django-visual-editor 0.3.0

Block-based visual editor for Django with inline styles, image support and rich formatting

Django Visual Editor

A modern block-based visual editor for Django with inline styles support. No external CSS required - all styles are embedded directly in HTML.

Features

Block-Based Architecture

• 6 Block Types: Paragraph, Heading (H1-H6), List (ordered/unordered), Code, Quote, Image
• Contextual Toolbar: Appears when a block is selected, showing relevant formatting options
• Add/Remove Blocks: Easy block management with visual controls
• Block Menu: Quick access to all block types

Inline Styles (No CSS Required!)

• Text Alignment: Left, center, right, justify
• Text Size: 5 preset sizes (14px - 24px)
• Text Color: 5 preset colors (gray, blue, green, red, yellow)
• Text Formatting: Bold, italic, underline
• Universal Compatibility: Styles work everywhere without additional CSS files

Image Support

• Upload: Drag-and-drop or file picker
• Resize: Drag the edge to resize images
• Replace: Double-click image to change it
• Alignment: Left, center, right alignment support
• Metadata Storage: Image URL and width stored in block data

Developer-Friendly

• TypeScript: Full TypeScript implementation with type safety
• Block API: Easy to extend with custom block types
• HTML Export: Clean HTML with inline styles
• HTML Import: Parse existing HTML with styles extraction
• Auto Cleanup: Management command to remove unused images

Installation

1. Install Dependencies

# Install Python dependencies
pip install django Pillow

# Install Node.js dependencies for frontend build
cd frontend
npm install

2. Build Frontend

cd frontend
npm run build

For development with automatic rebuild:

npm run dev

3. Configure Django

Add to settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'django_visual_editor',
    ...
]

# Media files settings
MEDIA_URL = 'media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'media'

Add URL to urls.py:

from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    path('editor/', include('django_visual_editor.urls')),
    ...
]

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)

4. Run Migrations

python manage.py migrate

Usage

Option 1: Using VisualEditorField (Recommended)

The simplest way - just use the field in your model:

from django.db import models
from django_visual_editor import VisualEditorField

class BlogPost(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    content = VisualEditorField(
        config={
            'min_height': 400,
            'max_height': 800,
            'placeholder': 'Start typing...',
        }
    )

Then use it in forms and admin - no additional configuration needed:

# forms.py
from django import forms
from .models import BlogPost

class BlogPostForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = BlogPost
        fields = ['title', 'content']
        # Widget is automatically set from the field!

# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import BlogPost

@admin.register(BlogPost)
class BlogPostAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    pass  # Widget is automatically set from the field!

Option 2: Using VisualEditorWidget Manually

If you prefer to use a regular TextField and configure the widget in forms:

# models.py
from django.db import models

class BlogPost(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    content = models.TextField()  # Regular TextField

# forms.py
from django import forms
from django_visual_editor import VisualEditorWidget
from .models import BlogPost

class BlogPostForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = BlogPost
        fields = ['title', 'content']
        widgets = {
            'content': VisualEditorWidget(
                config={
                    'min_height': 400,
                    'max_height': 800,
                    'placeholder': 'Start typing...',
                }
            ),
        }

# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django_visual_editor import VisualEditorWidget
from .models import BlogPost
from django import forms

class BlogPostAdminForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = BlogPost
        fields = '__all__'
        widgets = {
            'content': VisualEditorWidget(),
        }

@admin.register(BlogPost)
class BlogPostAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    form = BlogPostAdminForm

In Templates

<!-- Display content -->
<div class="blog-content">
    {{ post.content|safe }}
</div>

<!-- Form -->
<form method="post">
    {% csrf_token %}
    {{ form.as_p }}
    {{ form.media }}  <!-- Important! Loads CSS and JS -->
    <button type="submit">Save</button>
</form>

Configuration

Available configuration parameters for VisualEditorWidget:

VisualEditorWidget(
    config={
        'min_height': 300,        # Minimum editor height (px)
        'max_height': 600,        # Maximum editor height (px)
        'placeholder': 'Text...', # Placeholder text
    }
)

Cleanup Unused Images

Run the management command to remove unused images:

# Show what will be deleted (dry run)
python manage.py cleanup_editor_images --dry-run

# Delete unused images
python manage.py cleanup_editor_images

It's recommended to set up this command in cron for periodic cleanup.

Example Project

Run the example blog:

cd example_project
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser
python manage.py runserver

Then open:

• http://localhost:8000/ - Post list
• http://localhost:8000/post/new/ - Create new post
• http://localhost:8000/admin/ - Django Admin

Project Structure

django-visual-editor/
├── django_visual_editor/       # Django application
│   ├── models.py              # Model for uploaded images
│   ├── widgets.py             # Django widget
│   ├── fields.py              # Custom model field
│   ├── views.py               # View for image upload
│   ├── urls.py                # URL configuration
│   ├── management/            # Management commands
│   ├── static/                # Static files (compiled)
│   └── templates/             # Templates
├── frontend/                  # TypeScript sources
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── blocks/           # Block types (paragraph, heading, list, code, quote, image)
│   │   ├── editor/           # Block editor, contextual toolbar, block menu
│   │   ├── utils/            # Utils (upload, compression)
│   │   └── styles/           # CSS styles
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── tsconfig.json
│   └── webpack.config.js
└── example_project/           # Usage example
    └── blog/                 # Demo blog application

Technologies

• Backend: Django 4.2+
• Frontend: TypeScript, Webpack
• Architecture: Block-based editor with inline styles
• Styles: No external CSS required (inline styles)

License

MIT