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Bulk Editing (Synchronous)

Let users edit or delete multiple records at once without bringing async into the picture yet. This chapter shows the minimum configuration, common tweaks, and guardrails. Async queuing, progress, and conflict locks arrive in the next chapter.

Prerequisites

1. Enable bulk edit & delete

class ProjectCRUDView(PowerCRUDMixin, CRUDView):
    model = models.Project
    base_template_path = "myapp/base.html"

    use_htmx = True
    use_modal = True

    bulk_fields = ["status", "owner", "priority"]
    bulk_delete = True

Every entry in bulk_fields must also appear in your normal fields list (or be part of the model’s editable fields) so the bulk form can render and save correctly.

  • bulk_fields lists the fields that appear in the bulk edit form.
  • bulk_delete = True adds a “Delete selected” option.
  • HTMX + modal support are required for the bulk UI.

Selections persist across pagination while the user stays on the page.

2. Validation & save behaviour

By default PowerCRUD runs full_clean() and then save() for each object. If you trust the inputs and want throughput:

class ProjectCRUDView(PowerCRUDMixin, CRUDView):
    # …
    bulk_full_clean = False   # skip full_clean per object

Operations remain atomic—if any record fails the whole transaction rolls back.

Configure dropdowns

These settings control the dropdowns users see when editing choice/foreign key fields in the bulk form.

Sort dropdown options

dropdown_sort_options = {
    "owner": "name",
    "priority": "-order",
}

Restrict options

Override get_bulk_choices_for_field if the defaults are too broad:

def get_bulk_choices_for_field(self, field_name, field):
    qs = super().get_bulk_choices_for_field(field_name, field)
    if field_name == "owner":
        return qs.filter(active=True)
    return qs

4. Selection persistence

PowerCRUD stores selections per view. You can scope them further:

def get_bulk_selection_key_suffix(self):
    return f"user_{self.request.user.id}"

This keeps each user’s selection independent.

5. UX hints

Requirement Why it matters
DATA_UPLOAD_MAX_NUMBER_FIELDS If users select thousands of rows, raise this Django setting to avoid request truncation.
Clear feedback Bulk operations run immediately; add success/error messages or redirect logic in your view if needed.
Template tweaks Copy the bulk modal template with pcrud_mktemplate if you want to change layout or copy.

6. Troubleshooting

  • Nothing happens when I click “Bulk edit” – confirm use_htmx/use_modal are True and the HTMX script is loaded.
  • Validation errors but selections disappear – confirm you did not override the bulk form template without preserving the hidden selection field.
  • Pagination loses checks – ensure you are not overriding the list template in a way that removes the selection persistence script.

For a full list of settings (including every bulk_* option) see the configuration reference.

Next steps

Bulk editing is now running synchronously. Continue with Bulk editing (async) to move long-running operations into the background.