The low-code for developers with yesterday's deadline
Viewflow is a reusable component library for Django web framework allows to create full-featured business applications in a few lines of code. Viewflow helps to implement collaboration and approval workflows, CRUD, and reporting.
The goal of Viewflow to stay small, flexible, and let you create Django applications as quickly as no-code solutions.
Like Django, Viewflow shipped as a single package with batteries included. Each part Viewflow can be used independently of each other, but they all work well together.
Viewflow comes in two flavors:
- Open-source library with only non-opinionated core classes that allows you to build your custom solution on top.
- PRO: Reference functionality implementation. Integrated with third-party Django packages included.
Viewflow works with Python 3.8 or greater and Django 4.0+
Viewflow:
pip install django-viewflow --pre
Viewflow-PRO
pip install django-viewflow-pro --extra-index-url https://pypi.viewflow.io/<licence_id>/simple/ --pre
Full documentation for the PRO version available at http://docs-next.viewflow.io/
Samples applications code for Viewflow PRO available at:
Viewflow is built around a simple concept - Class-based URL Configuration or Viewset.
Viewsets allow you to compose pre-built components into a working solution, but retain the ability to customize ond override any existing functionality.
from django.urls import path
from viewflow.urls import Viewset
class RootViewset(Viewset):
app_name = 'root'
index_path = path('', TemplateView.as_view(
template_name='viewflow/base.html'
), name="index")
list_view_class = ListView
@property
def list_path(self):
return path('list/', self.list_view_class.as_view(), name='list')
urlpatterns = [
path('', RootViewset(list_view_class=MyListView).urls)
]
Viewset class collects all own attributes with names ending on _path
into a
patterns list, suitable to include into django URL configuration. You can use
inheritances to override part of Viewset functionality or add new views into it.
To change a few attributes on a Viewset, you can pass them into the
constructor() call itself.
Set of pre-built viewsets and mixins to organize user interface interface for django models.
from viewflow.urls import DetailViewMixin, DeleteViewMixin, ModelViewset
from .models import City
class CityViewset(DetailViewMixin, DeleteViewMixin, ModelViewset):
model = models.City
create_view_class = MyCreateView
list_columns = ('name', 'country', 'population')
list_filter_fields = ('is_capital', 'country', )
list_search_fields = ['name']
queryset = City._default_manager.select_related('country')
ocean_viewset = ReadonlyModelViewset(
app_name='ocean',
model=models.Ocean,
list_columns=('name', 'area',),
)
urlpatterns = [
path('cities', CityViewset().urls)
path('oceans/', ocean_viewset.urls)
]
You can use it directly inside your root URL configuration or within the Viewflow Frontend (see below)
![drawing](assets/fsm.png)
FSM Workflow is the way to organize series of activities that are necessary to complete a task. FSM process execution supports only one single active state in time. Viewflow decompose FSM into a FSM definition class, django model (or any other) for storage, and FSM Viewset for user interface.
from enum import Enum
from viewflow.fsm import State
class State(Enum):
NEW = 1
DONE = 2
HIDDEN = 3
class ReviewFlow(object):
state = State(Stage, default=Stage.NEW)
@state.transition(source=Stage.NEW, target=Stage.DONE)
def complete():
pass
@state.transition(source=State.ANY, target=Stage.HIDDEN)
def hide():
pass
flow = ReviewFlow()
flow.stage == State.NEW # True
flow.stage = State.DONE # Raises AttributeError
flow.complete()
flow.state == State.DONE # True
flow.complete() # Now raises TransitionNotAllowed
viewflow.fsm.*
can help you manage rules and restrictions around moving from
one state to another. The package is suitable for getting low-level,
database-independent FSM implementation or to wrap an existing database model
and implement a simple, persistent workflow process with a quickly bootstrapped
UI.
class Report(models.Model):
...
state = models.CharField(max_length=50)
class ReviewFlow(object):
...
def __init__(self, report):
self.report = report
@state.setter()
def _set_report_stage(self, value):
self.report.stage = value
@state.getter()
def _get_report_stage(self):
return self.report.stage
class ReviewViewset(FlowViewsMixin, CreateViewMixin, ReadonlyModelViewset):
def get_object_flow(self, request, obj):
return ReviewFlow(obj)
urlpatterns = [
path('review/', ReviewViewset().urls)
]
![drawing](assets/dashboard.png)
lightweight workflow layer on top of Django's Model-View-Template that helps to organize people's collaboration business logic. BPMN workflows supports parallel execution with multiple tasks active at the same time. Viewflow defines Nodes (which is a viewset) that can be composed into a Flow (thats is also viewset). Multiple flows could be combined into FlowViewset to get a ready to use interface for a user.
from viewflow import this
from viewflow.contrib import celery
from viewflow.workflow import flow
class Workflow(flow.Flow):
start = (
flow.Start(start_view)
.Permission("workflow.can_start_request")
.Next(this.process)
)
process = celery.Job(process_request).Next(this.end)
end = flow.End()
Viewflow extracts workflow and permission logic out of views into the new BFlow
layer. Same view could be reused in a different parts of workflow process. A
process specific data is handles as request.activation
object. The
request.activation.execute()
should be called on as soon as a user completes
the task.
def start_view(request, **kwargs):
request.activation.prepare(request.POST or None, user=request.user)
form = StartForm(request.POST or None)
if form.is_valid():
artifact = form.save()
activation.process.artifact = artifact
request.activation.execute()
return redirect(
request.resolver_match.flow_viewset.get_next_task_url(request)
)
return render(request, 'viewflow/workflow/task.html', {
'form': form,
'activation': request.activation
})
Viewflow provides a theme kit based on Google Material Design components. Base page templates, Login, Logout, Password management views, Dashboard, Forms, and CRUD.
hotwire/turbo-enabled navigation and form processing provides SPA look and feel for a common Django application.
