How to POST a django form with AJAX & jQuery

Something to look out for is when returning the form as an html snipped to a modal.

Views.py

@require_http_methods(["POST"])
def login(request):
form = BasicLogInForm(request.POST)
    if form.is_valid():
        print "ITS VALID GO SOMEWHERE"
        pass

    return render(request, 'assess-beta/login-beta.html', {'loginform':form})

Simple view to return the html snipped

Form html Snipped

<form class="login-form" action="/login_ajx" method="Post"> 
  <div class="modal-header">
    <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
    <h4 class="modal-title" id="header">Authenticate</h4>
  </div>
  <div class="modal-body">
        {%if form.non_field_errors %}<div class="alert alert-danger">{{ form.non_field_errors }}</div>{%endif%}
        <div class="fieldWrapper form-group  has-feedback">
            <label class="control-label" for="id_email">Email</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="{{ form.email.id_for_label }}" type="text" name="{{ form.email.html_name }}" value="{%if form.email.value %}{{ form.email.value }}{%endif%}">
            {%if form.email.errors %}<div class="alert alert-danger">{{ form.email.errors }}</div>{%endif%}
        </div>
        <div class="fieldWrapper form-group  has-feedback">
            <label class="control-label" for="id_password">Password</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="{{ form.password.id_for_label }}" type="password" name="{{ form.password.html_name}}" value="{%if form.password.value %}{{ form.password.value }}{%endif%}">
            {%if form.password.errors %}<div class="alert alert-danger">{{ form.password.errors }}</div>{%endif%}
        </div>
  </div>
  <div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Cancel</button>
<input type="submit" value="Sign in" class="btn btn-primary pull-right"/>
</div>
</form>

Page containing the modal

<div class="modal fade" id="LoginModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog">{% include "assess-beta/login-beta.html" %}</div>

Use the include tag to load the snipped on page load so it is available when you open the modal.

Modal.js

$(document).on('submit', '.login-form', function(){
$.ajax({ 
    type: $(this).attr('method'), 
    url: this.action, 
    data: $(this).serialize(),
    context: this,
    success: function(data, status) {
        $('#LoginModal').html(data);
    }
    });
    return false;
});

Using the .on() in this case work like .live() the key being binding the submit event not to the button but to the document.

You can access the data on the POST request using the name of the variable, in your case:

request.POST["noteid"]
request.POST["phase"]
request.POST["parent"]
... etc

The request.POST object is inmutable. You should assign the value to a variable, and then manipulate it.

I would advise you to use this JQuery plugin, so you can write normal HTML forms and then get them "upgraded" to AJAX. Having $.post everywhere in you code is kind of tedious.

Also, use the Network view on Firebug(for Firefox) or the Developer Tools for Google Chrome so you can view what's being sent by you AJAX calls.

Since you are using jQuery why not use the following:

<script language="JavaScript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $('#YOUR_FORM').submit(function() { // catch the form's submit event
            $.ajax({ // create an AJAX call...
                data: $(this).serialize(), // get the form data
                type: $(this).attr('method'), // GET or POST
                url: $(this).attr('action'), // the file to call
                success: function(response) { // on success..
                    $('#DIV_CONTAINING_FORM').html(response); // update the DIV 
                }
            });
            return false;
        });
    });
</script>

EDIT

As pointed out in the comments sometimes the above won't work. So try the following:

<script type="text/javascript">
    var frm = $('#FORM-ID');
    frm.submit(function () {
        $.ajax({
            type: frm.attr('method'),
            url: frm.attr('action'),
            data: frm.serialize(),
            success: function (data) {
                $("#SOME-DIV").html(data);
            },
            error: function(data) {
                $("#MESSAGE-DIV").html("Something went wrong!");
            }
        });
        return false;
    });
</script>