Advanced Features

Django Cruder provides several advanced features for complex applications.

Permissions and Security

Role-Based Access Control

You can restrict CRUD operations based on user roles or groups:

def secure_crud(request, pk=None, action='list'):
    return crud_view(
        MyModel,
        permissions={
            'C': ['admin', 'editor'],  # Create: admin or editor
            'R': [],                   # Read: everyone (default)
            'U': ['admin'],           # Update: admin only
            'D': ['admin']            # Delete: admin only
        }
    )(request, pk, action)

Django Permissions

Use Django’s built-in permission system:

from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required, permission_required

@login_required
@permission_required('myapp.change_mymodel')
def crud_view_with_perms(request, pk=None, action='list'):
    return crud_view(MyModel)(request, pk, action)

Read-Only Modes

Field-Level Read-Only

Make specific fields read-only while allowing editing of others:

crud_view(
    Contact,
    readonly_fields=['created_at', 'id', 'email']  # These fields become read-only
)

Complete Read-Only Mode

Make the entire interface read-only (no create, update, or delete):

crud_view(
    Contact,
    readonly_mode=True  # Disables all C,U,D operations
)

Multi-Field Search

Enable search across multiple fields with OR logic:

crud_view(
    Contact,
    search_fields=['name', 'email', 'phone', 'company']
)

This allows users to search for “john” and find results where any of those fields contain “john”.

Custom Templates

Override Default Templates

You can override the default templates by creating your own in your project:

templates/
└── cruder/
    ├── base.html
    ├── list.html
    ├── form.html
    ├── detail.html
    └── delete.html

Custom Base Template

Extend your own base template:

<!-- templates/cruder/base.html -->
{% extends 'myapp/base.html' %}

{% block content %}
    {% block cruder_content %}{% endblock %}
{% endblock %}

Framework Customization

Adding New Frameworks

You can add support for new CSS frameworks by extending the base framework class:

from cruder.frameworks.base import BaseFramework

class TailwindFramework(BaseFramework):
    name = 'tailwind'

    form_classes = {
        'form': 'space-y-4',
        'input': 'mt-1 block w-full rounded-md border-gray-300',
        'select': 'mt-1 block w-full rounded-md border-gray-300',
        'textarea': 'mt-1 block w-full rounded-md border-gray-300',
        'checkbox': 'rounded border-gray-300',
        'label': 'block text-sm font-medium text-gray-700',
        'help_text': 'mt-2 text-sm text-gray-500',
        'error': 'mt-2 text-sm text-red-600',
    }

    # ... implement other methods

Then register it:

from cruder.frameworks import register_framework
register_framework('tailwind', TailwindFramework)

Pagination Customization

Custom Page Size

Control how many items appear per page:

crud_view(MyModel, per_page=50)  # 50 items per page

The pagination automatically includes:

Previous/Next navigation
Page number links
Item count display
Search query preservation across pages

URL Customization

Custom URL Patterns

If you need more control over URLs, you can create them manually:

# urls.py
from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('my-custom-list/', views.my_crud, name='custom_list'),
    path('my-custom-list/new/', views.my_crud, {'action': 'create'}, name='custom_create'),
    path('my-custom-list/<int:pk>/', views.my_crud, {'action': 'view'}, name='custom_view'),
    path('my-custom-list/<int:pk>/edit/', views.my_crud, {'action': 'edit'}, name='custom_edit'),
    path('my-custom-list/<int:pk>/delete/', views.my_crud, {'action': 'delete'}, name='custom_delete'),
]

Error Handling

Django Cruder handles common errors gracefully:

404 errors: When objects don’t exist
Permission errors: When users lack required permissions
Validation errors: Form validation errors are displayed inline
Database errors: Graceful handling of database constraints

Form Customization

Custom Form Fields

Django Cruder respects your model’s field definitions:

class Contact(models.Model):
    email = models.EmailField()  # Automatically gets email input type
    age = models.IntegerField()  # Automatically gets number input type
    notes = models.TextField()   # Automatically gets textarea widget
    active = models.BooleanField()  # Automatically gets Yes/No dropdown

Field Ordering

Control field order in forms by specifying list_fields:

crud_view(
    Contact,
    list_fields=['name', 'email', 'phone']  # Fields appear in this order
)

Performance Considerations

QuerySet Optimization

For large datasets, consider using select_related or prefetch_related:

# In your model manager or view
queryset = Contact.objects.select_related('company').all()

# Pass custom queryset to render_list function
from cruder.templates import render_list
list_data = render_list(
    model_class=Contact,
    queryset=queryset,
    # ... other parameters
)

Database Indexes

Add database indexes for fields used in search:

class Contact(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100, db_index=True)
    email = models.EmailField(db_index=True)
    # ...

This improves performance when using search_fields=['name', 'email'].