I’m working on a Flask application where employees can generate class codes. I’ve set up a form to handle the submission of class codes (including a description), but I’m unable to generate the class code. Here’s a summary of the issue:

What’s Happening:

• The form is not submitting correctly when I try to generate the class code.
• I don’t see any error messages, but the class code doesn’t get saved in the database.
• I’ve checked the database, and no new records are being added.
• I’m using Flask-WTF for form handling and Flask-SQLAlchemy for database interactions.

Code:

Route:

@main.route('/employee/dashboard', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
@login_required
def employee_dashboard():
    if current_user.role != 'employee':
        flash('You must be an employee to access this page.', 'danger')
        return redirect(url_for('main.dashboard'))

    form = EmployeeForm()
    class_codes = ClassCode.query.order_by(ClassCode.created_at.desc()).all()

    if form.validate_on_submit():
        code = form.code.data
        description = form.description.data

        # Check for duplicates
        if ClassCode.query.filter_by(code=code).first():
            flash('Class code already exists!', 'danger')
        else:
            new_code = ClassCode(code=code, description=description)
            db.session.add(new_code)
            db.session.commit()
            flash('Class code generated successfully!', 'success')
            return redirect(url_for('main.employee_dashboard'))

    return render_template('employee_dashboard.html', form=form, class_codes=class_codes)

Class Code Model:

class ClassCode(db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    code = db.Column(db.String(50), unique=True, nullable=False)
    description = db.Column(db.String(100), nullable=True)
    created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)

    def __repr__(self):
        return f'<ClassCode {self.code}>'

Form:

class EmployeeForm(FlaskForm):
    code = StringField(
        'Class Code',
        validators=[DataRequired(), Length(max=20, message="Code must be 20 characters or less.")],
    )
    description = StringField(
        'Description',
        validators=[DataRequired(), Length(max=255, message="Description must be 255 characters or less.")],
    )
    submit = SubmitField('Generate Code')

Question:

• Why is the form not submitting correctly?
• Why is the class code not being saved to the database?
• What might I be missing or what additional debugging steps can I take to troubleshoot this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

What Did You Try?

1. Form Validation:

   • I checked if form.validate_on_submit() is returning True by adding a debug print statement. It seems like the form isn’t validating properly, but I’m not sure why.

2. CSRF Token:

   • I confirmed that the CSRF token is included in the form using {{ form.hidden_tag() }} in the HTML.

3. Database Query:

   • I checked for duplicate class codes using ClassCode.query.filter_by(code=code).first(). I also printed the result, and it doesn’t seem to detect duplicates even for existing codes.

4. Database Updates:

   • I inspected the database, but no new ClassCode entries are being added after form submission.

5. Logging Errors:

   • I enabled Flask debugging (app.debug = True) and looked for errors in the console, but nothing appears to be wrong.

6. Redirect Behavior:

   • I expected the form to redirect back to the dashboard (return redirect(url_for('main.employee_dashboard'))) after successfully generating a class code, but the page stays the same and no flash messages are shown.

What Were You Expecting?

• After filling out the form and clicking the “Generate Code” button, I expected the following:
  1. The form data (class code and description) would pass validation.
  2. A new ClassCode entry would be saved to the database.
  3. If a duplicate class code exists, I expected a flash message ('Class code already exists!') to appear.
  4. If the class code was saved successfully, I expected to see a success flash message ('Class code generated successfully!') and the new class code displayed in the list below.
  5. The page would refresh with the new class code visible in the list of generated class codes.