Views

Writing Views

If your plugin will provide its own page or pages within the NetBox web UI, you'll need to define views. A view is a piece of business logic which performs an action and/or renders a page when a request is made to a particular URL. HTML content is rendered using a template. Views are typically defined in views.py, and URL patterns in urls.py.

As an example, let's write a view which displays a random animal and the sound it makes. We'll use Django's generic View class to minimize the amount of boilerplate code needed.

from django.shortcuts import render
from django.views.generic import View
from .models import Animal

class RandomAnimalView(View):
    """
    Display a randomly-selected animal.
    """
    def get(self, request):
        animal = Animal.objects.order_by('?').first()
        return render(request, 'netbox_animal_sounds/animal.html', {
            'animal': animal,
        })

This view retrieves a random Animal instance from the database and passes it as a context variable when rendering a template named animal.html. HTTP GET requests are handled by the view's get() method, and POST requests are handled by its post() method.

Our example above is extremely simple, but views can do just about anything. They are generally where the core of your plugin's functionality will reside. Views also are not limited to returning HTML content: A view could return a CSV file or image, for instance. For more information on views, see the Django documentation.

URL Registration

To make the view accessible to users, we need to register a URL for it. We do this in urls.py by defining a urlpatterns variable containing a list of paths.

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('random/', views.RandomAnimalView.as_view(), name='random_animal'),
]

A URL pattern has three components:

• route - The unique portion of the URL dedicated to this view
• view - The view itself
• name - A short name used to identify the URL path internally

This makes our view accessible at the URL /plugins/animal-sounds/random/. (Remember, our AnimalSoundsConfig class sets our plugin's base URL to animal-sounds.) Viewing this URL should show the base NetBox template with our custom content inside it.

View Classes

NetBox provides several generic view classes (documented below) to facilitate common operations, such as creating, viewing, modifying, and deleting objects. Plugins can subclass these views for their own use.

View Class	Description
ObjectView	View a single object
ObjectEditView	Create or edit a single object
ObjectDeleteView	Delete a single object
ObjectChildrenView	A list of child objects within the context of a parent
ObjectListView	View a list of objects
BulkImportView	Import a set of new objects
BulkEditView	Edit multiple objects
BulkDeleteView	Delete multiple objects

Warning

Please note that only the classes which appear in this documentation are currently supported. Although other classes may be present within the views.generic module, they are not yet supported for use by plugins.

Example Usage

# views.py
from netbox.views.generic import ObjectEditView
from .models import Thing

class ThingEditView(ObjectEditView):
    queryset = Thing.objects.all()
    template_name = 'myplugin/thing.html'
    ...

Object Views

Below are the class definitions for NetBox's object views. These views handle CRUD actions for individual objects. The view, add/edit, and delete views each inherit from BaseObjectView, which is not intended to be used directly.

BaseObjectView (ObjectPermissionRequiredMixin, View)

Base class for generic views which display or manipulate a single object.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
queryset		Django QuerySet from which the object(s) will be fetched
template_name		The name of the HTML template file to render

get_queryset(self, request)

Return the base queryset for the view. By default, this returns self.queryset.all().

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required

get_object(self, **kwargs)

Return the object being viewed or modified. The object is identified by an arbitrary set of keyword arguments gleaned from the URL, which are passed to get_object_or_404(). (Typically, only a primary key is needed.)

If no matching object is found, return a 404 response.

get_extra_context(self, request, instance)

Return any additional context data to include when rendering the template.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required
instance		The object being viewed	required

ObjectView (BaseObjectView)

Retrieve a single object for display.

Note: If template_name is not specified, it will be determined automatically based on the queryset model.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
tab		A ViewTab instance for the view

get_template_name(self)

Return self.template_name if defined. Otherwise, dynamically resolve the template name using the queryset model's app_label and model_name.

