“ImportError: cannot import name commit_on_success” and “A server error occurred. Please contact the administrator.” when running Django server

Question

New to Python/Django. Trying to make a questionnaire app.

Whenever I run $ python manage.py runserver the local server page gives me "A server error occurred. Please contact the administrator."

When I check the terminal, it shows that the error was ImportError: cannot import name commit_on_success .

The traceback, if you're interested:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/wsgiref/handlers.py", line 85, in run
    self.result = application(self.environ, self.start_response)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/staticfiles/handlers.py", line 63, in __call__
    return self.application(environ, start_response)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py", line 170, in __call__
    self.load_middleware()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py", line 52, in load_middleware
    mw_instance = mw_class()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/middleware/locale.py", line 24, in __init__
    for url_pattern in get_resolver(None).url_patterns:
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py", line 401, in url_patterns
    patterns = getattr(self.urlconf_module, "urlpatterns", self.urlconf_module)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/urlresolvers.py", line 395, in urlconf_module
    self._urlconf_module = import_module(self.urlconf_name)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/Users/geraldkwok/site/mysite/mysite/urls.py", line 10, in <module>
    url(r'q/', include('questionnaire.urls')),
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/conf/urls/__init__.py", line 33, in include
    urlconf_module = import_module(urlconf_module)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/Users/geraldkwok/site/mysite/questionnaire/urls.py", line 4, in <module>
    from views import *
  File "/Users/geraldkwok/site/mysite/questionnaire/views.py", line 25, in <module>
    from compat import commit_on_success, commit, rollback

What am I doing wrong?

My settings.py:

import os.path

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))

SITE_ID = 1

SECRET_KEY = '^(4y84ten#x78w1u4rm6tv70zb9c-oonmvm#@_20_0y3@z#d2k'

DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []

LANGUAGES = (
    ('en', 'English'),
    ('de', 'Deutsch')
)

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'transmeta',
    'questionnaire',
    'questionnaire.page',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware',
    'questionnaire.request_cache.RequestCacheMiddleware',
)

ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [
            os.path.abspath('./apps/ed-questionnaire/questionnaire/templates'),
            os.path.abspath('./templates'),
        ],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'mysite.wsgi.application'

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.abspath('./apps/ed-questionnaire/questionnaire/static/'),
)

STATIC_URL = '/static/'
`

My views.py:

`#!/usr/bin/python
# vim: set fileencoding=utf-8
from django.http import HttpResponse, HttpResponseRedirect
from django.template import RequestContext
from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
from django.core.cache import cache
from django.contrib.auth.decorators import permission_required
from django.shortcuts import render_to_response, get_object_or_404
from django.db import transaction
from django.conf import settings
from datetime import datetime
from django.utils import translation
from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
from questionnaire import QuestionProcessors
from questionnaire import questionnaire_start, questionset_start, questionset_done, questionnaire_done
from questionnaire import AnswerException
from questionnaire import Processors
from questionnaire.models import *
from questionnaire.parsers import *
from questionnaire.emails import _send_email, send_emails
from questionnaire.utils import numal_sort, split_numal
from questionnaire.request_cache import request_cache
from questionnaire.dependency_checker import dep_check
from questionnaire import profiler
from compat import commit_on_success, commit, rollback
import logging
import random
from hashlib import md5
import re
...

@commit_on_success
def questionnaire(request, runcode=None, qs=None):
    """
    Process submit answers (if present) and redirect to next page

    If this is a POST request, parse the submitted data in order to store
    all the submitted answers.  Then return to the next questionset or
    return a completed response.

    If this isn't a POST request, redirect to the main page.

    We only commit on success, to maintain consistency.  We also specifically
    rollback if there were errors processing the answers for this questionset.
    """
    if use_session:
        session_runcode = request.session.get('runcode', None)
        if session_runcode is not None:
            runcode = session_runcode

        session_qs = request.session.get('qs', None)
        if session_qs is not None:
            qs = session_qs

    # if runcode provided as query string, redirect to the proper page
    if not runcode:
        runcode = request.GET.get('runcode')
        if not runcode:
            return HttpResponseRedirect("/")
        else:
            if not use_session:
                args = [runcode, ]
            else:
                request.session['runcode'] = runcode
                args = []
            return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse("questionnaire", args=args))

    runinfo = get_runinfo(runcode)

    if not runinfo:
        commit()
        return HttpResponseRedirect('/')

