Django Tutorial Part 5: User Dashboard and Content Management (2025 Beginner Guide)

What You’ll Learn

• Create a personal dashboard for logged-in users
• Filter content based on logged-in user
• Add update and delete functionality
• Secure views so users can’t edit others’ data

Step 1: Filter Posts by Logged-in User

from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
from .models import Post

@login_required
def dashboard(request):
    user_posts = Post.objects.filter(author=request.user)
    return render(request, 'myapp/dashboard.html', {'posts': user_posts})

Step 2: Add Author Field to Post Model

from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Post(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    content = models.TextField()
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

Step 3: Modify Post Creation to Set Author

def create_post(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = PostForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            post = form.save(commit=False)
            post.author = request.user
            post.save()
            return redirect('dashboard')
    else:
        form = PostForm()
    return render(request, 'myapp/create_post.html', {'form': form})

Step 4: Create Dashboard Template

<h2>My Posts</h2>

<a href="{% url 'create_post' %}">Create New Post</a>

{% for post in posts %}
  <div>
    <h3>{{ post.title }}</h3>
    <a href="{% url 'edit_post' post.id %}">Edit</a> |
    <a href="{% url 'delete_post' post.id %}">Delete</a>
  </div>
{% empty %}
  <p>No posts yet.</p>
{% endfor %}

Step 5: Add Edit and Delete Views

from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404

@login_required
def edit_post(request, pk):
    post = get_object_or_404(Post, pk=pk, author=request.user)
    form = PostForm(request.POST or None, instance=post)
    if form.is_valid():
        form.save()
        return redirect('dashboard')
    return render(request, 'myapp/edit_post.html', {'form': form})

@login_required
def delete_post(request, pk):
    post = get_object_or_404(Post, pk=pk, author=request.user)
    if request.method == 'POST':
        post.delete()
        return redirect('dashboard')
    return render(request, 'myapp/delete_post.html', {'post': post})

Step 6: Add URLs

path('dashboard/', views.dashboard, name='dashboard'),
path('edit/<int:pk>/', views.edit_post, name='edit_post'),
path('delete/<int:pk>/', views.delete_post, name='delete_post'),

Step 7: Create Edit and Delete Templates

<h2>Edit Post</h2>

<form method="POST">
    {% csrf_token %}
    {{ form.as_p }}
    <button type="submit">Save Changes</button>
</form>

<h2>Are you sure you want to delete "{{ post.title }}"?</h2>

<form method="POST">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <button type="submit">Yes, Delete</button>
    <a href="{% url 'dashboard' %}">Cancel</a>
</form>

Conclusion