django-admin-fieldsets-extra

Extras for Django admin fieldsets:

• Interleave fieldsets and inlines in the change form: put an inline right after the fields it belongs with, instead of always at the bottom.
• Save a fieldset on its own with a "Save Contact" button, without submitting or reloading the rest of the page.

• One ordered list replaces fieldsets + inlines (with or without inlines in it).
• No copy of Django's change_form.html: it only overrides its field_sets / inline_field_sets blocks, so it follows your Django version.
• Nothing changes in the inlines' DOM: Django's inline JS ("Add another", autocomplete, date pickers…) and inline templates work as usual.
• Works with django-admin-inline-controls (paginated / filterable inlines, a save button per inline).

Install

pip install django-admin-fieldsets-extra

Add to INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    "django_admin_fieldsets_extra",
]

Usage

from django.contrib import admin

from django_admin_fieldsets_extra.mixins import FieldsetsExtraMixin


class BookInline(admin.TabularInline):
    model = Book


class ArticleInline(admin.StackedInline):
    model = Article


@admin.register(Author)
class AuthorAdmin(FieldsetsExtraMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    fieldsets_with_inlines = [
        (None, {"fields": ["name"]}),
        BookInline,
        ("Contact", {"fields": ["email", "phone"], "save_button": True}),
        ArticleInline,
        ("Biography", {"fields": ["bio"], "classes": ["collapse"]}),
    ]

Each entry is either a fieldset, exactly as in ModelAdmin.fieldsets, or an inline class, as in ModelAdmin.inlines. They are rendered in that order.

• fieldsets and inlines are derived from it (in their relative order), so Django's admin checks and every hook that reads them keep working. Don't set them as well (admin_fieldsets_extra.E003).
• Dynamic layouts: override get_fieldsets_with_inlines(request, obj=None); get_fieldsets() and get_inlines() follow it. Static fieldsets / inlines would be ignored then (admin_fieldsets_extra.W001 warns about it).
• Permissions: an inline the user can't see is simply left out, as in the regular change form.
• Anything not in the layout (e.g. extra fieldsets or inlines from your own get_fieldsets() / get_inlines()) is rendered after it.
• Without fieldsets_with_inlines, the mixin does nothing: the regular change form.

Saving a fieldset

Add "save_button": True to a fieldset of the layout to give it a "Save Contact" button (named after the fieldset; "Save" if it has no name) that saves only its fields:

(("Contact", {"fields": ["email", "phone"], "save_button": True}),)

save_button is an option of this package: it is removed before the fieldset reaches Django (whose Fieldset rejects unknown options), so AuthorAdmin.fieldsets and get_fieldsets() never contain it.

How it works

• The button is rendered by the server under the fieldset, only on existing objects and for users with change permission. It is hidden while the fieldset is collapsed.
• Only the fields inside that fieldset are sent (files included), to <object_id>/fieldsets/<n>/save/, n being its position in get_fieldsets().
• The server builds get_form(request, obj, fields=<its editable fields>) on the object as stored in the database, validates it, calls save_form(), save_model() and form.save_m2m() in a transaction, and records the change in the history ("Changed Email and Phone."; nothing if nothing changed).
• The fieldset is re-rendered and swapped in place: field errors on their fields, form-wide errors (from clean()) above the fieldset, "Saved." next to the button on success. The rest of the page (other fieldsets, inlines, unsaved edits) is left untouched. A fieldsets-extra:saved event bubbles from the new fieldset.

Caveats

1. Validation: only this fieldset's fields are validated as fields, but Model.clean() / ModelForm.clean() still run, with the other fields' stored values. A rule that combines fields of two fieldsets sees the saved value of the other one, not what is unsaved on screen.
2. save_model(request, obj, form, change) gets a form with only these fields. If you override it and read other fields from form.cleaned_data, it won't work from this button. save_related() and the inlines' formsets are not called.
3. Concurrency: the object is re-read from the database right before saving, so the page's (possibly stale) values of other fields are never written back. As with the regular Save button, two people changing the same field at the same time: the last save wins.
4. Read-only fields are never saved; a fieldset with only read-only fields has no button (the endpoint answers 404).

Customizing the template

The mixin sets change_form_template to admin/fieldsets_extra/change_form.html, which extends admin/change_form.html. For your own change form template, extend this one instead:

{% extends "admin/fieldsets_extra/change_form.html" %}

{% block layout_inline %}
  <div class="my-inline">{{ block.super }}</div>
{% endblock %}

admin/fieldsets_extra/includes/fieldset.html renders one fieldset and, if it has one, its save button. Its blocks: non_field_errors, fieldset, save_bar and save_label. It is also the save endpoint's response (fieldset_response.html, block response; set fieldset_save_response_template on the ModelAdmin to use another one). The JS replaces the fieldset-with-save container by its id and relies on the data-fieldset-save-url attribute and the data-fieldset-save button: keep them when overriding blocks.

The layout is also in the context as fieldsets_with_inlines: a list of items with is_inline, fieldset, index, inline_admin_formset, save_url and save_label. get_layout_items() builds it, if you need to change how the layout is matched to the form.

With django-admin-inline-controls

Both mixins go on the ModelAdmin, InlineControlsAdminMixin first:

from django_admin_inline_controls.mixins import (
    InlineControlsAdminMixin,
    InlineControlsMixin,
)


class BookInline(InlineControlsMixin, admin.TabularInline):
    model = Book
    inline_per_page = 20
    inline_save_button = True


@admin.register(Author)
class AuthorAdmin(InlineControlsAdminMixin, FieldsetsExtraMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    fieldsets_with_inlines = [
        (None, {"fields": ["name"]}),
        BookInline,
        ("Contact", {"fields": ["email", "phone"], "save_button": True}),
    ]

Neither package knows about the other: the controls are part of each inline's own template, and the fieldset save buttons belong to the fieldsets, wherever the layout puts them. Fieldsets keep their position in get_fieldsets(), which is how the save endpoint finds them.

Themes

• django-unfold: UnfoldFieldsetsExtraMixin (the unfold extra).

System checks

Translations

Ships a Spanish (es) translation: the save buttons, their tooltips and the status messages follow the admin's active language.

Demo

cd example
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py seed_demo      # admin/admin + an author with books
python manage.py runserver

Compatibility

Django 4.2 – 6.1, Python 3.10+.

License

MIT