To define site structure and menu content, you can combine several Viewsets into an Application Viewset. Several applications could be combined in a Site Viewset.
from viewflow.contrib.admin import Admin
from viewflow.contrib.auth import AuthViewset
from viewflow.urls import Site
atlas = Application(
title='CRUD sample',
app_name='atlas',
permission='atlas.can_view_city',
viewsets=[
CityViewset(),
]
)
site = Site(
title="CRUD 101 Demo",
primary_color='#3949ab',
secondary_color='#5c6bc0',
viewsets=[
atlas,
Admin(),
]
)
urlpatterns = [
path('', site.urls),
path('accounts/', AuthViewset(
allow_password_change=True,
with_profile_view=True
).urls),
]
An extension for Django forms rending allows to declaratively modify form layout and create a forms of any complexity without a single line of HTML/CSS
class AddressForm(forms.Form):
line_1 = forms.CharField(max_length=250)
line_2 = forms.CharField(max_length=250)
state = forms.CharField(max_length=100)
city = forms.CharField(max_length=100)
zipcode = forms.CharField(max_length=10)
layout = Layout(
Caption('Address'),
Row(Column('line_1', 'line_2',), 'state'),
Row('city', 'zipcode'),
)
PRO Version adds the ability to combine forms and define dynamic formsets
AddressFormSet = forms.formset_factory(AddressForm, extra=3, can_delete=True)
class SignupForm(Form):
username = forms.CharField(
max_length=50,
widget=forms.TextInput(attrs={'leading-icon': 'account_box'}),
)
first_name = forms.CharField(max_length=250)
last_name = forms.CharField(max_length=250)
date_of_birth = forms.DateField()
emails = FormSetField(formset_class=EmailFormSet)
addresses = FormSetField(formset_class=AddressFormSet)
layout = Layout(
'username',
Row('first_name', 'last_name', 'date_of_birth'),
'emails',
FormSet('addresses', card_desktop=4),
)
Available in the PRO version only
Simple and lightweight interactive Plotly dashboards integration into Django application and Material Frontend
from viewflow.contrib.plotly import Dashboard, material
class DjangoStatsDashboard(Dashboard):
app_name = 'django_stats'
title = 'Django User Statistics'
icon = 'public'
def layout(self):
return material.PageGrid([
material.InnerRow([
material.Span4([self.badge('Users registered', 'person', self.users_count())]),
...
)
)
def users_count(self):
return User.objects.filter(is_active=True).count()
site = Site(
viewsets=[
Application(
title='Dashboard',
viewsets=[
DjangoStatsDashboard(),
]
),
Admin(),
]
)
urlpatterns = [
path('', site.urls),
]
Maintain dumb business data and quick prototyping without DB migrations.
viewflow.jsonstore.*
is the set of virtual Django Model fields that stores data inside a single JSON database column.
from viewflow import jsonstore
from django.db import models
class Employee(models.Model):
data = JSONField(default={})
full_name = jsonstore.CharField(max_length=250)
hire_date = jsonstore.DateField()
The result model works like a usual Django model. All virtual fields are available to construct ModelForms, Viewsets, and Admin interfaces.
class EmployeeForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Employee
fields = ['full_name', 'hire_date', 'salary']
@admin.register(Employee)
class EmployeeAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ['full_name', 'hire_date']
fields = ['full_name', ('hire_date', 'salary')]
See more at: https://docs-next.viewflow.io/json_storage.html
Provide a way to connect a django model to a legacy database table without single primary key column. Also works with TimescaleDB tables.
from viewflow.fields import CompositeKey
class Seat(models.Model):
id = CompositeKey(columns=['aircraft_code', 'seat_no'])
aircraft_code = models.ForeignKey(
Aircraft, models.DO_NOTHING,
db_column='aircraft_code'
)
seat_no = models.CharField(max_length=4)
class Meta:
managed = False
db_table = 'seats'
unique_together = (('aircraft_code', 'seat_no'),)
@admin.register(models.Seat)
class SeatAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
pass
CompositeKey field, opens a way to use such models in a Viewflow CRUD and Django admin. Viewflow does not provide a way to create such models during migration.
Available in the PRO version only
Viewflow is an Open Source project licensed under the terms of
the AGPL license - The GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html>
_ with the Additional Permissions
described in LICENSE_EXCEPTION <./LICENSE_EXCEPTION>
_
You can read more about AGPL at AGPL FAQ <http://www.affero.org/oagf.html>
_
This package license scheme follow GCC Runtime library licensing. If you use Linux already, this package license likely won't bring anything new to your stack.
Viewflow PRO has a commercial-friendly license allowing private forks and modifications of Viewflow. You can find the commercial license terms in COMM-LICENSE.
- Combined with django-material/django-fsm/jsonstore as a single package
- Switched to Google Material Components instead of MaterializeCSS
- Switched to hotwire/turbo instead of Turbolinks
- New Class-based URL configurations
- Composite FK support for legacy database for Django ORM
- Plotly dashboards integration
- Improved order of subsequent workflow tasks activations
- Many more improvements and fixes