# Django Querysets

We have different pieces in place: the `Post` model is defined in `models.py`, we have `post_list` in `views.py` and the template added. But how will we actually make our posts appear in our HTML template? Because that is what we want: take some content (models saved in the database) and display it nicely in our template, right?

This is exactly what *views* are supposed to do: connect models and templates. In our `post_list` *view* we will need to take models we want to display and pass them to the template. So basically in a *view* we decide what (model) will be displayed in a template.

OK, so how will we achieve it?

We need to open our `blog/views.py`. So far `post_list` *view* looks like this:

    from django.shortcuts import render

    def post_list(request):
        return render(request, 'blog/post_list.html', {})

Remember when we talked about including code written in different files? Now it is the moment when we have to include the model we have written in `models.py`. We will add this line `from .models import Post` like this:

    from django.shortcuts import render
    from .models import Post

Dot after `from` means *current directory* or *current application*. Since `views.py` and `models.py` are in the same directory we can simply use `.` and the name of the file (without `.py`). Then we import the name of the model (`Post`).

But what's next? To take actual blog posts from `Post` model we need something called `QuerySet`.

## QuerySet

You should already be familiar with how QuerySets work. We talked about it in [Django ORM (QuerySets) chapter](/django_orm/README.html). 

So now we are interested in a list of blog posts that are published and sorted by `published_date`, right? We already did that in QuerySets chapter!
 
    Post.objects.filter(published_date__isnull=False).order_by('published_date')

Now we put this piece of code inside the `blog/views.py` file by adding it to the function `def post_list(request)`:

    from django.shortcuts import render
    from .models import Post

    def post_list(request):
        posts = Post.objects.filter(published_date__isnull=False).order_by('published_date')
        return render(request, 'blog/post_list.html', {})

Please note that we create a *variable* for our QuerySet: `posts`. Treat this as the name of our QuerySet. From now on we can refer to it by this name.

The last missing part is passing the `posts` QuerySet to the template (we will cover how to display it in a next chapter).

In the `render` function we already have parameter with `request` (so everything we receive from the user via the Internet) and a template file `'blog/post_list.html'`. The last parameter, which looks like this: `{}` is a place in which we can add some things for the template to use. We need to give them names (we will stick to `'posts'` right now :)). It should look like this: `{'posts': posts}`. Please note that the part before `:` is wrapped with quotes `''`.

So finally our `blog/views.py` file should look like this:

    from django.shortcuts import render
    from .models import Post

    def post_list(request):
        posts = Post.objects.filter(published_date__isnull=False).order_by('published_date')
        return render(request, 'blog/post_list.html', {'posts': posts})

That's it! Time to go back to our template and display this QuerySet!

If you want to read a little bit more about QuerySets in Django you should look here: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/models/querysets/