Add docs

Author: Andy Babic

docs/guides/defining-template-context.md

@@ -57,3 +57,150 @@ context:
 ```
 
 You can define a list or a dict or anything that [`PyYAML`](http://pyyaml.org/wiki/PyYAMLDocumentation) allows you to create in `yaml` format without creating a custom objects.
+
+
+## Modifying template contexts with Python
+
+While most objects can be faked with `yaml`, Django has a few common constructs that are difficult to replicate. For example: `Form` and `Paginator` instances. To help with this, django-pattern library allows you to register any number of 'context modifiers'. Context modifiers are simply Python functions that accept the `context` dictionary generated from the `yaml` file, and can make additions or updates to it as necessary. For convenience, they also receive the current `HttpRequest` as `request`.
+
+Context modifiers can easily be registered using the `register_context_modifier` decorator. Here is a simple example:
+
+```python
+
+# myproject/core/pattern_contexts.py
+
+from pattern_library import register_context_modifier
+from myproject.core.forms import SearchForm, SignupForm
+
+@register_context_modifier
+def add_common_forms(context, request):
+    if 'search_form' not in context:
+        context["search_form"] = SearchForm()
+    if 'signup_form' not in context:
+        context["signup_form"] = SignupForm()
+
+```
+
+Context modifiers are also great for reducing the amount of template tag patching that is needed. The following examples are from a Wagtail project:
+
+```python
+
+# myproject/core/pattern_contexts.py
+
+from django.core.paginator import Paginator
+from wagtail.images import get_image_model
+from pattern_library import register_context_modifier
+
+
+@register_context_modifier
+def add_page_images(context, request):
+    """
+    Replace some common 'image' field values on pages with real `Image`
+    instances, so that the {% image %} template tag will work.
+    """
+    Image = get_image_model()
+    if "page" in context:
+        if "hero_image" in context["page"]:
+            context["hero_image"] = Image.objects.all().order("?").first()
+        if "main_image" in context["page"]:
+            context["main_image"] = Image.objects.all().order("?").first()
+
+
+@register_context_modifier
+def replicate_pagination(context, request):
+    """
+    Replace lists of items using the 'page_obj.object_list' key
+    with a real Paginator page, and add a few other pagination-related
+    things to the context (like Django's `ListView` does).
+    """
+    object_list = context.pop('page_obj.object_list', None)
+    if object_list is None:
+        return
+
+    original_length = len(object_list)
+
+    # add dummy items to force pagination
+    for i in range(50):
+        object_list.append(None)
+
+    # paginate and add ListView-like values
+    paginator = Paginator(object_list, original_length)
+    context.update(
+        paginator=paginator,
+        page_obj=paginator.page(1),
+        is_paginated=True,
+        object_list=object_list
+    )
+```
+
+### Registering a context modifier for a specific template
+
+By default, context modifiers are applied to all pattern library templates. If you only wish for a context modifier to be applied to a specific pattern, you can use the ``template`` parameter to indicate this. For example:
+
+```python
+
+# myproject/accounts/pattern_contexts.py
+
+from pattern_library import register_context_modifier
+from my_app.accounts.forms import SubscribeForm
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(template="patterns/subscribe/form.html")
+def add_subscribe_form(context, request):
+    """
+    Adds an unbount form to 'form.html'
+    """
+    context["form"] = SubscribeForm()
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(template="patterns/subscribe/form_invalid.html")
+def add_invalid_subscribe_form(context, request):
+    """
+    Adds a bound form with invalid data to 'form_invalid.html'
+    """
+    context["form"] = SubscribeForm(data={
+        "email": 'invalid-email',
+        "name": ''
+    })
+```
+
+### Controlling the order in which context modifiers are applied
+
+By default, context modifiers are applied in the order they were registered (which can be difficult to predict accross multiple apps), with generic context modifiers being applied first, followed by template-specific ones. If you need to control the order in which a series of context modifiers are applied, you can use the `order` parameter to do this.
+
+In the following example, a generic context modifier is registered with an `order` value of `1`, while others recieve the default value of `0`. Because `1` is higher than `0`, the generic context modifier will be applied **after** the others.
+
+```python
+
+# myproject/sums/pattern_contexts.py
+
+
+from pattern_library import register_context_modifier
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(template='patterns/sums/single_number.html')
+def add_single_number(context, request):
+    context['first_number'] = 933
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(template='patterns/sums/two_numbers.html')
+def add_two_numbers(context, request):
+    context['first_number'] = 125
+    context['second_number'] = 22
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(template='patterns/sums/three_numbers.html')
+def add_three_numbers(context, request):
+    context['first_number'] = 125
+    context['second_number'] = 22
+    context['third_number'] = 9
+
+
+@register_context_modifier(order=1)
+def add_total(context, request):
+    if 'total' not in context:
+        first_num = context.get('first_number', 0)
+        second_num = context.get('second_number', 0)
+        third_num = context.get('third_number', 0)
+        context['total'] = first_num + second_num + third_num
+```