Messages framework for flash messages in Django - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Messages framework for flash messages

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Django web app that shows short messages to users after they perform actions like submitting a form. These messages appear once and then disappear on the next page load.

🎯 Goal: Create a Django view and template that use the messages framework to display flash messages to users.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Django view that adds a success message using the messages framework

Configure the template to display messages from the messages framework

Use the correct import and function calls for messages

Ensure the messages appear only once after the view is accessed

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Flash messages are used in web apps to give users quick feedback after actions like form submissions or login attempts.

💼 Career

Understanding Django's messages framework is essential for backend developers building user-friendly web applications with clear communication.

1

Set up the Django view with messages import

In your Django views.py file, import messages from django.contrib and create a view function called show_message that takes request as a parameter.

Django

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use from django.contrib import messages to import the messages module.

2

Add a success message in the view

Inside the show_message view, add a success message with the text 'Action was successful!' using messages.success(request, 'Action was successful!'). Then return render(request, 'message.html').

Django

from django.contrib import messages
from django.shortcuts import render

def show_message(request):
    # Add a success message here
    # Render the 'message.html' template

Need a hint?

Use messages.success(request, 'Action was successful!') to add the message.

3

Create the template to display messages

In the message.html template, add code to loop over messages and display each message inside a <div> with class message. Use Django template tags: {% for message in messages %} and {{ message }}.

Django

{% comment %} Your code here {% endcomment %}

Need a hint?

Use {% for message in messages %} to loop and {{ message }} to show the text.

4

Ensure messages appear only once

In your Django settings file, verify that django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware is included in MIDDLEWARE. Also, confirm that 'django.contrib.messages' is in INSTALLED_APPS. This setup ensures messages appear only once after being displayed.

Django

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Check that django.contrib.messages is in INSTALLED_APPS and MessageMiddleware is in MIDDLEWARE.