ObjectEditView (GetReturnURLMixin, BaseObjectView)

Create or edit a single object.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
form		The form used to create or edit the object

alter_object(self, obj, request, url_args, url_kwargs)

Provides a hook for views to modify an object before it is processed. For example, a parent object can be defined given some parameter from the request URL.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
obj		The object being edited	required
request		The current request	required
url_args		URL path args	required
url_kwargs		URL path kwargs	required

ObjectDeleteView (GetReturnURLMixin, BaseObjectView)

Delete a single object.

ObjectChildrenView (ObjectView, ActionsMixin, TableMixin)

Display a table of child objects associated with the parent object. For example, NetBox uses this to display the set of child IP addresses within a parent prefix.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
child_model		The model class which represents the child objects
table		The django-tables2 Table class used to render the child objects list
filterset		A django-filter FilterSet that is applied to the queryset
filterset_form		The form class used to render filter options
actions		A mapping of supported actions to their required permissions. When adding custom actions, bulk action names must be prefixed with bulk_. (See ActionsMixin.)

get_children(self, request, parent)

Return a QuerySet of child objects.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required
parent		The parent object	required

prep_table_data(self, request, queryset, parent)

Provides a hook for subclassed views to modify data before initializing the table.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required
queryset		The filtered queryset of child objects	required
parent		The parent object	required

Multi-Object Views

Below are the class definitions for NetBox's multi-object views. These views handle simultaneous actions for sets objects. The list, import, edit, and delete views each inherit from BaseMultiObjectView, which is not intended to be used directly.

BaseMultiObjectView (ObjectPermissionRequiredMixin, View)

Base class for generic views which display or manipulate multiple objects.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
queryset		Django QuerySet from which the object(s) will be fetched
table		The django-tables2 Table class used to render the objects list
template_name		The name of the HTML template file to render

get_queryset(self, request)

Return the base queryset for the view. By default, this returns self.queryset.all().

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required

get_extra_context(self, request)

Return any additional context data to include when rendering the template.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
request		The current request	required

ObjectListView (BaseMultiObjectView, ActionsMixin, TableMixin)

Display multiple objects, all the same type, as a table.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
filterset		A django-filter FilterSet that is applied to the queryset
filterset_form		The form class used to render filter options
actions		A mapping of supported actions to their required permissions. When adding custom actions, bulk action names must be prefixed with bulk_. (See ActionsMixin.)

export_table(self, table, columns=None, filename=None)

Export all table data in CSV format.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
table		The Table instance to export	required
columns		A list of specific columns to include. If None, all columns will be exported.	None
filename		The name of the file attachment sent to the client. If None, will be determined automatically from the queryset model name.	None

export_template(self, template, request)

Render an ExportTemplate using the current queryset.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
template		ExportTemplate instance	required
request		The current request	required

BulkImportView (GetReturnURLMixin, BaseMultiObjectView)

Import objects in bulk (CSV format).

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
model_form		The form used to create each imported object

save_object(self, object_form, request)

Provide a hook to modify the object immediately before saving it (e.g. to encrypt secret data).

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
object_form		The model form instance	required
request		The current request	required

BulkEditView (GetReturnURLMixin, BaseMultiObjectView)

Edit objects in bulk.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
filterset		FilterSet to apply when deleting by QuerySet
form		The form class used to edit objects in bulk

BulkDeleteView (GetReturnURLMixin, BaseMultiObjectView)

Delete objects in bulk.

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
filterset		FilterSet to apply when deleting by QuerySet
table		The table used to display devices being deleted

get_form(self)

Provide a standard bulk delete form if none has been specified for the view

Feature Views

These views are provided to enable or enhance certain NetBox model features, such as change logging or journaling. These typically do not need to be subclassed: They can be used directly e.g. in a URL path.

ObjectChangeLogView (View)

Present a history of changes made to a particular object. The model class must be passed as a keyword argument when referencing this view in a URL path. For example:

path('sites/<int:pk>/changelog/', ObjectChangeLogView.as_view(), name='site_changelog', kwargs={'model': Site}),

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
base_template		The name of the template to extend. If not provided, "{app}/{model}.html" will be used.

