README.md

This extension allows you to submit nested data from a form. Each element with a data-nested attribute will be treated as a layer of nested data.

This is useful when you have object A, many object B with foreign key on A, many object C with a foreign key on one of the object Bs, and so on. As opposed to keeping track of relationships by managing the name attribute for each field, you can add data-nested to each fieldset or sub fieldset, and the extension will collect field values based on which data-nested elements they're in.

Install

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/D-matz/json-data-nested/json-data-nested.js"></script>

Usage

1. Set hx-ext="json-data-nested" attribute on <form>
2. On each element containing a level of nested data setdata-nested="myExampleObject"

Form Example/Test

See example.html for a nested form that uses <fieldset data-nested="allergy">, <fieldset data-nested="reaction">, etc., to encode nested data instead of the name attribute. To see test: pip install dependencies, run python test.py, open localhost, submit form. The form data should be returned from server as json.

Django Example

This has a lot removed to show a simple example, but still has Django templating specific loops and forms, to show how Many-to-one relationships work with data-nested

<form hx-post="/allergy/1" hx-ext="nested-form">
    <div data-nested="allergy">
        
        {{ allergyFormAndChildren.allergy_form.as_p }}
 
        {% for note in allergyFormAndChildren.note_list %}
            <div data-nested="note">
                {{note.note_form.as_p}}
            </div>
        {% endfor %}

        {% for reaction in allergyFormAndChildren.reaction_list %}
            <div data-nested="reaction">

                {{reaction.reaction_form.as_p}}

                {% for reactionNote in reaction.reactionNote_list %}
                    <div data-nested="reactionNote">
                        {{ reactionNote.reactionNote_form.as_p }}
                    </div>
                {% endfor %}

                {% for manifestation in reaction.manifestation_list %}
                    <div data-nested="manifestation">
                        {{ manifestation.manifestation_form.as_p }}
                    </div>
                {% endfor %}

            </div>
        {% endfor %} 

        <input type="submit" value="Save Allergy">
    </div>
</form>

Notes and limitations

• Currently made very specifically for my Django case - the approach seems good in general, but probably needs to be implemented right for other cases
• May be more efficient approaches than parsing whole form on every submit
• Haven't tested all input types, doesn't support files