Setting yesterday as initial date in a Django Form

Question

I want to set the initial date as yesterday in a django form my code is here:

class Bilag(models.Model):
dato = models.DateField()
tekst = models.CharField(max_length=100)
konto = models.CharField(max_length=10)
avd = models.CharField(max_length=10, null=True,blank=True)
avdnavn = models.CharField(max_length=30, null=True,blank=True)
kasseid = models.CharField(max_length=10)
belop = models.FloatField()
def __unicode__(self):
    return self.tekst

class BilagForm(ModelForm):
class Meta:
    model = Bilag
    widgets = {
        'dato': SelectDateWidget()
    }
    initial = {
        'dato': yesterday()
    }

and the yesterday function:

def yesterday():
    yesterday = (datetime.date.today() - datetime.timedelta(1))
    return yesterday

But it just displays todays date when i look at the form

Answer 1

You could set the initial value in the ModelField, though it would then be called default . I assume you only want to do it on the form, in which case you'd need something like:

class BilagForm(forms.ModelForm):
    dato = forms.DateField(widget=SelectDateWidget(), initial=yesterday)
    class Meta:
        model = Bilag

Don't forget that you can't include the parentheses after yesterday -- just pass the callable, otherwise yesterday() will be evaluated immediately and not be dynamic (see the bottom of this section ).

Answer 2

I think you define initial in the wrong place ( class Meta ).

From my understanding it should be set as an parameter of the field you're trying to set the initial value for.

Check the docs: http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/forms/fields/#django.forms.Field.initial

Another option would be to use the field's default parameter in your model definition. See this thread for some inspiration: Django datetime issues (default=datetime.now())

Answer 3

I've tried all proposed solutions, none of them are working. The only thing that works for me is to set the date using JavaScript (J Query)

{% block js %}
    {{block.super}}
    <script>
        Date.prototype.addDays = function (days) {
            let date = new Date(this.valueOf());
            date.setDate(date.getDate() + days);
            return date;
        }
        function date_2_string(dt) {
            let day = ("0" + dt.getDate()).slice(-2);
            let month = ("0" + (dt.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2);
            let today = dt.getFullYear()+"-"+(month)+"-"+(day);
            return today
        }
        function get_date(dd=0) {
            let now = new Date();
            return date_2_string(now.addDays(dd))
        }
        $("#dato").val(get_date(-1));
    </script>
{% endblock js %}