ObjectJournalView (View)

Show all journal entries for an object. The model class must be passed as a keyword argument when referencing this view in a URL path. For example:

path('sites/<int:pk>/journal/', ObjectJournalView.as_view(), name='site_journal', kwargs={'model': Site}),

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
base_template		The name of the template to extend. If not provided, "{app}/{model}.html" will be used.

Extending Core Views

Additional Tabs

Plugins can "attach" a custom view to a core NetBox model by registering it with register_model_view(). To include a tab for this view within the NetBox UI, declare a TabView instance named tab, and add it to the template context dict:

from dcim.models import Site
from myplugin.models import Stuff
from netbox.views import generic
from utilities.views import ViewTab, register_model_view

@register_model_view(Site, name='myview', path='some-other-stuff')
class MyView(generic.ObjectView):
    ...
    tab = ViewTab(
        label='Other Stuff',
        badge=lambda obj: Stuff.objects.filter(site=obj).count(),
        permission='myplugin.view_stuff'
    )

    def get(self, request, pk):
        ...
        return render(
            request,
            "myplugin/mytabview.html",
            context={
                "tab": self.tab,
            },
        )

register_model_view(model, name='', path=None, kwargs=None)

This decorator can be used to "attach" a view to any model in NetBox. This is typically used to inject additional tabs within a model's detail view. For example, to add a custom tab to NetBox's dcim.Site model:

@register_model_view(Site, 'myview', path='my-custom-view')
class MyView(ObjectView):
    ...

This will automatically create a URL path for MyView at /dcim/sites/<id>/my-custom-view/ which can be resolved using the view name `dcim:site_myview'.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
model		The Django model class with which this view will be associated.	required
name		The string used to form the view's name for URL resolution (e.g. via reverse()). This will be appended to the name of the base view for the model using an underscore. If blank, the model name will be used.	''
path		The URL path by which the view can be reached (optional). If not provided, name will be used.	None
kwargs		A dictionary of keyword arguments for the view to include when registering its URL path (optional).	None

ViewTab

ViewTabs are used for navigation among multiple object-specific views, such as the changelog or journal for a particular object.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
label		Human-friendly text	required
badge		A static value or callable to display alongside the label (optional). If a callable is used, it must accept a single argument representing the object being viewed.	None
weight		Numeric weight to influence ordering among other tabs (default: 1000)	1000
permission		The permission required to display the tab (optional).	None
hide_if_empty		If true, the tab will be displayed only if its badge has a meaningful value. (Tabs without a badge are always displayed.)	False

render(self, instance)

Return the attributes needed to render a tab in HTML.

Extra Template Content

Plugins can inject custom content into certain areas of core NetBox views. This is accomplished by subclassing PluginTemplateExtension, designating a particular NetBox model, and defining the desired method(s) to render custom content. Five methods are available:

Method	View	Description
left_page()	Object view	Inject content on the left side of the page
right_page()	Object view	Inject content on the right side of the page
full_width_page()	Object view	Inject content across the entire bottom of the page
buttons()	Object view	Add buttons to the top of the page
list_buttons()	List view	Add buttons to the top of the page

Additionally, a render() method is available for convenience. This method accepts the name of a template to render, and any additional context data you want to pass. Its use is optional, however.

When a PluginTemplateExtension is instantiated, context data is assigned to self.context. Available data include:

• object - The object being viewed (object views only)
• model - The model of the list view (list views only)
• request - The current request
• settings - Global NetBox settings
• config - Plugin-specific configuration parameters

For example, accessing {{ request.user }} within a template will return the current user.

Declared subclasses should be gathered into a list or tuple for integration with NetBox. By default, NetBox looks for an iterable named template_extensions within a template_content.py file. (This can be overridden by setting template_extensions to a custom value on the plugin's PluginConfig.) An example is below.

from netbox.plugins import PluginTemplateExtension
from .models import Animal

class SiteAnimalCount(PluginTemplateExtension):
    model = 'dcim.site'

    def right_page(self):
        return self.render('netbox_animal_sounds/inc/animal_count.html', extra_context={
            'animal_count': Animal.objects.count(),
        })

template_extensions = [SiteAnimalCount]