Django URL Parameter Passing and Python Strings

Matt — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:18:01 +0000

This post is simply stating the obvious. Sometimes even obvious things, in the wee hours of the morning, aren't so.

When you specify parameters in your URLconf like:

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'^mark/(?P\d+)/(?P\d+)/$', views.mark, name='mark'),
)

Keep in mind that each captured argument is a Python string. Even if the regex only captures integers - 'complete' is still passed as a Python string to your 'mark' view.

So if you intended to pass a 0 for false and 1 for true you must make sure to convert to an integer because only a string of length 0 is False. ('0' == True)

def mark(request, id, complete):
    todo = get_object_or_404(pk=id)
    todo.complete = int(complete)
    todo.save()
    return HttpResponse()

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Django URL Parameter Passing and Python Strings