Retrieving the URL in Django template language

Question

In a Django template, how could I refer to the URL. I want to use it in static pages, to avoid having live links to the current page. Is there a way to do this with the Django template language or do I have to use JavaScript to do it?

I would like to do something like

{% if current_url == "/about/" %}
About
{% else %}
<a href='/about/'>About</a>
{% endif %}

I'm using it for a simple blog, so there are no views written for those pages.

Answer 1

instead of current_url in your example above, you can substitute request.path (assuming you've got django.core.context_processors.request in play). And it'd have to be == not = :o)

Answer 2

I presume by your reference to 'static pages' you mean generic views. Internally, these use RequestContext, so you have access to the request object which is the current HttpRequest. So you can access the current URL with request.path.

{% if request.path == '/about/' %}
...
{% endif %}

Note that this if syntax is Django 1.2+ only - if you're using an older version, you have to do:

{% ifequal request.path '/about/' %}
...
{% endifequal %}

Answer 3

I think you can accomplish this with simple template inheritance:

# base.html
{% block contactlink %}<a href='/contact/'>Contact</a>{% endblock %}
{% block aboutlink %}<a href='/about/'>About</a>{% endblock %}
  ...

# about.html
{% block aboutlink %}About{% endblock %}

# contact.html
{% block contactlink %}Contact{% endblock %}

Of course this only works if you have a separate template for each page, but I'm assuming you do since you said the pages are static. Knowing more about what views you are using (assuming generic view direct_to_template or similar) and your urls.py would help.