Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Build a Social Network with Flask How to Win Friends Follow and Unfollow Buttons

Brendan Whiting
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,738 Points

UnboundLocalError: local variable 'to_user' referenced before assignment

I get this error in Jinja2 when I click my Follow button: UnboundLocalError: local variable 'to_user' referenced before assignment

File "/home/treehouse/workspace/app.py", line 132, in follow return redirect(url_for('stream', username=to_user.username))

app.py:

from flask import (Flask, g, render_template, flash, redirect, url_for)
from flask.ext.bcrypt import check_password_hash
from flask.ext.login import (LoginManager, login_user, logout_user,
                             login_required, current_user)

import forms
import models

DEBUG = True
PORT = 8000
HOST = '0.0.0.0'

app = Flask(__name__)
app.secret_key = 'auoesh.bouoastuh.43,uoausoehuosth3ououea.auoub!'

login_manager = LoginManager()
login_manager.init_app(app)
login_manager.login_view = 'login'

@login_manager.user_loader
def load_user(userid):
    try:
        return models.User.get(models.User.id == userid)
    except models.DoesNotExist:
        return None


@app.before_request
def before_request():
    """Connect to the database before each request."""
    g.db = models.DATABASE
    g.db.connect()
    g.user = current_user


@app.after_request
def after_request(response):
    """Close the database connection after each request."""
    g.db.close()
    return response


@app.route('/register', methods=('GET', 'POST'))
def register():
    form = forms.RegisterForm()
    if form.validate_on_submit():
        flash("Yay, you registered!", "success")
        models.User.create_user(
            username=form.username.data,
            email=form.email.data,
            password=form.password.data
        )
        return redirect(url_for('index'))
    return render_template('register.html', form=form)


@app.route('/login', methods=('GET', 'POST'))
def login():
    form = forms.LoginForm()
    if form.validate_on_submit():
        try:
            user = models.User.get(models.User.email == form.email.data)
        except models.DoesNotExist:
            flash("Your email or password doesn't match!", "error")
        else:
            if check_password_hash(user.password, form.password.data):
                login_user(user)
                flash("You've been logged in!", "success")
                return redirect(url_for('index'))
            else:
                flash("Your email or password doesn't match!", "error")
    return render_template('login.html', form=form)


@app.route('/logout')
@login_required
def logout():
    logout_user()
    flash("You've been logged out! Come back soon!", "success")
    return redirect(url_for('index'))


@app.route('/new_post', methods=('GET', 'POST'))
@login_required
def post():
    form = forms.PostForm()
    if form.validate_on_submit():
        models.Post.create(user=g.user.id,
                           content=form.content.data.strip())
        flash("Message posted! Thanks!", "success")
        return redirect(url_for('index'))
    return render_template('post.html', form=form)


@app.route('/')
def index():
    stream = models.Post.select().limit(100)
    return render_template('stream.html', stream=stream)


@app.route('/stream')
@app.route('/stream/<username>')
def stream(username=None):
    template = 'stream.html'
    if username and username != current_user.username:
        user = models.User.select().where(models.User.username**username).get()
        stream = user.posts.limit(100)
    else:
        stream = current_user.get_stream().limit(100)
        user = current_user
    if username:
        template = 'user_stream.html'
    return render_template(template, stream=stream, user=user)

@app.route('/follow/<username>')
@login_required
def follow(username):
    try:
        to_user = models.User.get(models.User.username*username)
    except models.DoesNotExist:
        pass
    else:
        try:
            models.Relationship.create(
                from_user=g.user._get_current_object(),
                to_user=to_user
            )
        except models.IntegrityError:
            pass
        else:
            flash("Youre now following {}!".format(to_user.username), "success")
    return redirect(url_for('stream', username=to_user.username))

@app.route('/unfollow/<username>')
@login_required
def un_follow(username):
    try:
        to_user = models.User.get(models.User.username*username)
    except models.DoesNotExist:
        pass
    else:
        try:
            models.Relationship.get(
                from_user=g.user._get_current_object(),
                to_user=to_user
            ).delete_instance()
        except models.IntegrityError:
            pass
        else:
            flash("You've unfollowed {}!".format(to_user.username), "success")
    return redirect(url_for('stream', username=to_user.username))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    models.initialize()
    try:
        models.User.create_user(
            username='kennethlove',
            email='kenneth@teamtreehouse.com',
            password='password',
            admin=True
        )
    except ValueError:
        pass
    app.run(debug=DEBUG, host=HOST, port=PORT)

forms.py

from flask_wtf import Form
from wtforms import StringField, PasswordField, TextAreaField
from wtforms.validators import (DataRequired, Regexp, ValidationError, Email,
                               Length, EqualTo)

from models import User


def name_exists(form, field):
    if User.select().where(User.username == field.data).exists():
        raise ValidationError('User with that name already exists.')


