Django context processors for global template variables

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                  from django.conf import settings
from datetime import datetime


def site_settings(request):
    """Add site-wide settings to template context."""
    return {
        'site_name': settings.SITE_NAME,
        'current_year': datetime.now().year,
        'google_analytics_id': getattr(settings, 'GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_ID', None),
    }


def user_preferences(request):
    """Add user-specific preferences if authenticated."""
    if request.user.is_authenticated:
        return {
            'dark_mode': request.user.profile.dark_mode,
            'language': request.user.profile.language,
        }
    return {}

                  TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [BASE_DIR / 'templates'],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
                'core.context_processors.site_settings',  # Custom
                'core.context_processors.user_preferences',  # Custom
            ],
        },
    },
]

Context processors add variables to every template context automatically. I create a function that takes request and returns a dict. This is perfect for site-wide settings like site name, current year, or user preferences. I add my processor to TEMPLATES['OPTIONS']['context_processors'] in settings. Unlike middleware, processors only run when rendering templates. I keep processors lightweight since they run on every template render. For expensive data, I use caching inside the processor. This reduces duplication across views that all need the same context variables.

Priya Sharma

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Django context processors for global template variables

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