.. _ref-contrib-flatpages:

=================
The flatpages app
=================

.. module:: django.contrib.flatpages
   :synopsis: A framework for managing simple ?flat? HTML content in a database.

Django comes with an optional "flatpages" application. It lets you store simple
"flat" HTML content in a database and handles the management for you via
Django's admin interface and a Python API.

A flatpage is a simple object with a URL, title and content. Use it for
one-off, special-case pages, such as "About" or "Privacy Policy" pages, that
you want to store in a database but for which you don't want to develop a
custom Django application.

A flatpage can use a custom template or a default, systemwide flatpage
template. It can be associated with one, or multiple, sites.

.. versionadded:: 1.0

The content field may optionally be left blank if you prefer to put your 
content in a custom template.

Here are some examples of flatpages on Django-powered sites:

    * http://www.chicagocrime.org/about/
    * http://www.everyblock.com/about/
    * http://www.lawrence.com/about/contact/

Installation
============

To install the flatpages app, follow these steps:

    1. Install the :mod:`sites framework <django.contrib.sites>` by adding
       ``'django.contrib.sites'`` to your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting,
       if it's not already in there.
       
    2. Add ``'django.contrib.flatpages'`` to your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS`
       setting.
       
    3. Add ``'django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware'``
       to your :setting:`MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES` setting.
       
    4. Run the command :djadmin:`manage.py syncdb <syncdb>`.
 
How it works
============

``manage.py syncdb`` creates two tables in your database: ``django_flatpage``
and ``django_flatpage_sites``. ``django_flatpage`` is a simple lookup table
that simply maps a URL to a title and bunch of text content.
``django_flatpage_sites`` associates a flatpage with a site.

The :class:`~django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware`
does all of the work. Each time any Django application raises a 404 error, this
middleware checks the flatpages database for the requested URL as a last resort.
Specifically, it checks for a flatpage with the given URL with a site ID that
corresponds to the :setting:`SITE_ID` setting.

If it finds a match, it follows this algorithm:

    * If the flatpage has a custom template, it loads that template. Otherwise,
      it loads the template :file:`flatpages/default.html`.
    
    * It passes that template a single context variable, :data:`flatpage`, which
      is the flatpage object. It uses
      :class:`~django.template.context.RequestContext` in rendering the
      template.

If it doesn't find a match, the request continues to be processed as usual.

The middleware only gets activated for 404s -- not for 500s or responses of any
other status code.

Note that the order of :setting:`MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES` matters. Generally, you can
put :class:`~django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware` at
the end of the list, because it's a last resort.

For more on middleware, read the :ref:`middleware docs
<topics-http-middleware>`.

.. admonition:: Ensure that your 404 template works
    
    Note that the
    :class:`~django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware`
    only steps in once another view has successfully produced a 404 response.
    If another view or middleware class attempts to produce a 404 but ends up
    raising an exception instead (such as a ``TemplateDoesNotExist``
    exception if your site does not have an appropriate template to
    use for HTTP 404 responses), the response will become an HTTP 500
    ("Internal Server Error") and the
    :class:`~django.contrib.flatpages.middleware.FlatpageFallbackMiddleware`
    will not attempt to serve a flat page.

How to add, change and delete flatpages
=======================================

Via the admin interface
-----------------------

If you've activated the automatic Django admin interface, you should see a
"Flatpages" section on the admin index page. Edit flatpages as you edit any
other object in the system.

Via the Python API
------------------

.. class:: models.FlatPage

    Flatpages are represented by a standard
    :ref:`Django model <topics-db-models>`,
    which lives in `django/contrib/flatpages/models.py`_. You can access
    flatpage objects via the :ref:`Django database API <topics-db-queries>`.

.. _django/contrib/flatpages/models.py: http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/contrib/flatpages/models.py

Flatpage templates
==================

By default, flatpages are rendered via the template
:file:`flatpages/default.html`, but you can override that for a particular
flatpage.

Creating the :file:`flatpages/default.html` template is your responsibility;
in your template directory, just create a :file:`flatpages` directory
containing a file :file:`default.html`.

Flatpage templates are passed a single context variable, :data:`flatpage`,
which is the flatpage object.

Here's a sample :file:`flatpages/default.html` template:

.. code-block:: html+django

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
    <html>
    <head>
    <title>{{ flatpage.title }}</title>
    </head>
    <body>
    {{ flatpage.content }}
    </body>
    </html>

Since you're already entering raw HTML into the admin page for a flatpage,
both ``flatpage.title`` and ``flatpage.content`` are marked as **not**
requiring :ref:`automatic HTML escaping <automatic-html-escaping>` in the
template.
