Django MultiSelectField Selected Choice Yields "Not a Valid Choice" Error - python-3.x

Question

I am new to Django and have a MultiSelectField in my Meal Model. I am also utilizing a MultipleChoiceField with widget CheckBoxSelectMultiple in my Meal Form. When I select a checkbox in the Template and POST the form, I get an error which states, "[ValidationError(["Value ['CHICKEN CASSEROLE'] is not a valid choice."])]}). I am wondering what I am doing wrong here and need some assistance in figuring this out. Any help is appreciated. Below is my code for my Model and Form:
class Meal(models.Model):
day = models.CharField(max_length=255, blank=True)
category = models.CharField(max_length=100, blank=True)
meal_time = models.TimeField(null=True, blank=True, verbose_name='Meal Time')
recipes = MultiSelectField(max_length=5000, choices=[], null=True)
meal_id = models.IntegerField(null=True, blank=True)
menu = models.ForeignKey(Menu, on_delete=models.CASCADE, null=True, blank=True)
user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, null=True, blank=True)
def __str__(self):
return "%s %s %s %s" % (
self.day, self.category, self.meal_time, self.recipes)
class Meta:
app_label = "mealmenumaster"
managed = True
class MealForm(forms.ModelForm):
day = DynamicChoiceField(choices=[], required=False)
category = forms.ChoiceField(choices=(('', 'None'),) + CATEGORY, required=False)
recipes = forms.MultipleChoiceField(label="Select Recipe(s)",
widget=forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple(), required=False)
meal_id = forms.CharField(widget=forms.HiddenInput(), required=False)
class Meta:
widgets = {'meal_time': TimeInput()}
model = Meal
fields = ['day', 'category', 'meal_time', 'recipes', 'meal_id']
app_label = "mealmenumaster"
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
user_id = kwargs.pop('user_id', None)
super(MealForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['recipes'].choices = [(x.name, x.name) for x in Recipe.objects.filter(user_id=user_id).order_by(Lower('name'))]
self.fields['meal_id'].initial = "0"
self.helper_meal = FormHelper()
self.helper_meal.form_tag = False
self.helper_meal.layout = Layout(
Row(
Div(
Field('day', css_class='form-control'),
css_class='form-group col-md-3 mb0'),
Div(
Field('category', css_class='form-control'),
css_class='form-group col-md-4 mb0'),
Div(
Field('meal_time', css_class='form-control'),
css_class='form-group col-md-4 mb0'),
css_class='form-group col-md-12 mb0'
),
Row(
Div(
Field('recipes', css_class="scrollbar-y"),
Field('meal_id', id='meal_id'),
css_class='form-group col-md-8 mb0'),
css_class='form-group row-md-10 mb0'),
)
And part of my View:
current_user = request.user
user_id = current_user.id
meal_form = MealForm(request.POST, user_id=request.user.id)
if meal_form.is_valid():
menu_id = request.POST.get('menu_id')
if menu_id == "":
messages.error(request, "Create and Save Menu Before Adding Meal(s)")
return redirect('menu')
else:
meal_id = meal_form.cleaned_data['meal_id']
category = meal_form.cleaned_data['category']
meal_time = meal_form.cleaned_data['meal_time']
recipes = meal_form.cleaned_data['recipes']
# get recipes for recipe id
if len(recipes) == 1:
recipes_list = recipes[0]
else:
recipes_list = ', '.join(recipes)
try:
existing_meal = Meal.objects.get(id=int(meal_id))
meal_form = MealForm(request.POST, instance=existing_meal)
# update meal object
saved_meal = meal_form.save(commit=False)
saved_meal.category = category
saved_meal.meal_time = meal_time
saved_meal.recipes = recipes_list
saved_meal.save()
messages.success(request, "Meal Updated")
return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse('menu', args=(),
kwargs={'menu_id': menu_id}))
except Meal.DoesNotExist:
# create new meal object
new_meal = meal_form.save(commit=False)
# set user foreign key
new_meal.user_id = user_id
new_meal.menu_id = int(menu_id)
# save meal
new_meal.save()
new_meal.meal_id = new_meal.id
new_meal.recipes = recipes_list
new_meal.save()
messages.success(request, "Meal Added")
return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse('menu', args=(),
kwargs={'menu_id': menu_id}))
else:
error = meal_form.errors.as_data()
message = "Form Error:", error
messages.error(request, message)
return render_forms(request)

Answer 1

I was able to resolve this issue by adding the actual choices to the model field. As shown below:
RECIPES = [(x.pk, x.name) for x in Recipe.objects.filter().order_by(Lower('name'))] added as choices in the models for the multi-select field "recipes"