveTextFormSet = modelformset_factory (ObjectiveText, ..., extra=0, ...)`  
because you’re not creating new elements here - they already exist.

And, where you have:

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> ```auto
> formset_list = [ 
> ObjectiveTextFormSet
> (prefix=f'row-{i}') 
> for i in range(6)
> ]
> 
> ```

Becomes something like:

```auto
formset_list = [ 
    ObjectiveTextFormSet(
         prefix=f'row-{i}',
         queryset=ObjectiveTextFormSet.objects.filter(
               objective__objective_row=i
             ).order_by('objective__objective_num')
        ) 
     for i in range(6)
]

```

Side note: If your `objective_row` numbers are “1-based” instead of “0-based”, you can change your iterator to be `for i in range(1,7)`.

Then, to save these entries, after you bind the data in the post, it becomes something like:

```auto
for formset in formset_list:
    if formset.is_valid():
        formset.save()

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/18 "2024-10-20T23:56:14Z")

</div>

Thanks. I’m gettng closer. After some research I had to change:

> [@KenWhitesell](#):
>
> ```auto
> queryset=ObjectiveTextFormSet.objects.filter(
> objective__objective_row=i
> ).order_by('objective__objective_num')
> 
> ```

to

```auto
                    queryset=ObjectiveText.objects.filter(
                        objective__objective_row=i
                        ).order_by('objective__objective_num') 

```

since it appears you have to use models and not formsets in a queryset to get objects.

However, I still am apparently not getting post data.

I don’t get errors, but no data appears to be supplied as nothing is saved into the database ad adding a print(“Valid”) does not print.

If I print the formset I get a long list that repeats this:

```auto
  <div>
    <label for="id_row-6-9-objective">Objective:</label>

<select name="row-6-9-objective" id="id_row-6-9-objective">
  <option value="">---------</option>

  <option value="1">Objectives object (1)</option>

  <option value="2">Objectives object (2)</option>

  <option value="3">Objectives object (3)</option>

  <option value="4">Objectives object (4)</option>

  <option value="5">Objectives object (5)</option>

  <option value="6">Objectives object (6)</option>

  <option value="7">Objectives object (7)</option>

  <option value="8">Objectives object (8)</option>

  <option value="9">Objectives object (9)</option>

  <option value="10">Objectives object (10)</option>

  <option value="11">Objectives object (11)</option>

  <option value="12">Objectives object (12)</option>

  <option value="13">Objectives object (13)</option>

  <option value="14">Objectives object (14)</option>

  <option value="15">Objectives object (15)</option>

  <option value="16">Objectives object (16)</option>

  <option value="17">Objectives object (17)</option>

  <option value="18">Objectives object (18)</option>

  <option value="19">Objectives object (19)</option>

  <option value="20">Objectives object (20)</option>

  <option value="21">Objectives object (21)</option>

  <option value="22">Objectives object (22)</option>

  <option value="23">Objectives object (23)</option>

  <option value="24">Objectives object (24)</option>

  <option value="25">Objectives object (25)</option>

  <option value="26">Objectives object (26)</option>

  <option value="27">Objectives object (27)</option>

  <option value="28">Objectives object (28)</option>

  <option value="29">Objectives object (29)</option>

  <option value="30">Objectives object (30)</option>

  <option value="31">Objectives object (31)</option>

  <option value="32">Objectives object (32)</option>

  <option value="33">Objectives object (33)</option>

  <option value="34">Objectives object (34)</option>

  <option value="35">Objectives object (35)</option>

  <option value="36">Objectives object (36)</option>

  <option value="37">Objectives object (37)</option>

  <option value="38">Objectives object (38)</option>

  <option value="39">Objectives object (39)</option>

  <option value="40">Objectives object (40)</option>

  <option value="41">Objectives object (41)</option>

  <option value="42">Objectives object (42)</option>

  <option value="43">Objectives object (43)</option>

  <option value="44">Objectives object (44)</option>

  <option value="45">Objectives object (45)</option>

  <option value="46">Objectives object (46)</option>

  <option value="47">Objectives object (47)</option>

  <option value="48">Objectives object (48)</option>

  <option value="49">Objectives object (49)</option>

  <option value="50">Objectives object (50)</option>

  <option value="51">Objectives object (51)</option>

  <option value="52">Objectives object (52)</option>

  <option value="53">Objectives object (53)</option>

  <option value="54">Objectives object (54)</option>

  <option value="55">Objectives object (55)</option>

  <option value="56">Objectives object (56)</option>

  <option value="57">Objectives object (57)</option>

  <option value="58">Objectives object (58)</option>

  <option value="59">Objectives object (59)</option>

  <option value="60" selected>Objectives object (60)</option>

</select>
    
      <input type="hidden" name="row-6-9-id" value="60" id="id_row-6-9-id">

```

---

<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:** [October 21, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/19 "2024-10-21T00:31:41Z")

</div>

> [@jlc1978](#):
>
> since it appears you have to use models and not formsets in a queryset to get objects.

Yes, sorry - bad error on my part.

For the rest, I’m going to need to see the complete view and the definitions for ObjectiveTextFormSet.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jlc1978](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/jlc1978/32/23432_2.png) [@jlc1978](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/jlc1978)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2024, 2:25am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/20 "2024-10-21T02:25:41Z")

</div>

No worries. I learned something figuring it out.

One question, in the FormSet, is extra=0 needed, I thought it was the default.

I really appreciate your help.

Here’s the form:

```auto
ObjectiveTextFormSet = modelformset_factory(ObjectiveText, fields = ["objective_text", "objective"], 
                                            extra = 0, widgets={'objective_text': Textarea(attrs={'cols': 15, 'rows': 5})} )

```

model:

```auto
class ObjectiveText(models.Model):
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    objective = models.ForeignKey(Objectives, on_delete=models.CASCADE) 
    objective_text = models.CharField(max_length=1000, blank = True)
    timestamp= models.TimeField(auto_now = True)

```

view

```auto
def home(request):
    
    # Create unique prefixes for each element
                
    formset_list = [ 
        ObjectiveTextFormSet
                    (prefix=f'row-{i}',
                    queryset=ObjectiveText.objects.filter(
                        objective__objective_row=i
                        ).order_by('objective__objective_num')
                        )
        for i in range(1,7)       
    ]

    objheader = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]

    # Add the formset to context dictionary
    context = {
        'formset_list': formset_list,
        'objheader': objheader,
    }

    if request.method == "POST":
        for formset in formset_list:
            if formset.is_valid():
                formset.save()
        return render(request, 'ISO22301/home.html', context)
    else:
        return render(request, "ISO22301/home.html", context)

```

---

<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:** [October 21, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/post-data-yielding-hidden-form-missing-error/35720/21 "2024-10-21T02:56:34Z")

</div>

Thinking about it some more, I don’t think that you want `objective` as a field in the form at all. I think the only field you need is `objective_text`, since your queryset is going to match the fields with the entities.

For debugging, you can print the errors in the formset in the `else` clause of the `is_valid` condition if you’re not rendering the errors in your form.

Regarding `extra`, default is 1 per [Formsets | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/topics/forms/formsets/#formsets)

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