Django widget for a dropdown list

Question

Which django widget must be used for a dropdown list? I already have a model which provides a dropdown list. It is, however, necessary to customize the corresponding form element (text and error msg text) and it becomes necessary to specify the widget.

Here is the Model:

class ClientDetails(models.Model):
    paymentType = models.CharField(max_length=4, verbose_name='Zahlungsart', choices=PAYMENT_TYPES)

And the Form:

class ClientDetailsForm(ModelForm):
    paymentType = forms.???(label='Zahlungsart', error_messages={'required': (u'Waehlen Sie die Zahlungsart!'), 'invalid': (u'Waehlen Sie die Zahlungsart!')})

Solution 1

We need to use forms.Select()

class Meta:
    model=someForm
    fields=['Dropdown']
    widgets = {
      'Dropdown': forms.Select(attrs={'id':'choicewa'}),
      }

Solution 2

The place you marked by ??? is for specifying Field class. If you want to specify proper field class you should use forms.ChoiceField.

Detailed information on widgets and fields:

• Overriding the default field types or widgets
• Specifying widgets

Comments

[paweloque]

Ok, that works. Now the field has the first choice preselected instead of showing an unselected option (model => '-----') which then fails to validate if not changed. How to achieve model like behavior with the '----'?

[Fathy]

this actually worked like charm but dropdown is a such disturbing name for form variable