    # let the runinfo have a piggy back ride on the request
    # so we can easily use the runinfo in places like the question processor
    # without passing it around
    request.runinfo = runinfo

    if not qs:
        # Only change the language to the subjects choice for the initial
        # questionnaire page (may be a direct link from an email)
        if hasattr(request, 'session'):
            request.session['django_language'] = runinfo.subject.language
            translation.activate(runinfo.subject.language)

    if 'lang' in request.GET:
        return set_language(request, runinfo, request.path)

    # --------------------------------
    # --- Handle non-POST requests ---
    # --------------------------------

    if request.method != "POST":
        if qs is not None:
            qs = get_object_or_404(QuestionSet, sortid=qs, questionnaire=runinfo.questionset.questionnaire)
            if runinfo.random.startswith('test:'):
                pass  # ok for testing
            elif qs.sortid > runinfo.questionset.sortid:
                # you may jump back, but not forwards
                return redirect_to_qs(runinfo, request)
            runinfo.questionset = qs
            runinfo.save()
            commit()
        # no questionset id in URL, so redirect to the correct URL
        if qs is None:
            return redirect_to_qs(runinfo, request)
        questionset_start.send(sender=None, runinfo=runinfo, questionset=qs)
        return show_questionnaire(request, runinfo)

    # -------------------------------------
    # --- Process POST with QuestionSet ---
    # -------------------------------------

    # if the submitted page is different to what runinfo says, update runinfo
    # XXX - do we really want this?
    qs = request.POST.get('questionset_id', qs)
    try:
        qsobj = QuestionSet.objects.filter(pk=qs)[0]
        if qsobj.questionnaire == runinfo.questionset.questionnaire:
            if runinfo.questionset != qsobj:
                runinfo.questionset = qsobj
                runinfo.save()
    except:
        pass

    questionnaire = runinfo.questionset.questionnaire
    questionset = runinfo.questionset

    # to confirm that we have the correct answers
    expected = questionset.questions()

    items = request.POST.items()
    extra = {}  # question_object => { "ANSWER" : "123", ... }

    # this will ensure that each question will be processed, even if we did not receive
    # any fields for it. Also works to ensure the user doesn't add extra fields in
    for x in expected:
        items.append((u'question_%s_Trigger953' % x.number, None))

    # generate the answer_dict for each question, and place in extra
    for item in items:
        key, value = item[0], item[1]
        if key.startswith('question_'):
            answer = key.split("_", 2)
            question = get_question(answer[1], questionnaire)
            if not question:
                logging.warn("Unknown question when processing: %s" % answer[1])
                continue
            extra[question] = ans = extra.get(question, {})
            if (len(answer) == 2):
                ans['ANSWER'] = value
            elif (len(answer) == 3):
                ans[answer[2]] = value
            else:
                logging.warn("Poorly formed form element name: %r" % answer)
                continue
            extra[question] = ans

    errors = {}
    for question, ans in extra.items():
        if not question_satisfies_checks(question, runinfo):
            continue
        if u"Trigger953" not in ans:
            logging.warn("User attempted to insert extra question (or it's a bug)")
            continue
        try:
            cd = question.getcheckdict()
            # requiredif is the new way
            depon = cd.get('requiredif', None) or cd.get('dependent', None)
            if depon:
                depparser = BooleanParser(dep_check, runinfo, extra)
                if not depparser.parse(depon):
                    # if check is not the same as answer, then we don't care
                    # about this question plus we should delete it from the DB
                    delete_answer(question, runinfo.subject, runinfo.runid)
                    if cd.get('store', False):
                        runinfo.set_cookie(question.number, None)
                    continue
            add_answer(runinfo, question, ans)
            if cd.get('store', False):
                runinfo.set_cookie(question.number, ans['ANSWER'])
        except AnswerException, e:
            errors[question.number] = e
        except Exception:
            logging.exception("Unexpected Exception")
            rollback()
            raise

    if len(errors) > 0:
        res = show_questionnaire(request, runinfo, errors=errors)
        rollback()
        return res

    questionset_done.send(sender=None, runinfo=runinfo, questionset=questionset)

    next = questionset.next()
    while next and not questionset_satisfies_checks(next, runinfo):
        next = next.next()
    runinfo.questionset = next
    runinfo.save()
    if use_session:
        request.session['prev_runcode'] = runinfo.random

    if next is None:  # we are finished
        return finish_questionnaire(request, runinfo, questionnaire)

    commit()
    return redirect_to_qs(runinfo, request)

...

(can post more if necessary)

Thank you all so much. First post here, hope you guys can help a newbie out.

Answer 1

You don't have any symbol/method name defined as commit_on_success in compat module, which you are using in your /Users/geraldkwok/site/mysite/questionnaire/views.py file. Just check it out. Probably you have misspelled it or haven't defined it.