webhelpers.pylonslib¶

class webhelpers.pylonslib.Flash(session_key='flash')¶

Accumulate a list of messages to show at the next page request.

This class is useful when you want to redirect to another page and also show a status message on that page, such as “Changes saved” or “No previous search found; returning to home page”.

THIS IMPLEMENTATION DEPENDS ON PYLONS. However, it can easily be adapted for another web framework.

Normally you instantiate a Flash object in myapp/lib/helpers.py:

from webhelpers.pylonslib import Flash as _Flash
flash = _Flash()

The helpers module is then imported into your controllers and templates as h. Whenever you want to set a message, do this:

h.flash("Record deleted.")

You can set additional messages too:

h.flash("Hope you didn't need it.")

Now make a place in your site template for the messages. In Mako you might do:

<% messages = h.flash.pop_messages() %>
% if messages:
<ul id="flash-messages">
    % for message in messages:
    <li>${message}</li>
    % endfor
</ul>
% endif

You can style this to look however you want:

ul#flash-messages {
    color: red;
    background-color: #FFFFCC;
    font-size: larger;
    font-style: italic;
    margin-left: 40px;
    padding: 4px;
    list-style: none;
    }