Website for allowing data evaluation from submission

Question

I'm making a really basic website where users essentially just submit data into some forms and they will be able to review their data in another page. I feel like I'm going to be repeating myself far too much.

This is how I'm planning to display the users records, the trouble I'm having is I have about six more tables of data that is slightly different. So I can't just hard-code a template because the number of columns and the names of the columns is slightly different in each table. I know I could just make six different HTML files but that just seems silly. I feel like I need to somehow loop over the attributes of the models and then somehow display them in the template?

Is there a better way of displaying database data in a template?

class (db.Model):
    __abstract__ = True
    employee_name =  db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=False)
    date_submitted = db.Column(db.DateTime, nullable=False, default=datetime.utcnow)
    comment =  db.Column(db.String(100), nullable=True)


class FridgeFreezerTempTable(Base):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    unit_name = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=False)
    unit_type = db.Column(db.String(50), nullable=False)
    temperature = db.Column(db.String(10), nullable=False)
    company_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('user.id'),nullable=False)

@app.route("/unit_temp_records/<int:page_number>")
def unit_records(page_number):
    """
    records = pagiantion object
    page number = the current page
    
    """
    records = FridgeFreezerTempTable.query.filter_by(user=current_user).paginate(per_page=5,                             
             page=page_number, error_out=True)
    return render_template("unit_temp_records.html", user_records=records, table=table)

{% extends "records.html"%}
<!--This is garbage, find a way to make all below a template.. dir? __dict__???-->
{%block recordcontent%}
<table class="table table-striped">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th scope="col">#</th>
            <th scope="col">Unit Name</th>
            <th scope="col">Unit Type</th>
            <th scope="col">Temperature</th>
            <th scope="col">Employee Name</th>
            <th scope="col">Comment</th>
            <th scope="col">Date Submitted</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>

    <tbody>
        {% for record in user_records.items %}
            
            <tr>
                <th scope="col">{{ loop.index }}</th>
                <td>{{record.unit_name}}</td>
                <td>{{record.unit_type}}</td>
                <td>{{record.temperature}}</td>

                <td>{{record.employee_name}}</td>
                <td>{{record.comment}}</th>
                <td>{{record.date_submitted}}</td>
            </tr>
        {% endfor %}
    </tbody>

    <!-- Also garbage (maybe figure out how to put this into records template -->
    {% for page in user_records.iter_pages() %}
    {% if page %}
    <a class="test" href="{{url_for('unit_records', page_number=page) }}">{{ page }}</a>
    {% else %}
    .
    {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
</table>
{% endblock%}
```

Answer 1

Perhaps the templates can be generated by a function. Pass in a list of the attribute names, and it returns a template string. Or pass in the table name, and query the column names to make the template. Then use render_template_string() instead of render_template().

This code is rough and untested, but outlines what I'm thinking:

def column_headers(attrs):
    headers = (f'<th scope="col">{attr.replace("_"," ").titlecase()}</th>' 
               for attr in attrs)
    return '\n'.join(headers)

def columns(attrs):
    column_refs = (f'<td>{{record.{attr}}}</td>' for attr in attrs)
    return '\n'.join(column_refs)

def make_template(attrs):
    template_string = ["""
        {% extends "records.html"%}
        {%block recordcontent%}
        <table class="table table-striped">
            <thead>
                <tr>
                """,
                column_headers(attrs),
                """
            </thead>
            <tbody>
                {% for record in user_records.items %}
                <tr>
                    <th scope="col">{{ loop.index }}</th>
                    """,
                    columns(attrs),
                    """
                </tr>
                {% endfor %}
            </tbody>
        </table>
        {% endblock%}
        """]
        return '\n'.join(template_string)

FridgeFreezerTemplate = make_template("""
                                      unit_type
                                      temperature
                                      employee_name
                                      comment
                                      date_submitted
                                      """.strip().split())

@app.route("/unit_temp_records/<int:page_number>")
def unit_records(page_number):
    """
    records = pagiantion object
    page number = the current page

    """
    records = FridgeFreezerTempTable.query.filter_by(user=current_user).paginate(per_page=5,                             
             page=page_number, error_out=True)
    return render_template_string(FridgeFreezerTemplate, user_records=records, table=table)