def email_exists(form, field):
    if User.select().where(User.email == field.data).exists():
        raise ValidationError('User with that email already exists.')


class RegisterForm(Form):
    username = StringField(
        'Username',
        validators=[
            DataRequired(),
            Regexp(
                r'^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$',
                message=("Username should be one word, letters, "
                         "numbers, and underscores only.")
            ),
            name_exists
        ])
    email = StringField(
        'Email',
        validators=[
            DataRequired(),
            Email(),
            email_exists
        ])
    password = PasswordField(
        'Password',
        validators=[
            DataRequired(),
            Length(min=2),
            EqualTo('password2', message='Passwords must match')
        ])
    password2 = PasswordField(
        'Confirm Password',
        validators=[DataRequired()]
    )


class LoginForm(Form):
    email = StringField('Email', validators=[DataRequired(), Email()])
    password = PasswordField('Password', validators=[DataRequired()])


class PostForm(Form):
    content = TextAreaField("What's up?", validators=[DataRequired()])

models.py

import datetime

from flask.ext.bcrypt import generate_password_hash
from flask.ext.login import UserMixin
from peewee import *

DATABASE = SqliteDatabase('social.db', threadlocals=True)

class User(UserMixin, Model):
    username = CharField(unique=True)
    email = CharField(unique=True)
    password = CharField(max_length=100)
    joined_at = DateTimeField(default=datetime.datetime.now)
    is_admin = BooleanField(default=False)

    class Meta:
        database = DATABASE
        order_by = ('-joined_at',)

    def get_posts(self):
        return Post.select().where(Post.user == self)

    def get_stream(self):
        return Post.select().where(
            (Post.user == self)
        )

    def following(self):
        """The users that we are following."""
        return (
            User.select().join(
                Relationship, on=Relationship.to_user
            ).where(
                Relationship.from_user == self
            )
        )

    def followers(self):
        """Get users following the current user"""
        return (
            User.select().join(
                Relationship, on=Relationship.from_user
            ).where(
                Relationship.to_user == self
            )
        )

    @classmethod
    def create_user(cls, username, email, password, admin=False):
        try:
            with DATABASE.transaction():
                cls.create(
                    username=username,
                    email=email,
                    password=generate_password_hash(password),
                    is_admin=admin)
        except IntegrityError:
            raise ValueError("User already exists")


class Post(Model):
    timestamp = DateTimeField(default=datetime.datetime.now)
    user = ForeignKeyField(
        rel_model=User,
        related_name='posts'
    )
    content = TextField()

    class Meta:
        database = DATABASE
        order_by = ('-timestamp',)


class Relationship(Model):
    from_user = ForeignKeyField(User, related_name='relationships')
    to_user = ForeignKeyField(User, related_name='related_to')

    class Meta:
        database = DATABASE
        indexes = (
            (('from_user', 'to_user'), True),
        )


def initialize():
    DATABASE.connect()
    DATABASE.create_tables([User, Post, Relationship], safe=True)
    DATABASE.close()

Also this may be related or a separate bug, but my user's "post" is just a bunch of code:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ibs2v3fhxp4awr2/Screenshot%202015-12-07%2018.27.55.png?dl=0

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 Points

By inspection, in the follow() view function, if the try fails the except returns a pass making to_user undefined at the redirect statement.

One solution is to set to_user in the except block.

The error might be due to the single "*" in the statement, should be double "**"

   to_user = models.User.get(models.User.username**username)
Zubeyr Aciksari
Zubeyr Aciksari
3,124 Points

Dear all,

For the ones that may ask later on,

Here is the code,

@app.route('/follow/<int:user_id>') @login_required def follow(user_id): try: to_user = models.User.get( models.User.id == user_id ) except models.DoesNotExist: pass else: try:
models.Relationship.create( from_user=g.user._get_current_object(), to_user=to_user ) except models.IntegrityError: pass return redirect(url_for('index'))